William Morris (“Bill” ) Johnson, was born on 25 July 1935, one of 2 sons born to market gardener parents, attended Prince Alfred College and was an avid sportsman. He grew up in different times with his brother contracting polio as a schoolboy and being disabled from that infection for the rest of his life. This terrible disease instilled in Bill the desire to live life to its fullest and I am certain that he did that.
Bill Joined Kooyonga in March 1969 and was a Category 1 Member for his entire 54 years of membership until being awarded Life membership in 2023.
A solid golfer without being outstanding, Bill played most of his days in B Grade, winning the B Grade Trophy once, making the final one other time and the semi-finals twice. Such was his determination to improve his golf he achieved his goal of playing in A Grade twice for brief stints.
Bill served on Committee for 8 years from 1987 – 1995 before a further 2 years as Vice Captain to David Martin and then as Captain himself from 1997-1999. He later served as Vice President and President during the years 2011-2015.
He had a number of significant achievements during his term as Captain including:
- The installation of the Club’s first automatic watering system, which is still in use today
- The appointment of Steven Newell as Course Superintendent, who served for 19 years
- The establishment of the Forward Planning Sub-Committee jointly with David Martin, focusing on Strategic Planning for the next 25 years
- Acting as Master of Ceremonies for the 75thCelebrations; and
- Representing Kooyonga at the 1997 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne after Kooyonga was shortlisted along with 9 other Clubs as potential hosts for the event. He was offered a “gold pass” for the event and rubbed shoulders with President Bush and his wife Barbara
Since completing his Office bearer duties he served in the unofficial role of the club’s archivist/historian, since 2010, writing numerous articles for the club newsletters and researching club history with fellow archivist Grant Laidlaw, including the most recent Tribute to David Rowe. This work and the review of drafts by both Bill and Grant has been invaluable to Sally Collings in her writing of the Club’s history book to be released in 2025.
Bill’s intimate knowledge of the history of Kooyonga, together with his understanding of its traditions has enabled him to act as a wonderful sounding board and wise counsel to many Office Bearers and Committee that have followed him, always standing up for what is in the best interests of Kooyonga and assisting in passing on those traditions and history in an enjoyable manner.
Bill was an active and enthusiastic member of the Centenary Taskforce and was instrumental in The R&A being involved in our Centenary Celebrations, which resulted in the official toast being performed by Mr Dominic Wall, Director Asia Pacific of The R&A and a plate from The R&A being presented to Kooyonga. He also reluctantly contributed to the Centenary video where his love and passion for Kooyonga was firmly on display, explaining our history.
Bill has been an unwavering supporter of our Simpson Cup pennant teams, having witnessed great success as well as the lows of pennant defeats. He attended matches in rain, hail or sunshine over decades and would wear the Club colours and logo with great pride.
One of my first recollections of Kooyonga was meeting Bill when I commenced playing pennants, with Bill being one of the “old” guys who were always at the 9th hole and 14th hole as our matches progressed. He welcomed young golfers to the club and especially those who had a competitive drive to improve their game and represent Kooyonga.
Mike Richards was the beneficiary of Bill’s generosity joining Kooyonga from Tea Tree Gully and going on to win 5 Club Championships and also hold the record for the number of Simpson Cup matches playing 131 for Kooyonga winning 59% of his matches and 7 winning Simpson Cups.
Bill was always a huge supporter of his wife Yvonne (including choking up while talking about her at the recent celebration of David Rowe’s life). Yvonne is a Past Women’s Captain, Club Champion and State Champion, and together they have been pillars of Kooyonga’s social calendar attending almost all events until only recent year when ill health has prevented them. They played in the RS Thomson for 39 years straight, without a win, showing their competitive nature perhaps!
Together, he and Yvonne have given to Kooyonga in many ways during their entire memberships and are in the Top 20 donors to the Kooyonga Foundation, whilst actively promoting others to donate to the Club, further underlining his support for junior and pennant golf.
In his reserved, determined and respectful manner, Bill always demonstrated his qualities of loyalty, leadership, passion, competitiveness and commitment.
His propensity to be a giver rather than taker was always evident throughout his life both inside and outside of Kooyonga.
He was a Trustee of Adelaide Workers Homes, an organisation that provides affordable housing, for 40 years, including 25 years as Chair. He refused to take any remuneration for his time while serving and in 2022 the Bill Johnson Estate, providing 219 apartments and townhouses in Richmond, was named after him in recognition of his transformative contribution to the organisation.
Bill served on the Council of Prince Alfred College for 36 years, including 10 years as Chair and a further significant period as Chair of the PAC Endowment Fund where he grew the funds under management exponentially.
In his younger days, Bill was a talented sportsman, representing South Australia in tennis at Linton Cup level for over 10 years, captaining the State team.
Following 21 league games for Norwood in 1956 and 1957, kicking 47 goals over the two seasons, he played reserves in 1958 kicking a further 45 goals. During a match in 1956 on his 21st birthday he was badly concussed, but announced his engagement to Yvonne. Following his stint at Norwood, Bill returned to PAC Old Scholars where he was Captain Coach for 6 years during the 1960’s, and hardly missed watching the Old Scholars until his health starting failing this last season.
Bill commenced a successful sporting goods import business in 1979 and with Yvonne managing the bookkeeping was always quite frugal. I recall often visiting Bill for a morning cup of tea at his house where Yvonne would prepare the tea and was often cooking biscuits, and Bill was wearing his Umbro track suit from 40 years ago, which looked a little aged but he always told me that the products he sold were good quality.
He was a competitive but also compassionate man. His loyalty was unchallengeable; to Yvonne, to PAC, to Adelaide Workers Homes and to Kooyonga, his Club.
I asked Bill to present to a Committee dinner a few years ago to talk about his life and what Kooyonga meant to him. He referred to Kooyonga as “his Club”, the one place that he was proud to be a member, an equal among equals, and a club with traditions and values. He staunchly requested we uphold those traditions and values and be proud of our Club. I recall it was a speech that all in attendance felt touched by and it added to the pride of what it meant to be a member of Kooyonga.
Bill was passionate about Kooyonga, about the standards of the Club, about ensuring its future and reputation and has demonstrated this time and again in his 54 years of membership.
He lived and breathed all of the values that we at Kooyonga hold dear and he represented the very fabric of the Club, and that will be his lasting legacy, enshrined in our Centenary Video where he so clearly shows his passion.
Watch Bill’s Contribution to Kooyonga’s Commemorative Video (first starts at 52 seconds)
The Club and all of its members have been beneficiaries of Bill’s efforts, commitment, dedication, time and passion, and the Club’s reputation enhanced by his representation and service.
He had a challenging last few months with his health but was very courageous during this time including making the challenging decision to move to a smaller and more convenient home for he and Yvonne in recent weeks.
Bill has left his mark on Australian Workers Homes, Prince Alfred College, Kooyonga and his family with 2 children Joanne and David and his grandchildren all of whom he was very proud of.
Yvonne and I spoke just this Monday and when describing Bill both used the word “wonderful”. He was a wonderful man; so strong, yet empathetic, supportive, proud and such a strong giver to the causes close to his heart. I personally feel very proud to call him my friend and I know that is the way all who crossed paths in life with him feel.
Bill passed away peacefully on Sunday 17 November 2024 surrounded by family, aged 89.
Crawford Giles
Club Captain 2021 – 2023