PLYMOUTH – At Canasawacta Country Club’s members dinner Thursday evening, The Greater Norwich Golf Hall of Fame enshrined four new members, three of whom have made significant contributions at CCC over the past 50 years.
Ang Muserilli and Richard Curley were inducted in the players category; Hal Skillin, an avid golfer and longtime supporter of golf functions at CCC, was selected in the contributors division, while Bill Zahner was posthumously chosen in the legends category.
Muserilli began his affiliation with golf as a caddy at CCC over 65 years ago. Upon completion of his military service, he returned to Norwich and began a lifelong love of golf. A natural at the sport, Muserilli maintained a single-digit handicap well into his 70s, and has probably hit over a 1 million practice balls during his career. Throughout his years as a member at the course, he has selflessly offered advice to other players, and remains a strong advocate of aspiring junior golfers. He is a senior club champion at CCC winning a title in 1993, while also finishing as a runner-up many times. In the men’s scratch division, he has countless top-five finishes along with several top finishes in many other local tournaments.
Richard Curley was one of the original members at Way Back of Sundown Golf Course in Guilford, while also maintaining a membership at Afton Golf Club. He is a former club champion at WBOS in the men’s and senior divisions, won three member-guest titles, and captured a silver medal in the Empire State Senior Games.
Four over four decades Curley has worked as a league secretary, and was coined the “go-to” person by Afton Golf Club owner Guy Dawson. He was the founder of the morning senior leagues at WBOS and Afton, and has three career hole-in-ones including one on the par-four third hole at WBOS.
One of CCC’s most beloved and generous members, Skillin still maintains a strong golf game, but his contributions to the course are immeasurable. Skillin’s longtime friend, Mark DeMellier summed up Skillin: “If there is a charitable tournament, Hal plays in it and supports it.”
Skillin, along with former CCC pro Fred Zahner, was instrumental in the awarding of silver plates to flight winners at the prestigious men’s member-guest tournament, and has provided the engraving for nearly 40 years. He was one of the early sponsors of tournament prizes, and an original Tee Sign sponsor, a sponsorship he continues today. Throughout the years he continually gives to fund-raising tournaments, among those the American Cancer Society, CMH Foundation, and the Monsignor Festa Memorial.
As a player, he has three holes-in-one including a pair of aces four days apart in April of 1998. In the aforementioned men’s member-guest tournament, he has partnered with longtime friend Bob Berry since 1975, and currently has the longest run of appearances with the same partner.
Bill Zahner, father of retired CCC pro Fred Zahner, was introduced to the game of golf as a teenager while visiting family in Coventry. He began his play at Oxford, and the rest, as they say, is history.
After serving in World War II, Zahner return to Norwich to marry, start a family, and complete his education at Ohio State. As a local businessman, Zahner was known for his infectious personality and would soon become known for his athletic ability, excelling in golf, bowling, tennis, table tennis, and softball.
In the 1950s and ‘60s he played at Canasawacta and Bluestone. He joined Seven Oaks around 1968 and returned to CCC as a member in the mid 1980s, where he played until a stroke ended his golfing career in 1996. During his almost 50 years of competitive play, his handicap was as low as five and never more than 11. “Most of his opponents would tell you that it was “too much” as some of those 72s and 73s never got posted,” said Zahner’s son Fred.
Among his individual accomplishments were, second place NYS Moose Tournament At Massena CC (1968); fourth place NYS Elks Tournament (1971); and first place in the Chenango County Amateur senior division (1989). In team competition, Zahner won a 1970 CCC member-guest title with Andy Zaia; the 1983 Colgate Alumni-Guest at Seven Oaks with Mark DeMellier; and the ACS Chenango Country Scratch team title in 1988-1989. Zahner was also a multiple flight winner in member-guest tournaments at Canasawacta, Seven Oaks, Cazenovia, and others.
Throughout his golfing career, Zahner was known to place a wager during a match. If you needed someone to make five to 10-foot putt for $20, it would be one of two Bills: Zahner or Carson.