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.