December 3, 2024 • 53 mins
Ron Lucas joins Rich to talk about the work he does with HOPE and the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation. Plus, Ron explains his unique connection to Arnold Palmer.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Rich Comwell Golf Show. It is Thanksgiving
week and I have obviously family will come in to
see me. And this is the this is the first
Thanksgiving for me that I actually have a.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Son in law formally.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Oh boy, yeah, he's been he's been. Uh he's been
dating my daughter for one hundred and twelve years.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
But so anyway, this week I am really.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Really, really excited and very honored to have PGA professional
Ron Lucas with us. Ron has a tremendous golf story
and does uses golf. I talk a lot on this
show about golf for good. Ron is a definition of
golf for good.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And as we go through.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
All of this, I'm gonna find out just how what great,
great amounts of good that Ron is doing with the
game of golf. But first off, Ron, thanks for thanks
for joining us on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You're welcome, thanks for the invite, and happy Thanksgiving to all.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
So, as I always do wrong with everybody, why don't
you start us out with your early years and your
introduction to golf.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
All right, in my early years, I go back a
few decades. I was born in nineteen fifty and I
was born in La Trobe and on nineteen fifty two,
I contracted the polio. So I was one of those
baby boomers that also prior to the Salk vaccine, and
I had a little challenge naturally at the younger years,
(01:31):
and remember many trips to Pittsburgh and my whole left
side was affected by the polio virus. And so then
both my parents worked and they my dad played golf,
so I caddied for him, and when I was out
on the golf course with him, I decided that I
wanted to pick up the game. Being right handed golfer,
(01:56):
I had a very weak left side. So the challenge
is I had learning the game and developing a decent
game or many Then I started to caddy at La
Trobe Country Club when I was fourteen, and I got
on the golf team at La Trobe High School, and
I started to really work hard at the game. And
(02:20):
caddying at Latrobe Country Club really helped because one of
my guys that I got to be very close to
and bonded with was Deacon Palmer. Deacon Palmer Arnie's dad
had his left leg affected by polio as well, so
we had a special bond that we created and developed
(02:41):
throughout my years, cat in at La Trobe Country Club
and Arnie caddy in for him at younger in his prime,
and also being on the La Trobe High School golf
team and being number one, and I went to States
and we had a very good golf team. So there
was a lot of history there with being from that
(03:03):
area and being at that time of Arne's career, so
there was a lot of initiating to say, I'd like
to think about getting into the golf profession after I
got out of college, and it was a tough road
in the beginning, but I got into the golf business
(03:25):
about nineteen seventy two as an apprentice and that started
my career of where I'm at today.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That's really neat. So let me go. Let me walk
backwards a little bit here.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So you were born in nineteen fifty Arnolpulm was born
in nineteen thirty, correct.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yes, I caught him at his when he was the amateur,
and then I think it was fifty eight, was the
first Masters, if I'm not mistaken, and in nineteen sixty
he won the US Open. So I was one of
those kids that was in awe of Arney's Army, and
(04:04):
I saw him fly in after some of those wins
at a young age, and in nineteen sixty two when
he was tied with Jack Nicholas over at Oakmont Country Club,
I was actually there witnessing that playoff where he lost
to Nicholas, and again just being that close up and
being from the town and his era of developing Arney's Army,
(04:28):
you know, I was definitely inspired.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Okay, so let me walk backwards here, see, because I've
known you for a long time and you never told
me you saw the playoff between Nicholas and Palmer.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Well, we never got to that conversation.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So that was on Monday, correct, Yes, yeah, they played
an eighteen hole back then, So okay, so yeah, that's
that's pretty od you you don't still have.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
They probably didn't even give you a ticket, did they.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I can't remember. I went with my father, being at
that age I would have been thirteen twelve, twelve to
thirteen years old, and so I would have been with him.
I remember it was a rainy day. I remember watching
some of the open prior to that, like the practice
round we went to, and then it ended up as
(05:21):
a tie for Marnie and Nicholas on Sunday, So they
played the eighteen hole playoff on a Monday. Being on
the driving range Oakmont Country Club naturally back then was
totally different than the design that it is today. And
when we were on the practice tee during the practice round,
they had some young guys. You know, we're going to
(05:41):
try to make the cut, and I'll never forget one guy.
They had a rail fence on the practice tee working
down the left and he was sitting up on the
rail and lo and behold, one of the younger guys
who never made it on the tour, might have been
a club professional or amateur to make that position. He
(06:03):
duck hooked a drive and hit this guy right in
the ei knocked him off the fence. And it was
one of those things where the golf ball can be
very damaging and you got to watch where you're standing
and so on and so forth. So it was a
different culture, a different era of the game of golf,
and the equipment and everything was the history of the
(06:25):
game right there.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Okay, So, so U turn professional and as an apprentice
in nineteen seventy two, correct, So, where did you work.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I started where my father had played, and in the
old days it was called Holiday Acres, which is in
La Trobe and today it's the Late tro Of Elks
right off of nine eighty one, and that's where he played.
