tillie becker
Player - amateur
Class of 2025
Born in August 1912, Tillie Becker spent a lifetime shaping Kansas women’s golf history. A natural golfer whose smooth swing and quiet competitiveness defined her for more than forty years, she captured the Kansas Women’s Amateur Championship four times — in 1941, 1949, 1950, and 1951 — and won the Trans-Mississippi Amateur Consolation title. Her talents took her to top national events, including the Western Open and the Broadmoor Ladies Invitational Championship, where she competed among the country’s best.
In the Broadmoor invitational in Colorado, Becker faced the great Babe Zaharias, who had just completed her remarkable 1950 season sweeping all three major championships. After nine holes, they were all square — prompting Babe to turn and ask, “Who are you?” That moment captured the essence of Tillie Becker: humble, fearless, and extraordinarily gifted.
Becker’s accomplishments at home were legendary. She won 25 to 30 Topeka City Championships, claimed the Shawnee Country Club title 12 times, and played in the famous 1951 Topeka Flood Relief Exhibition with Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Gordon MacRae, and Governor Ed Arn. Despite 100-degree heat and 5,000 spectators crowding the fairways, Becker held her own as the celebrities entertained and raised thousands for flood victims.
Off the course, Tillie’s life was grounded in family. She married Marshall Becker in 1930, and together they raised a daughter, Marsha Sue, born in 1937. Marshall and Marsha were the light of her life; Marshall passed away in 1982.
Honored with “Tillie Becker Day” at Shawnee Country Club and serving on the Trans-Mississippi Board of Directors, Tillie Becker left an enduring mark as both a champion and a role model. She passed away in October 2002, remembered as one of Kansas women’s golf’s true pioneers.
