Ted Olsee made local headlines as a left-handed first baseman in amateur baseball, and as a bowler and golfer over five decades starting in the 1920s. It was in golf later in life where he earned a national reputation.
He took golf up at age 28 after watching Michigan golf legend Al Watrous play in Grand Rapids, and he made up for lost time winning the 1960 Western Michigan District Association individual medalist title and three times finishing second in the City Golf Championship, which in those days was dominated by fellow Hall of Fame member Harold Brink.
Olsee played in the National Association of Left-Handed Golfers (NALG) and was inducted into a now-defunct National Left-Handed Golfers Hall of Fame in 1975. He is credited with four NALG national titles in the senior division between 1957 and 1961, including three consecutively, and he also won three more regional NALG-sanctioned titles over the years. He reportedly was still shooting his age in golf into his 80s.
He was featured in the Grand Rapids Press in the 1960s for having reached sports perfection with a 300 game in bowling, a hole-in-one in golf and having hits in 12-consecutive at bats in baseball. He died in 1990 at the age of 87.