Staying the Course: Ed Swanson a Standout in the Hillsdale Community

Written by Doug Goodnough

Ed Swanson, ’60, learned to play golf while working at a local golf course near his home in South Bend, Indiana. Working for the club pro, he earned $25 a week and learned the finer points of the game along the way.

“I was able to buy a good set of golf clubs because before, I couldn’t afford them. Even back then, they were about 100 bucks,” said Swanson, the son of Swedish immigrants.

Continuing to hone his game, in 1954 he won a prestigious junior golf tournament in South Bend, which caught the attention of Ed Hames, who was the Music Department director at Hillsdale College. His wife was Swanson’s fourth-grade music teacher, and Hames also privately taught him music lessons and served as a “surrogate father.” When Swanson graduated from high school, Hames mentioned him to then-Hillsdale Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Frank “Muddy” Waters, who eventually offered him a golf scholarship.

Swanson was a four-year member of the team, and the economics major said college golf today is drastically different from his era.

“I like to say we played golf. It wasn’t work,” said the soon-to-be 87-year-old Swanson. “We didn’t know what a swing coach was. Or what a site coach was. We didn’t have much equipment. And what we had was ours.”

Coaches were not much more than drivers, making sure the players made it to the course and back. However, he said Hillsdale was able to play some of the top college programs—and courses—in the area, including Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Toledo. The Dales called the Hillsdale Golf & Country Club their home course.

Swanson earned Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association medalist honors in 1958, shooting a 36-hole total of 156. He remembers Waters driving the players to the Kalamazoo Country Club in his Pontiac station wagon. With his roommate as his caddy, Swanson said he had a strong first 18 holes, but the last 18 were physically demanding. However, he still had enough to take the individual title.

After graduation, he spent the next nearly 70 years at the College and in the Hillsdale community and has made a significant impact on both.

He was immediately hired to work for the College in the Admissions Office, then moved over to development. He also served nearly a decade in the U.S. Army Reserve while working at the College.

In 1967, Swanson was asked to become the College’s first financial aid director. He also worked in business affairs until 1973, when he left the College to become an insurance agent for the O’Meara Sumnar Insurance Agency. Retiring in 2004 after 31 years in insurance, Swanson continued to contribute to the Hillsdale community. In fact, he helped start the city’s Concert in the Park series and also served on the Hillsdale College Alumni Association Board, including a term as president.

Having a lifelong love of music and being an accomplished violin player, Swanson played in the College orchestra as a student and then continued for more than 50 years in the orchestra as a community member before recently stepping away. He has also been the director of the St. Paul Lutheran Church and Hillsdale Senior Center handbell choirs for more than 20 years.

A member of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity while on campus, he assisted for more than 40 years on the fraternity’s alumni control board. The former senior class president and Tower Award recipient said he fondly remembers his time as a student and is proud of his alma mater.

“There are several things that amaze me,” Swanson said of the College, “but the facility development has been absolutely world-class.”

He said he still keeps tabs on the Chargers golf team and is glad he has made Hillsdale his home.

“It’s a great place,” Swanson said. “I love this community.”

Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.

Published in June 2024