'He loved to compete': Tributes flow for Jim Ruschioni, one of Massachusetts' finest amateur golfers who died Tuesday at age 76

Jason Ruschioni won plenty of golf tournaments with his father, Jim, one of the most successful amateur golfers in Massachusetts for the last several decades.

They finished first in the Mass. Four-Ball, the Mass. Father-Son and the Wachusett Four-Ball twice each. They won the Pleasant Valley Labor Day Four-Ball, the Crumpin-Fox Father’s Day Two-Ball and the Eastern States Four-Ball at Oak Ridge CC four times in a row. They prevailed in the Father-Son at Oak Hill CC in Fitchburg about 15 times.

“I never had that competitive edge or that spirit that he had,” Jason said, “but I used to play in those tournaments just because I got the opportunity to play with him.”

Winning the Wachusett Four-Ball for the first time in 1994 in a playoff stands out.

“That was the first time I had really seen a lot of emotion out of him,” Jason said. “That was probably the most special moment we shared together, not knowing that there were going to be several other victories after that.”

Jim was diagnosed last August with pancreatic and liver cancer and started chemotherapy shortly afterward. Tuesday night, he died at age 76 in the Leominster home where he had lived with his wife, Lynne, since 1974.

Jason played his final round with his father on Aug. 14 at Wachusett’s sister course, Kettle Brook GC in Paxton. Jason’s son, Colin, joined them just before he headed off to his freshman year at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. Colin shot 71, Jason shot 74, and Jim shot 76. It was the first time Colin had beaten his father and grandfather. Jim’s good friend, Jon Fasick, completed the foursome.

“I had a feeling deep down that that was probably going to be the last time that I played with him, and it was,” Jason said.

Jim’s list of achievements would be the envy of most golfers. Playing with Paul Nunez, he earned his 14th and final Mass. Golf tournament victory in 2021 in the Mass. Senior Four-Ball Super Senior Division for golfers ages 65 and older. He also won the New England Amateur in 1987 at Oak Hill and was twice a finalist in the Mass. Amateur.

He won the Wachusett Four-Ball seven times in all, and he captured three Worcester County Amateurs at Wachusett CC. He also won the Hornblower and the Cape Cod Senior Open. He shot his age more than 100 times.

Add to that the 18 club championships he earned at Oak Hill, the most by any man, the two at Monoosnock CC in Leominster and the three at Wachusett CC, becoming the club’s oldest club champion at 69 in 2019, 71 in 2017 and 73 in 2021.

No wonder he was known as “Mr. Oak Hill” at Oak Hill and as “The Legend” at Wachusett. The flags at both clubs were lowered to half-staff on Wednesday.

“He’s a legend in my opinion, not just for Massachusetts golf, but for New England golf in general,” said Nick Marrone, who owns Wachusett and Kettle Brook with his siblings and serves as director of golf at both. “Growing up, I looked at him like kids look at Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler. That’s how I looked at Jim Ruschioni when I was watching him play the four-balls.”

Jim O’Leary served as head pro at Oak Hill from 1964-2014 and still helps out at the club. He ranks Jim Ruschioni as the club’s greatest golfer.

“He was Mr. Oak Hill,” O’Leary said. “He was our club and he made our club better. He made every place better wherever he was. He made Wachusett a better place. He was a pied piper.”

Each year, the Marrone family awards a free membership to someone who represents the club well. It’s called the Don Marrone Quiet Man Award, named after the Marrones’ late father and one of his favorite John Wayne movies about his beloved Ireland. Last January, the Marrones emailed Jim to inform him they planned to give him the award in 2024.

In his email reply, Jim wrote in part, “I have always tried to treat people and the game of golf with the utmost respect on and off the course. I have had some of the best accomplishments and highlights of my career at Wachusett CC and I will never forget those times.”

Jason said his father had the proper attitude to be a great golfer.

“Just his temperament, the way he carried himself on the golf course,” Jason said. “His ability to not let bad shots bother him. He loved to compete. He had that edge to him. Everybody that he competed against hit it farther than him, but that didn’t bother him. If the weather was tough, he had that drive in him to compete, never give up and to take it one shot at a time.”

