INDIANAPOLIS – One of the year-to-year staples of the UIndy men's golf schedule is getting a much-welcomed rebranding this coming spring. The program is proud to announce that the annual UIndy Invitational will now be called the Ken Partridge Invitational in honor of its legendary former head coach.
 
Perennially featuring some of the top talent in Division II, the tournament has been on the Greyhound schedule for more than 20 years – including its active stint at Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind., since 2011 – but the renaming will grant the event all the more significance.
 
Said current UIndy head man and former Partridge pupil Brent Nicoson: "Changing the name of our annual UIndy Invitational to the Ken Partridge Invitational is something small we can do to honor 'Coach P' and all he did for the program, our athletics department, and the university.
 
"Coach Partridge is a legend in coaching and certainly a loyal Greyhound so I want to do more things within our program to show our appreciation and honor him for his 40 years leading the men's golf team at UIndy. He deserves even more credit than we could ever give him."
 
UIndy men's golf head coach from 1966-2006, Partridge spent his four decades at the helm building the program into one of the best in Division II. His Greyhounds racked up 14 conference championships, three NCAA district/regional titles and a 10th-place finish at the 1999 NCAA DII Championships. He was voted the GLVC Coach of the Year by his peers a record 10 times and was named the district/region Coach of the Year on four occasions. His student-athletes combined to earn 44 All-GLVC honors, six GLVC Player of the Year awards and 16 All-America nods.
 
"He created the culture and foundation of our program," continued Nicoson, "and it has pushed my current teams to continue the tradition of excellence within UIndy men's golf. I don't think he gets enough credit for what he did in coaching collegiate golf so I wanted to bring more awareness to his success and let him know how much all of his former and current players appreciate all he did."
 
Partridge also worked for UIndy as Director of the Center of Industrial Relations for over 30 years. He was named "Sagamore of the Wabash" by Indiana governor Evan Bayh in 1991, and June 6, 1991 was designated "Ken Partridge Day" in Indianapolis by Mayor Bill Hudnut. Partridge was inducted into the UIndy Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007 and the GLVC Hall of Fame in 2019.
 
The inaugural Ken Partridge Invitational is set for April 12-13, 2021 at Purgatory.