May 5, 1999

LOS ANGELES -- Stan Wood, the legendary USC head men's golf coach for 25 years, died on Monday (May 3) of a heart attack. He was 79 years old. At the time of his death, Wood was on the 16th hole of the Los Robles Golf Course in Thousand Oaks, Calif., playing his first round of golf in over a year. He had just parred two holes.

In the 25 years he coached at USC (1955-80), Wood's teams played in 22 NCAA Championships and he coached 57 All-Americans. His teams finished ninth or better 16 times, including seven third-place finishes.

Several players who he coached at USC went on to win major titles, including PGA champions Al Geilberger (1966) and Dave Stockton (1970 and 1976), Masters champion Craig Stadler (1982) and U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson (1987). Stockton also won the 1996 Senior U.S. Open and Stadler also took the U.S. Amateur title in 1973.

Wood, who also played golf at USC, was named NCAA District VIII Coach of the Year 12 times. His Trojan teams won 14 conference championships and had a dual meet record of 462-37. He was also a two-time (1965-67 and 1973-75) president of the Golf Coaches Association of America, an organization he helped create. Wood also served as chairman of the NCAA Golf Committee from 1965 to 1967. While coaching at USC, he also owned a golf public relations firm and ran golf tournaments, a practice which he continued after his years with the Trojans.

Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Wood matriculated to the West Coast in 1926 and went on to attend USC, where he also played and served as the sports editor of the Daily Trojan, the USC campus newspaper. After graduation, he worked as a sportswriter for the old Los Angeles Mirror for one year as a golf writer, before beginning his career as coach of the Trojans. Wood, who also was the publisher of Golden West Golf News, actually agreed to coach the USC team for only one year. Twenty-four years later, he had rewritten the Trojan record book and changed the face of collegiate golf. Besides playing a role in the creation of the Golf Coaches Association of America, Wood also is credited with the formalization of the All-America selection process and the utilization of team uniforms for college teams. Wood and three other coaches Carl Tucker of BYU, Dave Williams of Houston and Jess Haddock of Wake Forest are all recognized as the ,Founding Fathers of Modern Collegiate Golf.0/00

Wood is survived by his wife Marianne and his two stepsons, Brian and Michael Acason. Services are pending.