Everyone who knew Davis Richardson well remembers that he was a character. The stories about his Maine golf life are legendary, and some of them cannot be repeated.

For sure, Richardson was a party animal. But more importantly he was a respected and revered person as tournament director for the Maine State Golf Association for parts of three decades (1988-2005).

And all that took place after his career as a store owner in Lewiston.

This weekend the MSGA conducted a Davis Richardson Memorial Tournament at Fairlawn as part of its regular Friday/Saturday event. Raffle tickets were sold with proceeds going to the Davis Richardson Memorial Scholarship fund, and some players contributed money to the scholarship directly from their winnings accounts with the MSGA. It was an event that would have made Richardson, who passed away Dec. 16, 2010, extremely proud.

Nancy Storey, executive director of the MSGA, has dozens of recollection of Richardson, who was known affectionately as “Grumpy” because of the stern look on his face. Perhaps her proudest memory of Richardson, however, were tournaments he ran in 1997 and 1998 at Webhannet and Biddeford-Saco, respectively, which contained fields of 420 players — a Maine state record.

Cy Thompson of Poland Spring has been an MSGA tournament participant for years and he loved the way Richardson would handle issues that came up in the heat of competition.

“You always knew where you stood with him,” Thompson said. “He spoke his mind, and didn’t pull any punches.”

Beneath the gruff exterior beat the heart of a fun-loving man devoted to golf.

Wade Trudel recalls one of the early days of Richardson’s tournament director career.

“We were playing at Fairlawn and I hit a tee shot to within one foot and 7½-inches of the pin on the 13th hole, so I thought I was a sure thing to win pins money,” Trudel said. “Then someone put it one foot, six inches. Richardson busted my chops about that for years.”

With Trudel, Paul Connolly of Natanis has played in the same MSGA tournament group for more than 30 years, and always with a late tee time. After the tournaments, his group would stay at the course and wait for Richardson.

“We would share stories, and he often would talk about his family — three sons (Davis, Barry and Brian) and daughter (Debbie), but he was most proud of his wife Mary, who was a great swimmer,” Connolly said. “For a workout, she would swim from Portland to Peaks Island and back. That was before they invented wetsuits.”

During those “sessions,” Richardson would sip his favorite beverage, “Byecardi” and diet Coke. No one closely associated with Richardson ever would pronounce “Baccardi” correctly.

Dave Stimson of Fairlawn was Richardson’s playing partner in MSGA Tournaments in the days before Richardson became an MSGA official.

“We won some money, but mostly we had a lot of fun,” Stimson said. “And we had even more fun during the winters in Myrtle Beach.”

It was during those winters that Stimson, Connolly, Thompson, Fairlawn owner Frank Bartasuis, and others cemented their friendships, with Richardson being the cornerstone of the group.

In addition to the scholarship fund in Richardson’s memory, many of his friends are purchasing commemorative bricks to be placed in the walkway at the MSGA headquarters in Cumberland. The Richardson Family has also purchased the flagpole outside the MSGA office, to ensure that a significant Maine golf figure will never be forgotten.

Noteworthy

This week’s MSGA schedule includes the annual B/C Tournament Monday and Tuesday at Waterville, the weekly senior tournament Thursday at Springbrook and concludes with the weekly Friday-Saturday tournaments at Freeport … A long winter and severe spring conditions prevented Sunday River from doing business, but the course finally was opened last week.

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