Amateur victory ends Alex Weir’s run of runner-up EDGA results
Alex Weir won his first EDGA major, the Aug. 10 Amateur Tournament, on the same Kahkwa Club course where he formerly worked.
Rich Rocky’s Kim Kupniewski bias — as a golfer and a person — is understandable.
Downing Golf Course was a regular locale when Rocky took up the sport in the early 1980s. The Harborcreek Township club also was where he occasionally crossed paths with Kupniewski, its professional instructor.
Rocky and Kupniewski saw more of each other decades later.
Significantly more.
Rocky has owned Whispering Woods Golf Club since it opened in 2007. That same year, he hired Downing’s pro to assume that same role for the new McKean Township course.
That pro was Kupniewski.
Rocky considered the former Cathedral Prep and Mercyhurst University standout an emeritus employee until his Aug. 24 death at age 72.
Although Rocky relished their longtime bond, that’s not the only reason he referred to Kupniewski as “the epitome of Erie golf.”
“He loved golf the way Erie’s golf community loves it,” Rocky said. “When you think of Erie, Pennsylvania, golf, you think of Kim.
“People ask me that all the time and that’s what I always say.”
‘A sad moment’
Kupniewski also influenced Dave Hewett, the Erie District Golf Association’s president, on and off area courses.
“I took lessons from Kim back in the early 1980s,” he said. “He was never anything other than kind and gentle.”
Hewett thought enough of Kupniewski to write a golf-themed obituary for edga.org. It detailed Kupniewski’s success with Prep and at national junior tournaments, and then with Mercyhurst over the mid-1970s.
The Lakers also enshrined him in their athletic hall of fame in 2013.
Kupniewski, despite his talent, never won an EDGA major. The closest he came was the 1973 debut of its Match Play tournament, which was held at Erie Golf Club.
Harry Boback Jr. beat Kupniewski 8 and 7 in the competition’s former 36-hole format.
However, Kupniewski served as the Match Play’s director for 10 years. That tenure, combined with his extended EDGA affiliation, collectively warranted 2006 enshrinement in its hall of fame.
Hewett’s online obit also mentioned Kupniewski’s desire to nurture youth golfers. He directed the City of Erie’s junior program and coached McDowell’s players in the late 2000s.
“This is a sad moment for golf in our community,” Hewett said.
How to honor
Kupniewski was preceded in death by his parents, Chester and Audrey Anthony Kupniewski; and a brother, Chuck Kupniewski.
Survivors include his wife, Cathy; two sons, Sonny Kupniewski and his wife, Amanda, and Bob Kupniewski; a sister, Julie Hutchinson and her husband, Fred; and two grandchildren.
There were no calling hours or service.
Donations can be made to the Kim Kupniewski Memorial Fund in care of Burton Quinn-Scott Cremation & Funeral Services Inc., 3801 W. 26th St., Erie, PA 16506.
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.
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