McCallister, Co-Owner of Athletic Club, Dies

George Lee McCallister, co-owner of Studio City Golf & Tennis Club and a former professional golfer, has died in Los Angeles. He was 80.

McCallister played on the Professional Golfers’ Assn. tour in 1945, competing against such greats as Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, his family said.

A longtime resident of North Hollywood, McCallister died Monday of cancer, said his son John.

Born and raised in Carmi, Ill., McCallister moved to Florida as a teen-ager to play football and basketball at Lakeland High. His brother Don, who was the school’s football coach, promised to teach him how to play golf if he joined the team.

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, McCallister was a four-time winner of the Spartanburg City Amateur Championship in South Carolina, a three-time winner of the Spartanburg Country Club championship and the low amateur twice in the Carolinas Open, his family said.

Earning a living as an insurance salesman, McCallister moved to California in 1946 and joined the Wilshire Country Club, where he met Art Anderson, a fellow club member.

In December, 1947, the pair bought the Studio City club, a nine-hole, par-three course that is noted for its nine 30-foot tees, each topped with three-foot lighted balls, along Whitsett Avenue. The golf club still is owned by the McCallister and Anderson families.

To interest people in golf, McCallister started giving lessons at discount prices. “The ladies wanted a class on Monday mornings,” McCallister said in a 1987 interview with the Times. “The first class, 25 showed up. The next week, 40. Now this is going to sound like bull, but the third week, I pull into the parking lot and it’s full. We had 110 women there, a couple from as far away as El Monte. We had to break them up into three groups.”

In the mid-1960s, he held workshops for high school teachers to encourage them to start golf programs at their schools.

He regained his amateur standing in 1946 after a year on the PGA tour and continued to play in tournaments. During the 1950s, he twice was the low-gross champion in the Wilshire Macbeth tournament and five-time club champion at Wilshire Country Club.

He rejoined the PGA in the early 1960s and was a life member of the organization.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Violet McCallister; sons, Wesley McCallister of North Hollywood, George McCallister Jr. of Studio City, Thomas McCallister of Alhambra, Craig McCallister of Carmel, and John McCallister of Agoura; and five grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. today at First United Methodist Church of North Hollywood, 4832 Tujunga Ave. Burial will be private.