WATERLOO - Everybody liked 'the Skipper.'

That was the sentiment around the Cedar Valley Monday as word got out that Gates Park golf pro Harry "Skip" Holton passed away at the age of 56 Sunday due to complications from a heart attack he suffered on July 9.

Holton, the pro at Gates since 1990 and a two-time winner of the Waterloo Open, had been home for two weeks recovering from the massive heart attack that saw him spend five days at the University Hospitals in Iowa City.

According to longtime friend Dean Fagerlind, Skip was watching a baseball game on television with his teenage son, Jace, Sunday when he began to feel ill. An ambulance was called, but Holton died before arriving at Covenant Medical Center.

"This is a major blow to the golf community in Waterloo," Fagerlind said. "He suffered a lot of damage to his heart with that heart attack.

"He'd been back almost two weeks, but he wasn't the same Skip I knew. He didn't look well and you could see it in his eyes."

After the initial heart attack, Holton's heart was operating at 40 percent capacity, according to a Facebook message from family friends.

According to Fagerlind, doctors were waiting for Holton's heart to get stronger so they could perform surgery.

"A lot of people are shattered right now," Fagerlind said.

"I'm kind of lost for words," said hunting friend Bob Buckley, president of the Kirk Gross Co. "Skip was such a personality. He knew everybody and had a smile for everybody. I just talked to him last week and the last thing he said to me is, 'Don't forget about me come hunting season."

The 56-year old Iowa native arrived in Waterloo in 1985, following former Irv Warren Golf Course pro Mark Lemon from the Florida pro circuit to the Cedar Valley. He became the golf pro at Metro Golf in Waterloo in 1986, and left for Gates in 1990 where he will leave a long and lengthy legacy.

But before he became pro at Gates, he enjoyed a highly successful professional career. He played periodically on the PGA Tour in the early 1980s and competed at the U.S. Open at Wingfoot in 1984. Holton also played on the Canadian Tour.

After arriving in Waterloo he won both the Nebraska State Open and the North Dakota State Open, but was best known for winning back-to-back Waterloo Open tournaments in 1988 and 1989, including a playoff victory over future PGA star Tom Lehman in '89. Recently, Holton was named the 2006 Iowa Senior Player of the Year by the PGA.

"He was a great player," current Irv Warren Golf Pro Andy Devine said. "He loved playing and he was good at it. He had a lot of ties from his playing days throughout the country."

But probably what Holton considered his greatest impact on the game he loved was his work with the junior program in Waterloo. Holton donated countless hours to junior golfers, including the Swingers Club junior program.

"He never refused to help a kid," Fagerlind said. "It didn't matter if it was with lessons, clubs or balls. He loved the kids. Heck, he was usually one of the biggest kids on the course - size wise and heart wise."

Additionally, he's helped many former metro golfers become golf pros, including Jason Boaz at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, Jeremy Olds at Winnetka Golf Club in Chicago, Matt Burry at Westview Golf Course in Quincy, Ill., and Doug Pierce, the former pro at Hunter's Ridge in Marion, said Denny Boaz, who worked at Gates with Skip from 1991 to 2004.

"He produced some very fine assistant pros and he was very good to my son, Jason," said Denny Boaz.

"He was always willing to help kids. He helped a lot of kids from Expo, gave those kids a chance with their first jobs. It was something he took pride in.

"He was a good man and he put Gates Park back on the map by what he was doing and what he did there. He did a lot of real positive things for Gates Park."

Holton was preparing to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of his victory over Lehman at this year's Waterloo Open when he suffered the heart attack.

Known for his big personality and being the life of the party, Holton's presence on the golf scene will be missed according to his many, many friends.

"He was like family to me," Fagerlind said. "I was talking to my wife, Nola, yesterday, and I told her I wasn't sure if Skip wasn't my son or nephew. When he came here with Mark Lemon from Florida, he lived with me. I'm going to miss the Skipper."

"He left behind a legacy," added Evans. "For all the things he did and the people he touched … his name will live on for a long time from that standpoint.

"The worst part is his kids. They have got a lot to be proud of because Skip was a good man and most certainly a good father."

Holton leaves behind two children, Allie, an accomplished dancer at West High, and Jace, an up-and-coming junior golfer.

Funeral services will be Thursday at the Westminster Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m.. Visitation is Wednesday at the Kearns, Huisman-Schumacher Chapel on Kimball Avenue from 2 to 8 p.m.