So I caddied for him and we, you know, both
my parents, as I said, work, so he never had
(06:55):
to worry about me. They would drop me off in
the morning and go to work and pick me up
when the sun was setting. And we used to play
our little fun matches. I was Arnold Palmer, the other
guy was Billy Casper, another guy was Champagne Tony Lima,
and we would have our matches and they would be
heated at times. We were very competitive. And they also
(07:18):
were my fellow teammates on Lake Trow High School. So
the area of where I started my career at the
Lea tro Elks again has many memories in many histories.
I worked for Marty Statler back then, and Marty also
had a driving range and a little mini golf area
(07:39):
like a pitch and putt that they have at Scalley's.
So I worked for him over there, and that's when
I started to be in my apprenticeship and I'd like
to say that back then in nineteen seventy two, one
of the first things that I had to do as
an apprentice working for Marty Statler because his brother in
law was Carl Ross. Carl Ross was the found under
(08:00):
the Lynx golf club factory. Also worked for Arnie as
a sales rep years ago, back in the sixties. But
he said, no apprentice is going to work for me
that does not know how to whip a golf club.
And so that was the first thing I had to do,
and then the second thing was putting a grip on,
(08:21):
and the third thing was wrapping leather grips. So that
started my career in nineteen seventy two, and I think
the traditions of the game, we should do it in
twenty twenty four in future.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, it's interesting because I know how to whip a
golf club. For those of you everybody listening, this doesn't
understand it. The old days, when we had wooden woods
and when they were percimmons, the neck of.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Them had around.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Them is actually what could be considered to be was whipping.
But it looks like thread. It's a really really hard
plastic threat malleable thread, and you had to whip it
and then tie it off so it looked correct like
it came out of the factory really good. But sometimes
it would it would come apart, especially if you if
you crack the neck of the golf club, so then
you had to rewhip it. I know how to do
(09:08):
that or not how to put a grip on. I've
never let wrap the leather grip. I've never done that.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well. Working for Arnie for many years and caddying for him,
that was a good stepping stone for me because he
didn't have to tell me anything. I had already have
that talent. And when you uh wrap a set of
twelve fourteen golf clubs with leather grips, you want to
(09:35):
talk about building building your hand strength and forearm strength,
you got a challenge there. And it does require a technique,
just like whipping. And the more you do, the more
better you'll get. And if you're not you don't even
try it.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, I know, because I'll tell you what it took me.
And I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine doing
the grips, but it took me for ever to learn how.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
To do the whipping.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yeah, and it's not just for cosmetics or the traditions
of the game. Because I'm also a member of the
Golf Heritage Society, I'm an ambassador for them and we
deal with a lot of hickory shafted golf clubs, the
ones that were built and started the game back in
the seventeen eighteen hundreds early nineteen hundreds, and it was
also for securing and supporting the neck of the golf
(10:28):
club head which connects to the golf shaft. So it's
not just cosmetics, but that's where the tradition started back
in Scotland and the hickory shaft days.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah. So, but you're not that old one.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
You're only born nineteen fifty buddy. You still talking about
hickory club You're talking about Bobby Jones.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Now, Yeah, No, I'm not that old. But I worked
and collected and have a collection that will date back
to that and I think it's again part of the game,
in the history of the game. That's very important for
golf professionals or golf enthusiasts at all get some of
that history.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
So, okay, so you mentioned your collection because I know
there's a ton of stuff I want to talk you
about today. But what's what's the most valuable golf club
you own.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Well, Arnie never really autographed, personalized too many things in
his career. He would love to sign his photos, sign gloves,
do a lot of signatures, but very rarely would you
see him say two rawn best wishes in your club
(11:36):
repair or to anything personalized and then his signature. So
my father, who had several heart attacks in his day,
in the off season, he learned to paint, paint oils
and he did all kinds of different media. And one
(11:56):
day I gave Arnie for his birthday painting of my
father's and I thought he really appreciated that. And so
what he did is he gave me one of his
drivers and he signed it to my father's name, which
happens to be Ermine E R M I n to
ermine best wishes Arnold Palmer. And that was the top
(12:20):
of the list as far as uniqueness are rare and specialized.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Okay, so now since we're talking about Palmer for a minute,
I've only talked to Arnold Palmer twice in my life.
