William Cammack Campbell (May 5, 1923 – August 30, 2013), often known as Bill Campbell or William C. Campbell, served two terms as the President of the United States Golf Association (USGA).
This native of Huntington, West Virginia served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and graduated from Princeton University in 1947 after playing collegiately for the Tigers.
Campbell’s amateur career spanned 37 U.S. Amateurs, including 33 consecutively from 1941–77, and won the event in 1964. Eight times he was named to the U.S. Walker Cup team between 1951 to 1975, captaining the 1955 team, and finished with an overall record of 11–4–3 (7–0–1 in singles matches). He was runner-up in the 1954 British Amateur and three times runner-up in the Canadian Amateur Championship, in 1952, 1954, and 1965. He won three West Virginia Opens, four North and South Amateurs, and fifteen West Virginia Amateur titles. He won the U.S. Senior Amateur in 1979 and 1980 (medalist in 1979, 1980, and 1984), and finished 2nd overall in the 1980 U.S. Senior Open.
Campbell served on the Executive Committee of the USGA from 1962–1965, and again from 1977 to 1984. He was the treasurer in 1978–1979, vice-president in 1980–1981, then served as president in 1982 and 1983. In 1987, he was named Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, just the third American to hold that post, becoming the first person to head both of golf’s main governing bodies.
In 1956, Campbell was awarded the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honor. He also received the 1991 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA’s highest honor. He was inducted into the West Virginia Golf Hall of Fame in 2009 with Sam Snead and was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.
