Vroom, Jerry (1922-2016)
Date Updated
10-24-2019
Department
Intercollegiate Athletics
Academic Rank
Professor
Year Retired from SJSU
1981
Educational Background
Stanford University, 1955 MA
San Jose State University, Business Administration, 1948 BA
University of Texas, 1943-1944
Teaching Experience
San Jose State University, 1948-1981
Administrative and Professional Experience
Consulting work in Japan.
Advisor to Intercollegiate Golf in Japan, Korea.
Selected Publications
So You Want to Be a Golfer! (Book).
Various magazine articles.
Teaching Manual for Teaching Professionals in Japan (Book), 1988.
Files
Personal Commentary
Following discharge from the U.S. Navy in World War II, I completed my undergraduate work at San Jose State University and immediately went to work in Intercollegiate Athletics as Business Manager of Athletics. An MA in Education followed at Stanford University and a step up to Assistant Director of Athletics.
An 8 year stint as assistant basketball coach followed, along with an appointment as assistant golf coach. An appointment as head coach in golf followed in 1963, and I occupied that position through 1984. Giving up my athletic administrative duties in 1972, the final 12 years of my career were spent in golf class instruction and concentrating on coaching the men's golf team.
My identity from that time on was in the field of intercollegiate golf and those teams, from 1963 through retirement in 1984, qualified for the NCAA Golf Championship every year, a total of 24 years. Several Spartan golfers distinguished themselves as regulars on the PGA Golf Tour‑‑Ken Venturi, Ron Cerrudo, Roger Maltbie, Mark Lye, Bob Eastwood, Mark Wiebe, to mention a few.
In 1973, driven by a need for an appropriate golf instruction book for absolute beginners, a beginning book entitled, So You Want to Be A Golfer! resulted. Approximately 80,000 of those books have been printed over the years, and it is still in use in many universities throughout this country and in Japan.
In the late 70s, I started the very first junior golf school in Japan for Golf Digest Magazine. Other opportunities followed, including consulting work and adult golf schools for Bridgestone Golf Division. Out of the latter, I was given the task of writing a 75 page book to be used as a teaching manual for the professional staff of that company. I became an advisor to the Intercollegiate Golf Federations of both Japan and Korea.
In 1981, a coach in Japan and myself initiated competition between top men's and women's teams in America and in Japan, and 14 years of that competition has followed. That tournament occurs annually in September and is played in Japan each year.
Date Completed: 7/96
Adapted from: Biographies of Retired Faculty San Jose State University 1997: A Project of the Emeritus Faculty Association of San Jose State University. San Jose, CA: The University, 1997.