Wes Paxson Sr., one of a group of area businessmen and San Jose Country Club members instrumental in launching the PGA Tour’s Greater Jacksonville Open — the forerunner to The Players Championship — passed away on Dec. 13 in hospice care at the age of 100 — 10 days short of his 101st birthday.
Mr. Paxson, whose family moved from his birthplace of Chester, Pa., to Jacksonville when he was 2 years old in 1925, attended John Gorrie Junior High and Riverside High and then graduated from Georgia Tech.
He worked for Miller Electric, which his father-in-law owned, then formed his own company, Paxson Electric.
Years later, in 1964, Mr. Paxson joined forces with Southern Bell executives John Tucker and John Montgomery, Florida Publishing Company head Bob Feagin, and other community leaders to lure the PGA Tour to the First Coast. The first GJO was in 1965 at Selva Marina, with Tucker as the chairman.
“He was as instrumental as anyone in bringing the Tour here,” said Fred Seely, former sports and managing editor of the Times-Union. “John Tucker was the leader and Wes was the cheerleader and people who knew Wes would know what I’m saying. He was the guy who was so enthusiastic.
“He was always there when people needed him, with advice and particularly with good humor,” Seely continued. “When the negations with the Tour were taking place on the fifth floor of the Times-Union building, he was the guy saying, ‘We can do this … this can get done.’ He was a great guy, a super-good guy.”
Paxson and Tucker also founded “The Redcoats,” or the Honourable Company of Past Chairmen who administer charitable grants from The Players.
Deane Beman credits GJO success in moved Tour, Players to First Coast
Mr. Paxson served as the chairman for the second year of the Greater Jacksonville Open and remained actively involved in the tournament after that. The GJO, which rotated to Deerwood and Hidden Hills, so impressed PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman that he moved Tour headquarters and The Players Championship to Ponte Vedra in 1976
More than 50 years later, The Players is the PGA Tour’s flagship event and the Tour is housed in a huge global home just off A1A. The tournament has become one of the major worldwide events in golf and has resulted in more than $110 million in charitable donations to the First Coast.
“Without the success of the GJO we never would have come here … The Players never would have happened here,” Beman said. “Clearly, Wes was a major factor in bringing golf to this area. The volunteer base that was put together, the fan support made us believe this area could be our home.”
Duke Butler III, a former PGA Tour executive and tournament director, called Mr. Paxson “a great leader.”
”He loved the game of golf, the GJO and The Players and had many, many friends,” Butler said.
Wes Paxson was proud of Jacksonville
Mr. Paxson was also a past Gator Bowl chairman. He was proud of his community and its accomplishments, said his wife of 37 years, Betty Paxson.
“He loved Jacksonville and felt like the city had come so far with The Players, the Mayo Clinic and everything else,” she said. “He felt really good about it.”
Mr. Paxson is also survived by two daughters, Kathy and Rose, a son, Ambrose, and a daughter-in-law, Susan.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Wes Paxson Sr., who helped bring the PGA Tour to Jacksonville, dies at 100
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