Stephen Proctor, Chairman of Sports Marketing Surveys passed away on the 13^th November 2021.

Stephen was a true gentleman, a force of nature, a great listener who allowed others to give their full views – without interruption – and was then a constant source of wisdom and considered advice. All of this delivered with a business approach based on trust and complete integrity. This was how he walked his life, and demonstrated it to those who knew him.

He was also a respected and loved presence in the golf industry. Excelling at the sport from an early age, he represented England as a junior, before, as a student at Oxford he became a blue and eventually captain of the university golf team.

An equally impressive if less widely known achievement in the city of dreaming spires was as the striker of what one student observer, Michael Grint – who became a leading R&A referee – called “The best shot he ever saw.” In the fine tradition of student mischief, cross country golf had become an established, if discouraged, sport in the 1950s, with players endangering windows and stonework by creating golf holes between the college quads. After the then Oxford Captain had been thwarted by a particularly tricky shot over the Radcliffe Camera, a friend of Stephen’s encouraged him to take up the challenge. Stephen shed his jacket, wiggled a 4 wood, adjusted his spectacles, and, adding self-deprecatingly “watch me top it”, and then at the first time of asking sent a soaring shot from Brasenose college new quad beyond the chapel, over the soaring lanterned dome and into All Souls college quad. All that was left was to get away quickly, which Stephen did, hopping into the car with his then girlfriend.

He would go on to qualify for The Open Championship, and was still playing competitive golf, until his final months, as a member of some of Britain’s pre-eminent golf courses, including The Berkshire, Hankley Common, and The R&A since 1957.

His determination to play golf was matched by his fervent desire to share the sport with others. After university, he teamed up with Brian Chapman, Cambridge blue, to found the South Eastern Junior Golfing Society, which continues to this day, aiming to give boys and girls aged 18-28 the opportunity to play mixed golf together.

It was emblematic of a commitment to mixed and junior golf that was always close to Stephen’s heart. Until his death, he was a trustee of The Golf Foundation, the charity devoted to introducing children from all backgrounds to golf. In 2020, he personally funded and awarded a scholarship for a player who had been involved in the inaugural Rose Series supported by Justin Rose. This creation sprang up as a result of the reduced playing opportunities available as a result of Covid restrictions and lockdown to Ladies European Tour players & female professionals. The inaugural award was made to Liz Young whose golfing performance during the series and potential to perhaps graduate to the LPGA Tour was the reason for her selection, but to compound this, Liz was behind the initiative in founding what became the inaugural Rose Series.

Such actions were typical of Stephen, who, in all areas of his life, always shared his time and insight to ensure that others could experience what he had so enjoyed. That extended to business too.

A trained barrister, Stephen developed a deep and incisive business acumen. Tireless, dedicated, razor sharp and always generous with his time and advice, Stephen would go on to grow a number of successful businesses in a range of sectors. In the sports industry, he took on Sports Marketing Surveys in 1985, pioneering sports sponsorship evaluation and turning the company into the world’s largest specialist sport & sponsorship research consultancy before selling the business in 2008. In 2011, Stephen was back, reinvesting in Sports Marketing Surveys Inc and continuing to support Sports Marketing Surveys USA which he had established before the millennium, and taking on the role of chairman to the two companies. Right through to his final months, Stephen was chairing board meetings, providing invaluable contributions and ideas, and excitedly planning and supporting the company’s bright future. His principles, of integrity, passion, and dynamism in striving for constant improvement, remain those of the business going forwards.

Stephen was a pioneer of sports research. He was instrumental in the development of the methodologies and processes that led to the foundation of the sponsorship evaluation industry and in setting up the tracking of participation analysis and playing behaviours with the GB Golf Participation tracker and SMS Rounds Played Monitors – both operating for well over 25 years. Understanding the drivers-&-barriers to participating in sport, or facilitating and enabling events to understand the key factors that made sports event successful, and ensuring they maximized their commercial potentials and experience potential for the sports attendee – Stephen was a true innovator.

Since 1985, there have been many hundreds of industry leaders who started their role at Sports Marketing Surveys. The messages from across Europe, Asia and North America are testament to this influence. He was one of the fathers of the sport research market globally.

Stephen was also a much-loved husband, father and grandfather. He had been married to Lynne for 44 years and leaves behind four daughters and six grandchildren, and also one female puppy, Ping, and so he was always completely outnumbered by his adored female family companions.

In Stephen’s personal and business life, he was welcoming, inclusive, always fair, and epitomized honesty and trustworthiness in all he did.

We will leave the final words to John Bushell, managing director of Sports Marketing Surveys Inc. for the last decade plus:

Additional tributes to Stephen, by some of the many people whose lives Stephen touched during his time in the sports industry, are shown below.