W C (Cammie), one of the most successful of Ayrshire's golfing sons, died in 1995 but Scottishgolfview.com and Ayrshire Golf Association secretary Alasdair Malcolm are of the same mind in that it's not too late for the Scottish Golf Union handbook to get Cammie's Scotland international appearances listed correctly (no criticism of the present staff intended).
Cammie played in the Men's Home Internationals of 1950 at Royal St David's GC, Harlech in Wales, after he beat David Blair, Scottish boy champion in 1935 and Walker Cup player of 1955 and 1961, by 2 and 1 in the final of the Scottish amateur championship at a course Cammy knew very well - Prestwick.
He also played in the following year's (1951) Home Internationals at Royal Lytham, where Scotland and Ireland shared the title, but, for some unexplained reason, every other member of the Scotland team that year is credited with a cap for 1951 in the SGU handbook - but not Cammie Gibson.
That was the second bit of bad luck in Cammie's golfing career.
He reached the semi-finals of the Scottish amateur championship in 1939 and was selected to play in the home internationals at Royal Lytham - but they were cancelled, alongwith every other major sporting event, when World War II was declared by Britain on Germany in September 1939.
Alongwith many fine golfers, and other sportsmen, Cammie Gibson "lost" the next six years when he would have been at his golfing peak and who knows what he might have achieved in the golfing world in the 1940s in normal circumstances.
Cammie Gibson is pictured below in his playing days.
Alasdair Malcolm writes:"Cammie's home club was Prestwick St Cuthbert when he won the Scottish in 1950. He was made an honorary member of St Cuthbert in 1939 after his bronze medal performance in the same event.
"He also became a member of Prestwick St Nicholas, playing his golf there in later years.
"Interestingly, when he won the Scottish at Prestwick in 1950, Prestwick Town Council had an exact copy of the championship trophy in miniature made for him. This stands about eight inches high and is on permanent loan to St Cuthbert, along with his championship medals.
"I took a photograph of the miniature copy, next to its 'big brother,' the last time the Scottish Amateur was at Prestwick (Alasdair Malcolm also took a picture of Cammie with the miniature and that's it at the top of this article).
"You may be interested to know that Cammie's brother was a well known professional in America, who played in the US Open and Masters tournaments and was a playing contemporary of the likes of Sam Snead and Tony Penna.
"Andy Gibson began his career on the other side of the Atlantic as professional at Baltimore County GC but he moved on to The Country Club, Maryland where he was pro for over 25 years.
"Cammie passed away in 1995 and brother Andy died only a few months later."
"A picture from 1994 when Cammie Gibson presented his golfing medals on permanent loan to Prestwick St Cuthbert, writes Alasdair Malcolm.
"The frame of medals include his Scottish Amateur championship bronze (1939) and gold (1950) medals and a medal from the 10th Boys International in 1932 between Scotland and England which was played at Royal Lytham St Annes.
"Interesting to note that the 1939 Scottish Amateur Championship was apparently the first one that Cammie entered, where he won bronze, and his next appearance in the championship was 1950 when he won gold.
"His next appearance was in 1951 at St Andrews, as defending champion, when he went all the way to the quarter finals before losing out to WD (Dick) Smith, a Prestwick member who famously played in the Walker Cup against a young Jack Nicklaus. I am not aware of Cammie taking part in the Scottish Amateur again after this, so not a bad record for three entries - quarter-finalist, semi-finalist and champion!
"As to the question why the Scottish Golf Union handbook's 1951 omission of his cap that year was not taken up, I have no idea. Whether it is just an oversight or whether there were other factors I am not sure.
"Did the matches go ahead on the scheduled dates or were they postponed and he wasn't available for the rearanged fixture? (Editor: The fact that a team picture, below, was taken suggests that Cammy Gibson was there and played). Perhaps if one of the Home nations has detailed records we may be able to shed some light on this eventually."
SCOTLAND'S 1950 HOME INTERNATIONALS TEAM
Back row (left to right): JR McKay, KW Walker, CD Lawrie, FWG Deighton, RR Jack, GW Mackie, R Wight, A Sinclair junior.
Front row (l to r): AT Kyle, J Cameron Conn (SGU president), WS McLeod, GB Peters (non-playing team captain), WC Gibson, WM Berrie (SGU honorary secretary), JB Stevenson.
SCOTLAND'S 1951 HOME INTERNATIONALS TEAM
Front row (l to r): AT Kyle, J Cameron Conn (SGU president), WS McLeod, GB Peters (non-playing team captain), WC Gibson, WM Berrie (SGU honorary secretary), JB Stevenson.
SCOTLAND'S 1951 HOME INTERNATIONALS TEAM
Back row standing (left to right): RC MacGregor, WS McLeod, JR McKay, SB Williamson, HM Dickson (SGU president), WM Berrie (SGU honorary secretary).
Middle row seated (l to r): WC Gibson, JC Wilson, JM Dykes, RD Brand (non-playing team captain), AT Kyle, DA Blair, D Cameron.
Front seated (l to r): RR Jack, JB Stevenson.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Many famous names from Scotland's golfing past in both pictures which were given to Alasdair Malcolm by Cammie Gibson - Reid Jack, Morty Dykes, Eddie Hamilton, David Blair, Sandy Sinclair, to name just the ones that I know best.
One thing that strikes me about both pictures is the mature age of the players who represented Scotland in those days, when the European Tour, not to mention the Tour School was still some years away.
I would guess the teams' average age would have been at least 30, maybe 35 compared with a Scotland team these days when the average age would be around 20 or 21.
FOOTNOTE
In the 1970 edition of the Scottish Golf Union yearbook, Cammie is listed as playing against Ireland in 1950 & 1951.
A trawl through all the players listed on both photos and the caps attributed to them in the 1970 yearbook revealed that the same 10 players appear to have played in all three home international matches in 1950, whilst in 1951 eight appear to have played in all three matches.
Of the others, Cammie and J B Stevenson (another Ayrshire man from Troon St Meddans) played only against Ireland whilst Jimmy McKay (Prestwick St Nicholas) and R.C. McGregor both played against England & Wales.
In summary, it would appear that over the years, Cammie's 1951 cap against Ireland appears to have dropped off the radar. Hopefully this information will be sufficient to have the SGU Yearbook corrected for future years. - Alasdair J Malcolm
A trawl through all the players listed on both photos and the caps attributed to them in the 1970 yearbook revealed that the same 10 players appear to have played in all three home international matches in 1950, whilst in 1951 eight appear to have played in all three matches.
Of the others, Cammie and J B Stevenson (another Ayrshire man from Troon St Meddans) played only against Ireland whilst Jimmy McKay (Prestwick St Nicholas) and R.C. McGregor both played against England & Wales.
In summary, it would appear that over the years, Cammie's 1951 cap against Ireland appears to have dropped off the radar. Hopefully this information will be sufficient to have the SGU Yearbook corrected for future years. - Alasdair J Malcolm
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