But you obviously grew up in this town. You were
around him as he was younger when you were younger,
and he.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Was obviously younger.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
He was truly that good of a guy, Like people
don't realize how good of a.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Guy he was.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Oh yeah, well, you know, I got to tell you though,
in my particular case of caddying for him, born raised,
knowing his father, I worked at Bay Hill, I worked
as the head pro Legrue country Club. Eventually, you know,
he uh really, you know, was expecting a lot out
(13:14):
of me. When you work for somebody, you always see
a little different side. And I'm giving him a lot
of credit. Uh. His father was the same way to him. Uh.
His father said, never forget your roots where you came from.
Always remember, uh, you know the history and your area,
(13:35):
and it's so important. So Arnie was under a microscope
a lot of times and Deacon's guidelines and rules, and
Arnie had the same way when for me working for him, that's.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
That's really interesting, that's really really interesting.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I never called him Arnie. It was mister Palmer. And
even though I caddied for him and knew his dad,
and like I said, at bail and so on and
so forth, a lot of more closeness than the typical relationships.
As well as I worked on a lot of his
golf clubs and the workshop. So you know, we had
(14:19):
a whole different relationship in a different game than a
typical owner of a golf course and your golf professional.
Who's your head pro.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
That's that's interesting. But so I'll tell you what you
probably have. Yeah, I could probably.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Get you to talk for like hours on stories of him,
but we have so so okay, So all right, So
the last couple of minutes of this segment, you you
have now turned professional. You've gone through you know, you've
overcome all your all your physical challenges and and and
now you've turned professionals. So when we come back from
(14:56):
from this commercial, we are going to talk about how
you've you've used your PGA membership and your efforts and
they're all your efforts to use this game for for good.
I mean, because I you know, before before we go
to this break, I mean, for anybody who doesn't know
(15:18):
anything about Ron Lucas, you need to really, really really
listen to the next two segments because you're going to
find somebody who just I don't know when he decided
to do it, but he just decided that he was
going to use golf to impact positively on a massive
amount of people in Western Pennsylvania and beyond.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And so.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
You know, I while I would while I love talking about,
you know, the history of things with with Ron, and
and I didn't even know that he was at the
playoff in sixty two at Oakmont.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
But but when.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
We come back from this commercial, I'm gonna focus really
hard on Ron's efforts to not just grow the game,
but to actually use the game of golf for good.
This is the rich Comwell Golf Show. Welcome back to
the rich Comwoll Golf Show. We were joined this week
with joined by Ron Lucas, who is a PGA professional
(16:19):
and Tri State Section PGA. And as I said at
the end of the last segment, Ron's got some interesting
stories and some great stories of some early in the
early years having grown up in western Pennsylvanian around Arnold
Palmer and Arnold Palmer's father. But what I want to
(16:42):
do now, Ron, is I want to talk about, first off,
your involvement with United States veterans and the game of golf.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So tell me tell me this story of how that started.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Well, my father number one was two veteran. He was
in the Pacific Theater in the Army and nineteen forty
four to nineteen forty six. And then, as I said,
I was born in nineteen fifty contracted polio in fifty
two to fifty four fifty five. In my rehabs and such,
(17:17):
and that challenge that I had as a young person,
and my father's ties with World War Two veterans, as
we know, there's not many left spurred me to say,
I want to give something back to the game, and
these guys are very very important to me. And that
started back in two thousand, well actually nineteen ninety, I
(17:43):
attended a two day seminar with the mid Atlantic Section
down in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It was called the International Amputee Invitational,
and I got an education. I got to see a
lot of guys, you know, without their eggs, there, crutches,
their wheelchairs, stroke victims, all kinds of different injuries, and
(18:06):
how they were able to find some solace, some gratitude,
some enjoyment out of the game of golf. And it
just says, Wow, you think you have problems, You got
no problems compared to some of those guys. So in
twenty eleven, Bill Kirk and myself and Robert Morrise Dome
(18:30):
with Jim Chikra. We got together with the administration and
we had a seminar with Penn State University and another
group called Salute Military Golfers Association. They were from the Philadelphia, Washington, TC,
Baltimore area. They came over. We did a two day
(18:52):
seminar over at RMU on the grounds next to the
golf dome, and so they were talking about certain injuries
and physical side the first day. The second day was
more the mental side, and they had some guys that
came over from the eastern part of Pennsylvania, some veterans.
(19:16):
One was an army veteran and he was a colonel
and he had seventy operations plates in his head, plates
in his back, all kinds of different injuries that they
kept on trying to cure and help him. And the
second day, the Penn State leadership got up and started off,
(19:42):
well today we're going to talk about post traumatic stress
d PTSD, and he got up and he raamed her
another one. He said, people got to understand it's not
a disorder. You can call it PTS, post traumatic stres
or post traumatic stress syndrome, but you leave the D off.
