Obituary for Harry Maxwell Shoemaker, III
Published by the North Chapel
of Chattanooga Funeral Home  Harry Maxwell Shoemaker, III of Hixson, went to be with the
Lord on Monday, May 9, 2011. He was born June 3, 1930. A local sports
legend in his heyday, he was an avid and accomplished golfer from a young
age who later went into the golf business. Harry, a native of Signal
Mountain, won the 1948 individual high school state golf championship
playing for City High. At the University of Chattanooga, he was on the golf
team and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha before enrolling in the Air Force in
1950. In 1953, while stationed in Germany, he won the Air Force Golf
Championship of Europe, which included the British Isles and North Africa.
That accomplishment earned him a trip to the World Wide Service
Championships. He then distinguished himself by being the low amateur in
both the European and German Opens. After his military service, Harry
studied at Florida State University and led the Seminoles golf team to a
fourth place finish in the NCAA Tournament. He graduated from FSU in 1955
with a degree in business. He won the National Left Handers Amateur three
years in a row (1956, 1957, and 1958) and won the Chattanooga City
Championship twice (1955 and 1956). He also won the National "Left Handers
Only" U.S. Open in Florida in 1960. In 1989 he was inducted into the
Chattanooga Area Old Timers Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1995 he was
inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. He worked as a sales
representative for Georgia Pacific and then entered the golf course and
real estate business. He developed and managed Battlefield Golf Club and
Estates in Ringgold and he was also affiliated with Creeks Bend Golf Club
in Hixson. After retirement he was a consultant for Indian Trace Golf Club
in Chatsworth and Air Castle Golf Club in Trenton. He belonged to the
Boynton United Methodist Church in Ringgold where he was a member of the
Wesley Sunday School Class. In recent years he was an active member of the
Hamilton YMCA. Harry was preceded in death by his parents, Dorris Taylor
Shoemaker and Harry Maxwell Shoemaker, Jr. He is survived by his wife of 53
years, Peggy Coleman Shoemaker; daughter Lori Ann Shoemaker, stationed in
Tokyo, Japan; daughter Luci Shoemaker Stone (Rob), of Hixson; four
grandchildren, Michael and Elizabeth Horan, of Tokyo, and Daniel and Ellen
Stone, of Hixson; sister, Cynthia Shoemaker, of Boston; and several nieces
and nephews.
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