Submitted by: Todd Nowicki

Kroll,
Walt Kroll: (South Bend Tribune 7/28/1984) Walt Kroll: A quiet man who carried straight sticks
Walt Kroll didn’t usually say much. He let his golf clubs do his talking. That’s how South Bend – area golfers will remember the former Metro (1943) and six-time Senior Men’s Metro champ, who died Saturday morning at the age of 68 after a battle with cancer.   “Walt was a quiet sort” said former Elbel Park pro Mike Garbacz, Sr. of his life-long friend. “He let his clubs do the talking.   “He was a great, great short game player, probably the greatest up-and-downer I’ve ever seen,” continued Garbacz, who handed over the reins of Elbel Park in 1982 to one of Kroll’s two sons, Fred, who is married to Garbacz’ daughter Gail.   “A few years ago, he was in an automobile accident and a broken rib puntured his lung,” Garbacz continued. “It laid him up for awhile, and I’m not so sure that’s when the cancer started. Up until then, Walt was long off the tee, but then he lost his yardage and never, never got it back.”   But what Garbacz remembers most about Kroll are their battles back in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. The two were teammates on the Riley high school golf team and played with and against each other regularly. “Almost every night after school, we would hustle out to the golf course,” Garbacz reflected.   One year in the Erskine Men’s Club championship, Garbacz remembers, Kroll beat him with his putter. Three years ago, Kroll was in Garbacz’ pro shop at Elbel, reflecting on his sixth Senior Metro title, and the story of that long-ago battle came up.   “He hit three greens that day and I hit 15,” said Garbacz. “I shoot 69 and have an eight-footer to win on the 19th hole, and he knocks home a 30-footer to beat me. I bet he still knows how many putts he had.”   Kroll smiled and uttered a one-word reply: “Twenty-one.”   Kroll was probably the only golfer who needed a pitcher’s toe plate. With his unique style of putting, Kroll would hit the ball and then slam the heel of his putter into his left big toe. “It was his way of keeping the line of his putt,” Garbacz laughed.   Kroll did let Garbacz putt sometimes, like when Kroll joined golf hustler “Titanic” for a few tours of southwestern Michigan golf courses. Thompson had made the mistake of trying to hustle Kroll when he came to South Bend once, and Kroll beat him. The two then joined forces and often took Garbacz along as a caddy.   “Every once in a while, people would tell them to let the caddie putt it in,” Garbacz reflected. Little did they know the caddie would become a golf pro.   “Walt was recognized for a long time as one of the best players in the city,” continued Garbacz, “even though he won only one Metro. And while my brothers and I often traveled out of town, Walt liked to stay at home and work (at Bendix as a machinist). He liked to make a buck. He didn’t like to go out of town and spend it. He wanted to salt it away in a can.   “I’ll miss him,” Garbacz concluded.   And so will the rest of South Bend’s golfers.

Kroll,
Walter Kroll: (South Bend Tribune 7/28/1984)
Walter C. Kroll, 68, of 501 E. Woodside St., died at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at his home. Mr. Kroll was a former South Bend city golf champion and many times senior champion. He retired from the Bendix Corp. as a machinist after working there 45 years. His first wife, the former Esther Reiter, died in 1958. In 1974, he married Rita DeLuery, who survives. Also surviving are a daughter, Becky Parakowski and two sons, Walter Jr. and Frederick, all of South Bend; three grandchildren; and a brother Herman of Edwardsburg. Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in St. Matthew Cathedral. Burial will be in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Friends may call from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Guisinger Colonial Chapel funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society or the Visiting Nurses Association. He was a Navy veteran of World War II and a member of the Erskine Men’s Club, American Legion Post 303 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1167.