As consistent as he was excellent on the golf course,
Del Rankin is the only Whitman golfer to earn All-Northwest Conference honors in four successive years.
He also capped each of his four seasons by helping the Missionaries bring home an NWC championship trophy.
Rankin earned all-conference honors each year by posting one of the top five scores at the championship tournament. His best individual performance came in 1969 at the Tualatin Country Club near Portland, Ore., where he captured medalist honors and led Whitman to a 24-stroke victory over its nearest competitor.
Rankin’s teammates marveled at his consistency because he was often Whitman’s shortest hitter off the tee. While competitors hit short irons to the green, Rankin was amazingly accurate with his middle and long irons.
Mark Lodine, winner of medalist honors at the 1970 tournament and Rankin’s teammate for four years, recalls that "Del had a sweet swing. He was very solid. You could always count on Del to score well because he was a competitor."
"Del could really focus in a match," remembers Dr. Bob Thomsen, his golf coach at Whitman. "He looked for a way to win."
Rankin tried his hand at being a PGA club professional after graduation, but he soon returned to Yakima, Wash., to join his father's business.
After retirement in 2001, he rejoined the PGA as a teaching professional and became active in formation of a local chapter of The First Tee, a youth character development program based on the game of golf.
He serves as the chapter's executive program director and recently finished a 10-week summer session with 350 participants attending 25 weekly classes at various golf courses and city parks in the Yakima Valley.
Rankin and wife Sara Wynn '70, who continue to make their home in Yakima, have two adult sons.
