FROM THE VAULT: U.S. Open Success at Oakmont for a Pair of Pitt Panthers
6/10/2025 8:23:00 AM | Football, General
PITTSBURGH – It's U.S. Open week at Oakmont Country Club and although the University of Pittsburgh no longer sponsors varsity golf it is not without its own bit of history on the iconic local course.
Just over 15 miles from campus, Oakmont is hosting its 10th U.S. Open (June 12-15). Past winners in the U.S. Open at Oakmont include Tommy Armour (1927), Ben Hogan (1953), Jack Nicklaus (1962), Johnny Miller (1973), Ernie Els (1994), Dustin Johnson (2016) and one Pitt alum who helped start the Pitt golf team during the 1920s.
The 1935 U.S. Open at Oakmont saw Pitt alumnus and former captain of the golf team, Sam Parks, Jr. take home the championship with an 11-over 299. The Bellevue, Pa., native used his familiarity with the punishing layout of the course to edge out the field as the only player to break 300 that year. Parks, Jr. posted a 77-73-73-76=299 for a two stroke win over Jimmy Thomson.
A full recap of the 1935 U.S. Open is available HERE.
After winning the U.S. Open, Parks played for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, matching up against reigning British Open champion Alf Perry marking the first time the U.S. Open champion would play the British Open champion of the same year in the Ryder Cup Match. On the 36th hole, Parks, Jr. made a 30-foot birdie putt to win the hole and tie the match, so that both he and the British champ remained undefeated in Ryder Cup play.
The Panthers also had a multi-sport star (football & golf), Frank Souchak, finish as the low amateur and tied for ninth overall at the 1953 U.S. Open. A member at Oakmont, Souchak shot an opening round 70 to sit tied for second and just three strokes behind eventual champion Ben Hogan. He would card a 70-76-76-74=296 to post the top-10 finish, while Hogan was the lone player in the field to shoot under par and take home the $5,000 first place prize with a 5-under 283.
In 1937, Souchak captained Jock Sutherland's Pitt football team that was crowned national champions by the final AP Poll following a 9-0-1 season. He earned All-American honors as an end and also played in the 1938 East–West Shrine Game. Souchak was drafted by the New York Giants in the 1938 NFL draft but played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (Steelers) in 1939. After World War II, he became the ends coach for the Steelers in 1946.
Souchak's younger brother, Mike, played football and golf at Duke University in the late 1940s and early 1950s, before going on to record 15 PGA Tour wins and twice represent the U.S. squad in the Ryder Cup (1959 & 1961).
The brothers won the team portion of the 1967 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am.