HONOLULU – Former University of Hawai'i golfer Lenore Muraoka Rittenhouse was selected for induction into the Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame (HSHOF) in the Class of 2010. Rittenhouse was officially inducted Tuesday with surfing legend Richard “Buffalo” Keaulana at the Honolulu Country Club.

 

Rittenhouse and Keaulana join 110 previously inducted members of the HSHOF since 1997 when the HSHOF added a world-class focus to its selection criteria.

 

Rittenhouse won the 1983 United Virginia Bank Golf Classic in Richmond, Va., as a member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) at the age of 27. She joined the LPGA Tour in 1980 and spent 22 years on the tour. In addition to her win at the Virginia Bank Classic, she finished runner-up at the Boston Five Classic, where she tied her career-low round of 65 during the final round and lost to Barb Mucha on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. She posted nine Top 10 finishes during her career.

 

A Roosevelt High School graduate, she was recruited by UH to play women's basketball as a 5-foot-3 point guard. A severe ankle sprain ended her basketball career before it started, and she moved from a recreational golfer to UH's most valuable player on the golf team in 1978.

 

As an amateur, Rittenhouse was a semifinalist at the 1977 USGA Women's Public Links Championship and a quarterfinalist in 1979. In 1979, she was the runner-up at the Women's Western Amateur and a semifinalist at the Trans-National Championship.

 

Rittenhouse is enshrined as a Golf Champion.

 

The Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame is the state museum for sports history, and its purpose is to record for all times, the outstanding accomplishments of Hawai'i's  world-class sports legends. Permanent displays are located at Paki Hall of the Bishop Museum and the Aloha Stadium hospitality room.