Jason admired his father even more off the course.

“He was great,” Jason said. “He was just the ultimate role model.”

Jim learned to play golf at Winchendon Golf Club where his father, Dino, was the superintendent. The family lived across the street from the 17th hole.

Jason has many great memories playing golf with his father. One of them that stands out is how he aimed almost backward to roll a 90-degree angle birdie putt up a hill on 17 at Wachusett and then he birdied 18 to win the Wachusett Four-Ball in 1995.

“His desire and his refusal to lose and refusal to quit,” Jason said, “that was one of my favorite golf moments playing with him.”

Jim also refused to quit after he was diagnosed with cancer.

“He battled for seven months of treatment,” Jason said. “The chemo really just took its toll on him. He was optimistic in March, and basically his wish was to get out there with Colin and I and play some golf whether it was nine holes or what.”

Unfortunately, he was informed later in March that his treatments weren’t working, and he entered managed care.

“He remained optimistic,” Jason said. “He wasn’t defeated. He has never been defeated in his entire life and just tried his best to get some kind of quality of life despite the fact that he had this cancer.”

Jason said the family received hundreds of text messages and emails of condolences the day after his father died, starting at 6 a.m.

Wachusett CC golf shop manager Don DiCarlo played a lot with Jim.

“Ridiculously consistent, probably one of the best putters I’ve ever seen,” DiCarlo said. “Definitely a great short game. Hit it consistently dead down the middle.”

Even when Jim didn’t play, he sometimes went to Wachusett to talk to his friends at the end of their rounds or walk a hole with them. He brought the pro shop staff doughnuts and muffins several times.

Paul Spongberg also played often with Jim at Wachusett.

“He just made it comfortable to play with him,” Spongberg said. “He was just an ambassador of the game, but he was very relaxed, made you relaxed. As long as you respected the game as much as he did, you’d have a great time.”

Spongberg said higher handicappers played better when playing with him, and he enjoyed offering tips to them.

Ruschioni worked for 31 years for General Electric in Fitchburg before retiring as a purchasing manager at age 51.

In addition to Jason, 50, of Princeton, the Ruschionis have another son, Michael, 46, who lives in Franklin. Jim is survived by five grandchildren.

“They said he dominated golf, but he dominated life as a father and a husband,” Marrone said.

Jesse Menachem, Mass Golf executive director and CEO, agreed that Jim was a legend.

“He’s a legend in the state, a gentleman, a friend,” Menachem said. “Partnering with his son, with his fellow club mates, and just always a consistent name and personality that people really enjoyed being around, being associated with.”

The Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame is an exclusive club with only 22 members, but Jim can’t be ruled out as a future inductee.

“I think he is absolutely part of that conversation,” Menachem said.

It was sad, but fitting that he died on the night of the final day of the Mass. Senior Four-Ball. His good friends, Jon Fasick of New England CC and his twin brother Carter Fasick of Westborough CC, won the Super Senior Division for golfers ages 65 and older.

“I know it was quite emotional for them and also quite fitting,” Menachem said. “That’s a really incredible, ironic feat.”

Mike Kean played weekends with Jim at Wachusett for more than a decade. Kean said when he played in the Senior Four-Ball on Monday and Tuesday, about 50 golfers asked him how Jim was doing, and they all told stories about how gracious he had been to them.

“He’s a legend,” Kean said. “The nicest guy in the world. Competitive. He wanted to win, but always the classiest guy you’d ever meet. Obviously, he won a lot, but he’d play with anyone.”

Kean said Jim set four rules when he played at Wachusett, called the four P’s, when they played for money. They were “play fast, putt out, post your score and pay up.”

O’Leary said whether your handicap was 1 or 31, it didn’t matter to Ruschioni. He wanted to get to know everyone’s name.

“He was a great golfer and a better person,” O’Leary said. “He was humble and kind.”

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—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @BillDoyle15.