By JUSTIN GOLBA, AmateurGolf.com
Shreveport product and former Southwood football star Stan Humphries now owns one of amateur golf’s most prestigious championships.
Humphries won the 2024 North & South Senior Men’s Amateur Championship last week at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort, site of the U.S. Open in June.
The former Super Bowl quarterback, who lives in Monroe where he is a state championship-winning girls basketball coach at Ouachita Christian School, pulled away in the final of three rounds, with a hole-in-one as a catalyst.
Humphries used rounds of 68-69-68 to get to 11-under and win by three shots.
He entered the final round tied at 7-under with Chad Branton, but a hot start to the final round, punctuated by an ace on the sixth hole, saw the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame QB get to 11-under and never look back.
“I just wanted to hit good golf shots and not take a lot of risk,” Humphries said. “Take a shot at the pins when the pins are available, but other than that, play safe.”
This was only the second ace of Humphries’s golf career, hitting a six iron from 197 yards.
“I was able to put my driver in play really well, and I putted really well,” Humphries said. “Whenever I gave myself a chance to make a birdie or save a par, I was able to do it with the putter. That is what gave me the consistency.”
This was his second time playing in the North & South Senior, his first being last season. In May, Humphries also won the SOS Dale Morey event.
While that was certainly a milestone in an accomplished senior amateur career Humphries is putting together, last week’s triumph is the cherry on top.
“It is a prestigious tournament, and it is awesome to be part of that,” he said.
Humphries is ranked No. 22 in the AmateurGolf.com Senior Rankings. A member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as a 2007 inductee, he led Northeast Louisiana (now ULM) to the 1987 Division I-AA football national championship, and guided the Chargers to a Super Bowl appearance to highlight a 10-year NFL career. He was a prep All-America QB at Southwood.
Branton finished in solo second place at 8-under, and 2023 champion Bob Royak and Miles McConnell finished T3 at 7-under. Jeff Frazier finished in solo fifth place at 6-under.