Cleveland: On Cissye Gallagher

Cassiye Gallagher
Photo courtesy of stateteam.org

This was 35 years ago at the 1980 men’s State Amateur on the practice tee at Northwood Country Club in Meridian. The day’s golf was over, but on one end of the practice range Mike Taylor was hitting 2-iron after 2-iron, each with a slight draw, to a caddy more than 220 yards away. The guy was catching them on one hop with a baseball glove.

It was amazing to watch, and several golfers, mostly with a beer in hand, watched Taylor, who was well on his way to a record 10 State Am titles.

Then, on the other end of the practice tee, a blonde-haired, pony-tailed 13-year-old began to swing and hit shot after shot with the same perfect draw. A few of the spectators moved over from Taylor to the girl, who was champion Greenwood golfer Ed Meeks’ daughter. If the girl noticed the attention, she didn’t let on. She just kept hitting shot after perfect shot with that “click!” sound a perfectly hit golf ball makes.

Little did we know…

Now here we are three and a half decades later. Last week, Cissye (Meeks) Gallagher won her record 12^th State Am championship at The Oaks in Pass Christian.

Twelve! An even dozen. She won her first in 1987, 28 years ago. That’s a prolonged period of excellence. Keep in mind, because of injuries, pregnancies and two years as a pro, she didn’t play many of those years or she surely would have won more. A couple of times, she won the match play tournament without ever needing to play the last six holes.

That doesn’t happen any more, at least partly because of the children she and husband, Jim Gallagher, Jr., have produced. Daughter Kathleen, who will enter LSU this fall, won the State Am two years ago. Daughter Mary Langdon, who played four years at Mississippi State, won last year. Talk about keeping it all in the family…

Cissye Gallagher, in effect, has created her own stiffest competition. Even she says, “I never thought I would get to 12. The young players, including my daughters, are too good.”

On second thought…

Says Jim Gallagher, the former Ryder Cup hero-turned-Golf Channel analyst: “The most amazing thing to me about this 12^th one is that Cissye had to change her grip because of a hand injury. She used a 10-fingered baseball grip and still won.”

Last week, Cissye played daughter Kathleen in the quarterfinals. She shot 70 to Kathleen’s 71, and won one-up on the last hole. Cissye beat USM golfer Emily Ross in the finals, surprising herself but not many others.

“Nothing Cissye does surprises me, because she’s just such a great player and person,” says Lou Weddington Hart, a nine-time State Am champion herself.

Flash back 24 years to 1991. Cissye was playing the LPGA Tour. Jim was one of the brightest stars on the PGA Tour. They were the proverbial two ships passing. Once, they passed in the Atlanta airport when neither of them knew the other was there.

“It was crazy,” Cissye says.

It got crazier.

Cissye became pregnant with Mary Langdon. Cissye’s mom was battling cancer.

“There were just too many balls in the air,” says Cissye, who decided motherhood and taking care of her mother were much more important than her professional career. She regained her amateur status.

“No regrets, none at all,” she says. “I enjoyed my year out there on the LPGA Tour, but I’ve enjoyed what has happened since a lot more.”

She and Jim have four offspring, three daughters and a son. All play golf.

“When you think about it,” Cissye says, “our greatest accomplishment is that all of our kids enjoy and appreciate playing a game they can play for life, a game Jim and I have enjoyed so much.”

Rick Cleveland rcleveland@msfame.com is executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.