The pied piper of college golf - National Minority Junior Golf Scholarship Assn. founder and Pres. Bill Dickey

Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 8, 1998 by Craig T. Greenlee

Bill Dicky More Than Just a Fairway Friend to College-Bound Youth

Thanks to megastar Tiger Woods, golf has started to shed some of its longtime image as an elitist sport.

There's no question that now that Tiger is on the scene, the game will be a lot more accessible to minorities. But few folk realize that long before there was such a thing as Tigermania, Bill Dickey's National Minority Junior Golf Scholarship Association (NMJGSA) had already done a lot of behind-the-scenes legwork to help pave the way for more minorities to get involved in the sport.

In the early eighties, Dickey got the ball rolling by creating NMJGSA. The prime purpose of the association is to generate funds to help minority students continue their education while playing college golf. During its fifteen-year history, NMJGA has awarded over $573,000 to more than 470 student-athletes. Scholarship amounts range from $500 to $2,500.

In addition to providing scholarship dollars, the organization also gives financial support to Black college golf programs. To help ensure that funds will always be available for future scholarships, the association has also established an endowment fund of over $600,000. Last year, eighty-four students received scholarship awards totaling $137,410. The year prior to that, $102,000 was awarded to seventy students.

Over the years, Dickey has seen his share of young minority talent. None have made the PGA Tour yet, but more importantly, many of those who have benefited from the association's efforts have completed their college educations and are now enjoying productive professional careers.

"Seeing those youngsters graduate and develop has been very satisfying for me," says Dickey, founder and president of NMJGSA. "Some are doctors, lawyers and CPAs. We've been able to provide youngsters with some financial help for school. It's a good feeling to have when you've been able to help people out in that manner."

The association, however, does more than provide scholarship money. NMJGSA also provides an updated list of young minority golfers for colleges and universities across the country. This gives colleges with golf programs ready access to a national pool of minority golf talent. For the nation's Black colleges that have golf teams, this service proves to be an invaluable recruiting tool.

According to Dickey, this database has a listing of 2,000 youth golfers between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. The listing has all the pertinent information about these golfers - handicap, grades, school contacts, and home phone numbers. Coaches who use this database have a good feel for the talent pool of minority golfers who are ready for and interested in attending college.

Success Stories Abound

Eddie Payton, Jackson State University golf coach, has a special appreciation for what NMJGSA does. His team has fielded a significant number of players who have attended the Mississippi institution with financial help from the association.

In Black college golf, Jackson State has proven itself to be the cream of the crop. In eleven years, the Tigers have won seven team titles at the National Minority Golf Championships. In 1996, the team didn't play in the minority tournament because it qualified to play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I Championships.

"The minority association provides us with a vehicle to help minority golfers get a college education," Payton says. "With the added scholarship dollars they provide, it helps us bring in people for our program because we can combine that money with our grants and other scholarships to help kids come to school and play golf at the same time. That's an invaluable aid for Black college golf programs, most of which are under-funded to begin with. Without the association's help, we'd be very ordinary."

Payton makes it clear that the association's database of junior players is what makes Dickey's organization such a blessing for Black college golf.

"We always take a good look at kids on that listing," he says. "We can refer to that list and get all the information we need. They do a good job of identifying and tracking those youngsters while they're playing at the junior level. So by the time those kids are ready to move on to college, we know what a youngster's skills are and whether or not they qualify academically to play NCAA sports."

To apply for a scholarship, youngsters must file an application with the NMJGSA selection committee. As part of the process, they submit a letter discussing what they want to achieve in life, along with a list of references and proof of school grades. Scholarships are awarded based on financial need, golf skills, grade point average, and where they want to attend school.

More than a few promising minority golfers have gotten financial assistance from NMJGSA, either as junior golfers, or as college scholarship recipients. For example:

* Martin Roache, a South Carolina State graduate who now plays on the Hooters Tour, was a scholarship recipient. Roache is also a former National Minority Golf Tournament champion.