Skip Alexander

Who was Skip Alexander?

Stewart Murray "Skip" Alexander, Jr. was an American collegiate and professional golfer.

Alexander was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but was raised in Durham, North Carolina. He attended Duke University from 1937 to 1940. During that time, he helped Duke win the Southern Conference Championship in golf three times, won the individual conference title twice, was a two-time Southern Intercollegiate medalist and twice reached the quarter-finals of the National Intercollegiate Tournament.

Alexander turned professional in 1941 and joined the PGA Tour in 1946. In 1948 he won his first tour event, the Tucson Open. He would win twice more on tour.

On September 24, 1950, Alexander was the lone survivor of a plane crash in which he was severely burned over 70% of his body. After 17 operations, one of which was to permanently freeze his badly burned fingers around the grip of a golf club instead of removing them, he returned to help the United States win the 1951 Ryder Cup. Sam Snead, the Ryder Cup captain that year, paired Alexander against the British champion, John Panton, in the singles portion of the competition. Although the thought was that it might well be a throwaway match, it would at least save their other players from playing Panton, who was beating everyone at that time. Alexander, with both hands bleeding, won the match by the largest margin in Ryder Cup history to that point, 8 & 7.