Loquacious and confident, when Johnny Lakotas’ game was on, he felt he could beat anybody, and he was not shy about saying so. His first state title, the 1935 Minnesota State Public Links Championship held at Superior Golf Course (now Brookview GC in Golden Valley), was won with a two-bit (25 cent) putter he nicknamed “Old Stick in the Mud,” and a borrowed set of golf clubs and shoes. Years later, Lakotas wrote that beating Joe Coria in the 1935 semi-finals was his “greatest thrill in golf...and the happiest day of my life.” He would win the 1937 and 1939 State Public Links, as well as win more than a dozen city and regional tournaments, including the 1935 Resorters. At the peak of his game, Lakotas qualified for the National Amateur Public Links championship four times in 1936, 1937, 1939 and 1940. Lakotas passed away in 1978.
