Jim Colbert once said: “Lee Trevino has his sombrero, Jack Nicklaus has the bear. I have my hat.”

In 1957, while playing a tournament in Kansas, Colbert nearly collapsed from sunstroke. At a doctor’s insistence, Colbert began wearing a bucket hat on the course. After playing for 13 years with the bucket hat, Colbert decided to switch things up, and he wore a baseball cap for six months of the 1970 PGA TOUR season. What he discovered is that nobody could recognize him, nobody knew who he was.

Colbert went back to his old standby. That hat became the most recognizable Colbert symbol during his time on both the PGA TOUR and the PGA TOUR Champions. Well, that and his ability to win. Colbert, who died at age 85 on May 10, 2026, will always be remembered for his hat but perhaps even more so for his eight PGA TOUR victories and additional 20 PGA TOUR Champions titles.

Born March 9, 1941, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Colbert spent his teenage years as a multi-sport athlete, most notably in golf and football, which led him to earn a football scholarship to Kansas State University.

It was in high school that he met his future wife, Marcia. During class, Colbert would sit behind her, threatening his classmate with marriage: “I’m going to marry you and take you places,” he said.

Marcia, the homecoming queen, and Jim, the football star, married at age 17, and they soon moved to Manhattan, Kansas, with Colbert pursuing his football dreams. When an injury ended his football career, Colbert made the pivotal decision to turn to golf. It turned out to be a solid choice. In 1964, he was the runner-up in the individual portion of the NCAA Championship, losing to San Jose State’s Terry Small.

Two years later, Colbert was playing golf professionally on the PGA TOUR. During his rookie year, in 1966, Colbert played 13 events and earned only $1,898, a performance that nearly cost him his playing privileges. In 1967, Colbert turned his game around, solidifying his status and earning $25,425 in the process. He showed his stuff at the Jacksonville Open in March, contending all week before eventually tying for third with Gay Brewer, two shots behind winner Dan Sikes. He finished the season 46th on the money list, with four top 10s. After a dip in 1968, missing 12 cuts and finishing 104th on the earnings chart, Colbert became the picture of consistency, winning five times in the next seven years and finishing runner-up three additional times during that span.

His first victory came at the weather-delayed 1969 Monsanto Open in Pensacola, Florida, where he outdueled Deane Beman to win by one shot. At 17 under, he was good enough to best Beman by two strokes and secure the winner’s share of $20,000 in a rare Tuesday finish. In 1995, Colbert told Sports Illustrated: “By the time we finished up, the only person around was the shoeshine guy, waiting for his tip.”

He added victories at the Greater Milwaukee Open (1972), Greater Jacksonville Open (1973), American Golf Classic (1974) and Walt Disney World National Team Championship, with Dean Refram (1975).

His best year on the PGA TOUR came in 1983, when Colbert won two tournaments, the Texas Open, shooting a 19-under 261, and the Colonial National Invitation. He finished a career-best 15th on the PGA TOUR money list, with $223,810.

Colbert’s PGA TOUR career ended in 1987 with back pain significantly reducing his schedule. He played in 10 tournaments, moving his career total to 586 tournament starts and career earnings of $1,553,136. Not one to sit back and relax, Colbert joined ESPN, working network golf telecasts as an analyst between 1987-90. His straight-talk approach toward the game quickly made him a fan favorite.

In 1991, when Colbert turned 50, he joined the PGA TOUR Champions. In his first year, Colbert became an instant success, winning three tournaments, Rookie of the Year honors and $770,749. In 1995, he won the Las Vegas Senior Open in his adopted home of Las Vegas. At the same event, Colbert won the first million-dollar purse in TOUR-affiliated tournament history.

Colbert also endured a health scare in 1996 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Colbert underwent successful surgery to remove his prostate and by 1998 was back on the course. Years later, Colbert spoke about an encounter he had with Arnold Palmer on the night Colbert received the 1996 award with Palmer’s name on it, emblematic of the TOUR’s Player of the Year. During the conversation, Palmer revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis to Colbert, a moment Colbert described as “a wake-up call.” Later that year, Colbert received an identical diagnosis to Palmer’s and recalled their conversation. Like Palmer, he beat the disease, and in 1998, Colbert won the Transamerica Championship, a performance that helped earn him the TOUR’s member-consensus Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Colbert’s PGA TOUR Champions success stood in contrast to his PGA TOUR career, despite competing in nearly the same number of tournaments. From 1991 to 2012, Colbert played 505 events, won 20 times and pocketed more than $11 million. His final PGA TOUR Champions start came at 2012 Principal Charity Classic.

Off the links, Colbert made a name for himself as a shrewd businessman primarily in golf course real estate. In 1980, Colbert bought his first course in Las Vegas. After nearly a decade of buying, renovating and designing golf courses, Colbert’s business owned 23 courses, employed a workforce of 700 employees and boasted annual gross revenue of nearly $50 million. In 1989, Colbert sold Colbert Golf Inc. as he prepared for his PGA TOUR Champions career.

Throughout his life, Colbert maintained close ties with his alma mater — specifically as an ardent supporter of the university’s golf program. Today, both the Wildcat men’s and women’s golf teams play and practice on the Colbert Hills Golf Club, which Colbert helped design. Because of his numerous contributions to the game in various arenas, Colbert is enshrined in five different halls of fame: Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2000), Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame (2019), Kansas State Athletic Hall of Fame (1991), Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (1998) and Kansas City Golf Hall of Fame (2018).