Hall of Fame
Ahern, a native of Chicago and graduate of Detroit Northwestern HS, is credited along with WSU Hall of Fame coach Newman Ertell and Dean Sheriff with starting the golf program at City College of Detroit in 1928. He was a member of CCD's golf teams in 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1932, and also taught golf courses during this at the College. Sheriff went on to become Wayne University's first intercollegiate golf coach, from 1939 to 1941.
In his last year at CCD, Ahern finished as a semi-finalist at the National Intercollegiate Golf Championships. In 1931, Ahern won all-conference honors in the Michigan Collegiate Conference, as he was medalist and golf champion in the league. In the 1930 season, he was low qualifier at the NIGC's held in Hot Springs, Virginia that year.
While a student at CCD, Ahern also participated on the College's chess team and was a marksman on the rifle club squad. He received his Bachelor's of Liberal Arts in 1932.
An active golfer, Ahern qualified for play in the U.S. National Amateurs, All-American Amateurs, Michigan Opens and Western Amateurs. Though never capturing any of these events, Ahern placed as high as third several times in his career, though he was the amateur champion of the 1942 Michigan Open. Beginning with the 1948 season, Ahern was a yearly member of the Golf Association of Michigan's "First Honor Roll" for the next four decades.
Ahern golfed against many of the Michigan and U.S. greats, including Chick Harbert, Jimmy Demaret, Chuck Kocsis, and a 21-year-old Jack Nicklaus at the 1961 Western Amateur. In 1960, Ahern won his first Michigan Father-Son Tournament with son Tom, and won the same tournament again in 1964 with son Dennis.
Ahern helped secure the Motor City Invitational Open as a tournament stop on the pro tour for Detroit in the 1950's, which was generally played at the Meadowbrook, Red Run, Western, or Plum Hollow golf clubs.
In 1956, Ahern was the first Michigan golfer ever to win club championships at two clubs, Meadowbrook and Red Run, and he would go on to win numerous club titles at Meadowbrook.
