Conn. Section PGA Hall of Fame adds Ralph Salito, Mike Carney & Joe Curtin

HARTFORD, Conn. – Ralph Salito, Mike Carney and the late Joe Curtin are the newest members of the Connecticut Section PGA Hall of Fame.

Salito has been an active Section member, serving on boards and committees since 1977. He’s a former Section president who has worked at several clubs and is now an assistant to Tom Gleeton at the Country Club of Waterbury.

Salito’s playing accolades include two-time Connecticut Senior PGA champion, 2007 Connecticut Senior Open winner and playing on seven Julius Boros Challenge Cup Matches teams against the Connecticut State Golf Association. He was captain of the Section team this year.

Carney was the longtime pro and now pro emeritus and director of golf at Watertown Golf Club. He won the 2005 Section PGA Championship, the 2003 and 2006 Connecticut PGA Senior Championship and was Section Player of the Year in 2002 and 2003. In 2015, he was named the Section Golf Professional of the Year, the highest non-playing honor in the organization.

Curtin was a legendary teacher whose students included Connecticut Golf Hall of Famers Bob Grant and Dick Siderowf. He was the pro at Edgewood Golf Club in Cromwell, now TPC River Highlands, the home of the Travelers Championship, in 1948-52 and then was at Indian Hill Country Club in Newington from 1952 to 1975. He won the 1948 Hartford Open, 1952 Connecticut Open and 1964 Connecticut PGA Seniors Championship. He also was the first-round leader of the 1953 Insurance City Open, now the Travelers Championship. He died in 1985 while still teaching.

The trio will be inducted at the Section’s awards dinner Nov. 19 at Lake of Isles Country Club in North Stonington.