John Moorhead Jr. inducted into Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame
By Josh Rowntree, Director of Communications  • November 12, 2024

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Inevitably, golf was going to make its way into Western Pennsylvania. But John Moorhead Jr. is the man responsible for — quite literally — getting the ball rolling over 125 years ago.

Moorhead’s impact on the initiation of the game in the region, as well his instrumental role in the birth of the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, will be honored Thursday night when he is posthumously inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame.

The Pittsburgh native is the lone member of the 2024 Hall of Fame Class.

“We are honored to welcome John Moorhead Jr. into such illustrious company,” says Terry Teasdale, Executive Director of the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association. “Mr. Moorhead’s influence on the game of golf in the region and his initiative shown in the founding of the WPGA has left an impact for the last 125 years and will continue to do so for generations to come.

“Tens of thousands of golfers both throughout history and today, as well as hundreds of courses in Western Pennsylvania, can thank John Moorhead Jr. for his ingenuity in the early days of the game of golf in America.”

Regarded as the “Father of Western Pennsylvania Golf,” Moorhead brought the game to the region in the late 1890’s, when — following a trip to Massachusetts in which he saw golf being played for the first time — he dug out six holes and placed in them pea cans in the infield of Homewood Race Track. He went on to found Allegheny Country Club, lead the WPGA and Pennsylvania Golf Association, and contribute to various other avenues in both sports and industry.

“I think it is safe to say that golf may not have arrived as quickly or grown as swiftly in Pittsburgh had it not been for Moorhead's determination and leadership,” says local golf historian Dave Moore. “His six pea cans and subsequent founding of Allegheny Country Club brought the game to our region and his creation of both the WPGA and PA Golf Association brought championship level tournaments and oversight both locally and statewide. He is arguably the most important pioneer of golf in the Commonwealth.”

Following his founding of Allegheny Country Club, Moorhead called to order the heads of Allegheny, Edgeworth Club, Edgewood Country Club, Pittsburgh Field Club and Pittsburgh Golf Club to form a unified group of likeminded golf leaders to oversee the operations of clubs and golfers in the region.

That group, in 1899, formed the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, which has celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2024. Moorhead served as the Association’s first President, a position he held for 13 years.

“John Moorhead, Jr. was a man of ‘firsts,’,” says Allegheny Country Club member Mark Larson. “He built the first golf course in the Pittsburgh area. He was the founder of the area’s first country club. He was the first Pittsburgh player to play in a national golf tournament. He was the founder and first president of the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association. Same for the Pennsylvania Golf Association.

“All of these things would have eventually happened regardless of Moorhead, but history remembers the first.”

Both before and after golf came into the picture, Moorhead was able to establish himself as one of the stronger athletes of his time, playing football, rugby and baseball before his introduction to his greatest calling – golf.

Born in 1859 to a family of steel magnates, became a member of the Yale varsity football team from 1877-80. He played alongside the legendary Walter Camp, regarded as the inventor of modern-day football and who once described Moorhead as one of the stronger players of his time.

Following his graduation from Yale, Moorhead became the President of Moorhead Brothers Steel Company while helping form one of the country’s first amateur football clubs — Allegheny Athletic Association — in 1890. Moorhead played center for the team, which eventually fielded America’s first professional football player and professional team.

In 1893, Moorhead vacationed to Massachusetts. He saw golf being played by a Scottish man at the Essex Country Club and was immediately entranced by the game.

“One day I saw a bearded old Scotty with some peculiar-looking clubs,” Moorhead Jr. told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I asked him, ‘What are those?’ He replied, ‘Golf clubs.’ On further conversation I learned that golf was a Scotch game, played on a course of, say, a mile and a half or so in length, hitting a small gutty ball into holes placed in the ground. I engaged him to play the next day, and I was so captivated by the game that I have been its slave ever since.”

Following his primitive design at Homewood Race Track, Moorhead knew he needed a more proper layout to expand his passion. He and some friends formed Allegheny Country Club in Pittsburgh’s North Side, developing one of the region’s most famous and beloved clubs.

Moorhead Jr. quickly became one of the game’s top players, qualifying for the first U.S. Amateur Championship, which was held at Newport Country Club in 1895. A year later, he qualified for the event at Shinnecock Hills.

Three years late, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association was born, establishing a longstanding governing home for amateur golfers in the region.

Today, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association serves more than 40,000 members and nearly 200 golf courses and clubs, while operating numerous amateur tournaments throughout each year and assisting the USGA as an regional golf association.

Moorhead Jr. was able to pass down his passion for sports to his family. His son, John A. Moorhead, played halfback at his father’s alma mater, Yale, and became the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1907-1908.

His largest achievement as a coach came in 1907, when he scored a season-ending 6-0 victory over rival Penn State in front of 10,000 people at Exposition Park, located just a short walk away from Allegheny Country Club — the club his father helped build.

As life advanced, Moorhead Jr. frequently attended notable golf tournaments in Western Pennsylvania and went on to become the President of the Pennsylvania Golf Association, leaving behind a solid legacy in multiple sports and the steel industry.

Moorhead Jr. died from pneumonia in 1927 at the age of 68 years old. He passed in his home on Ridge Avenue, located directly across from the current offices of the WPGA. Moorhead Jr. is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville.

Despite his death nearly a century ago, Moorhead’s impact on local golf resonates today. His induction into the Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame is a much-deserved recognition for one of the region’s early architects of the game.

The WPGA and Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame congratulates the Moorhead family and extends deep gratitude to Mr. Moorhead Jr. for his contributions to the sport and to the region.

“Moorhead should be as revered by Steel City golfers as Art Rooney is by Steeler fans, as Roberto Clemente is by Pirate fans, or as Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby are by Penguins fans,” says Moore. “Every Pittsburgh golfer owes a debt of gratitude to him.

“There have been 40-plus national championships in Western Pennsylvania and that starts because Moorhead brought the game to this city.”

Allegheny Country Club historians Dave Moore and Mark Larson helped contribute to this story.

For media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.

About the WPGA
Founded in 1899, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association is the steward of amateur golf in the region. Started by five Member Clubs, the association now has nearly 200 Member Clubs and nearly 37,000 members. The WPGA conducts 14 individual competitions and 10 team events, and administers the WPGA Scholarship Fund and Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame.