Eastern Washington University Athletics

A four-time participant in the NAIA golf championships, Lindeblad has spent more than 35 years as the head pro at golf courses in the Inland Northwest. He graduated in 1968 from North Central High School in Spokane and continued his education at Eastern where he received his accounting degree in 1972. He went to the NAIA Championships four times in the late 1960's and early 1970's. He helped Eastern to three-straight Evergreen Conference titles and four NAIA District 1 titles, including 1970 when he had a 74.5 average. In 1971 he won the NAIA District 1 individual title during Eastern's six-year reign as team champion. He became a golf pro, and after spending 12 years at Liberty Lake Golf Course in Spokane, he moved on to Indian Canyon Golf Course where he has remained since Jan. 1, 1985. He has received over 40 Inland Empire Chapter and Pacific Northwest Section awards for his service to the PGA, golf instruction and junior golf. In 1995, Gary was named Golf Business Magazine's "Golf Professional of the Year." He founded the Rosauers Open Invitational golf tournament in 1988, which raises more than $100,000 annually for the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, a nonprofit organization that serves abused children in the Spokane area. As a tribute to his mentoring skills, at least 12 of his former employees have gone on to become head golf pros or head golf coaches. His playing career also continued to flourish after leaving Eastern, including titles in the 1990 Rosauers Open and the 1995 Lilac City Invitational. Lindeblad has played on 11 PNWPGA Section Hudson Cup teams, was the captain in 2004 and has won numerous chapter and section titles. He competed in the Senior PGA Championship in May 2001 but didn't make the cut after opening rounds of 74 and 79 (nine-over-par). In 2007, he was voted into the Pacific Northwest Section of the Professional Golfers' Association of America (PNWPGA) Hall of Fame. Since 1999, he has battled cancer, a rare form of lymphoma called Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia. Bob Scott, now the head pro at MeadowWood Golf Course, praised his former mentor in a published article in the Spokane Journal of Business in 2005: "Gary has been one of the biggest influences in my life, and not just golf. He was my mentor. No one has taught more people in the Spokane area than Gary. Part of the reason for the growth of golf in this area is that you have somebody like Gary teaching the game." In a Spokane Spokesman-Review article in 2007 announcing the selection of Lindeblad to the PNWPGA Hall of Fame, executive director Jeff Ellison had this to say: "It reflects a lifetime of excellence and service to fellow professionals and their profession. Gary has done a remarkable job of helping the Rosauers Open become one of the premier section events in the country."