Hall of Fame
The memories of the great players still linger, the players who roamed the Nemacolin Country Club golf course. The players who raised most of the money to play themselves. The memory of those players who were disappointed when the golf program was dropped.
Ed Vietmeier played for the Vulcans when the team was discontinued. He made a name for himself as an incredible golf player.
Vietmeier’s name is now being honored as a member of the fourth class of California’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Vietmeier grew up in Robinson Township and attended Montour High School where he played golf. He was a high school all-American and on the Pennsylvania All-Conference Team in both 1978 and 1979.
Coming to California after he graduated from Montour in 1979 wasn’t a hard decision for Vietmeier to make. He just followed in the footsteps of his two older brothers, Dale and Scott. Dale was a senior while Vietmeier was a freshman sand Scott was a year ahead of him. Scott also played golf and was a member of the basketball team.
While Vietmeier swung the clubs for California, the team went to four NCAA Division II Championships and two ECAC Championships. He was a two-time all-conference player and All-American.
Vietmeier’s teammates won the PSAC Championship, they were Eastern Conference Champs and they finished ninth in the NCAA Division II Championships. In 1983, Cal hosted the NCAA Championships at Spiedel Golf Course. In those championships, Vietmeier finished 29th. He placed a personal-best ninth at the 1982 nationals.
“My favorite memory includes when we won our Eastern Conference Championship the first year. I know how hard we worked for it, and it was one of our goals. We won seven tournaments in a row that year. It gave us a really good feeling,” Vietmeier said.
Quality was not the reason that the golf program was discontinued. In fact, four of the starting five players on his team are now successful golf professionals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“It was disappointing because we had such a great program. Rocco Mediate, who plays on the PGA tour, played on our team, but transferred to Florida Southern because the program was being dropped during my senior year. We had great quality players and the coach was great because he was a player himself,” Vietmeier said.
Vietmeier graduated from California in 1983 with a degree in business administration. With the help of that degree and his golfing skills, he became a golf professional at Duquesne Golf Club, a private club in West Mifflin, Pa. His duties include running all of the golf operations, merchandising, setting up all the tournaments and running events for members. He also gives many golf lessons and competes in the local tournaments for the local Tri-State section of the PGA.
Since he graduated from California, Vietmeier has become a two-time Tri-State PGA champion, one time in 1993 and the other time in 1997.
Vietmeier also was the Tri-State PGA Apprentice Champion in 1992.
And now, to add to his collection of honors, he is now a member of the Hall of Fame.
“I felt that it was a nice honor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame even though I was skeptical at first because they dropped the program. We had some great players and it is an outstanding sport…I was very pleased with the honor of the induction into the Hall of Fame” Vietmeier said.
Ed Vietmeier was an exceptional member of the Cal U men's golf team from 1980 through that sport's final year of existence in 1983. A model of consistency, Vietmeier helped the Vulcans win two ECAC titles in three years (1980 and 1982) as Cal made four appearances at the NCAA II Nationals.
Vietmeier led the Vulcans to a school-best eighth place national finish when Cal hosted the Nationals in 1983 and he finished 29th overall. He placed a personal-best ninth at the 1982 Nationals and Cal finished 11th nationally in 1981. As a freshman, Vietmeier placed 31st at the 1980 Nationals as the Vulcans finished ninth. Vietmeier was a two-time, all-conference selection and All-American.
Originally from Robinson Township (PA), Vietmeier is a 1979 graduate of Montour High School, where he was a two-time scholastic All-American, and earned his B.S. in business administration from Cal U in 1983. Still an active and successful golfer, Vietmeier is a two-time Tri-State PGA champion (1993, 1997), who was also the 1992 Tri-State PGA Apprentice champion. Ed is the Head Golf Professional at the Duquesne Golf Club in West Mifflin, PA, and resides in Pittsburgh, PA, with his wife, Fay, and newly born son, Noah.