(20:04):
And that just opened my eyes up because you got
to listen to those individuals who go through all that,
and the book doesn't always teach you that stuff. So
we decided to do our own thing and work with
guys with wheelchairs and stuff. And we start off with
about six or eight, and unfortunately, as time goes on,
(20:25):
they get depressed, they stay at home. Transportation was the
key to getting them to us and so on and
so forth. So we then got Robert Morris involved and
we were trying to do a spring in a fall
program and that worked out okay, but we wanted it
(20:46):
to grow, and so then we brought in a VA Hines.
VA Hines is the federal hospital down in Aspenwall, federal
government side, and most of those guys were drug alcohol rehabs, homeless,
that type of personality, so they were able to do
(21:08):
some of the other stuff that the guys in the
wheelchairs were not able to do, and they had transportation
to get to us, and so from there things were growing.
We were up to twelve sixteen eighteen, and then I
threw the Jerry Coyn, who was the guy that was
the activities director at the time over at the VA Hines.
(21:31):
He said to his friend and colleague of the Southwest
Veteran Center that's the Pennsylvania state run and they were
interested and maybe doing something with the game of golf,
and so he connected with me. His name is Chris Beach,
and he loved the idea. So from twenty nineteen to
(21:54):
present we have grown. My average now for my up
for VET golf is spring, summer, and fall. We average
somewhere between twenty five and thirty two veterans heat session.
We have eight week sessions. We have spring, summer, and fall,
and I actually have two to four sessions per month
(22:16):
on site at the Southwest Veteran Center. And it's grown
because of, you know, giving back to the game, understanding
some of their challenges which I had, and knowing that
your father, for example, and all those ties mean something.
And then working on golf clubs and developing my golf
(22:37):
club repair business gave me an opportunity to also design
and fit some adaptive golf equipment for the guys in
the wheelchairs to make the game a little bit more enjoyable.
So you can see a lot of the history, and
I can go on and on and on, but I
can vouch that it's the game of golf that brings
(22:58):
them together. And one of the things I always encourage
with the guys, and you've been in one of my sessions,
we have teams, and teams are where they came from
when they were in the service. A little competition, friendly competition,
Marines versus Army, versus Navy, versus the Air Force, versus
the Coast Guard. You have those interactions and they enjoy it,
(23:22):
and you know, we have fun back and forth and
they have something to do spring, summer and fall once
a week getting together and sharing stories. And it's just
been a great experience. And I have several examples, but
I don't know how long your show is, so I
can go. You're good, go is wherever you want it.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Go ahead to give me, give me, give me one
of your really good stories, because I know.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Well I have several, but one of which is a
guy who was World War Two. His name was Regis.
He was in a wheelchair. He was from the Southwest Veterans,
and his activities director said, this is a great game,
we're having fun. You ought to come out and join us. No,
I can't do that. I'm in a wheelchair. I don't
want to do that. Blah blah, blah blah blah, all negativity.
(24:13):
So finally he encouraged him to come out one time,
and from there on and out, he was hooked on golf. Literally,
he had perfect attendance. He wanted me to give him
a gap. He wanted to have a shirt, he wanted uniform,
he wanted a golf ball so I could drill a
hole in and he could put it on his apparatus
(24:34):
of his wheelchair so he could move around. That's how
much it changed him around. And unfortunately, like a lot
of World War Two vets, he's no longer with us.
But that was the start. And there was another guy.
He was a marine. He was from the va Hines.
His name was Tom Council, and he had both legs
(24:55):
severed in the war Vietnam war mine. And he said
that he didn't want to go, but he was encouraged
by one of his other veterans. And that's really the
how you get it to grow is a veteran sell
them to another veteran. We can do a lot of things,
but we can't do everything. And so he said, I'm
(25:19):
not sure why I'm here, but he told me to come,
So I'm here, well alone, behold his time war on
that guy said, you know, every vet needs to bring
one on every session. And he was then the inspiration
for the whole Va Hinz Hospital to continue with the
(25:40):
game of golf. And then one more story that I
think is touching. He's from the Southwest Veteran Center. His
name is Mark, and his sister would visit him periodically,
and you know, the Southwest was a residence home, and
he was in the army and he was in a
(26:01):
kind of a depression for the majority of the times
when she visited him, and he was always grumpy and
never smiled. So one day, after a few sessions of golf,
and his sister visits him and then goes to the
activities director Chris and says, Chris, what did you do
to my brother? He said, why, what happened? She says,
(26:25):
He's smiling. Wow, he's laughing. I've never seen him so happy.
And you know, that's just a story that brings a
little choking up here, because you mean that much to somebody, right.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Right, right, you're saving lives, yep.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
And today he's now not because of my recommendation, So
he doesn't listen to the committee all the time, but
he now has like four or five putters. He goes
on Amazon. He has to get this. He wants me
to put a grip on a little thicker. He wants
me to get what was on in a little thinner,
and he would, you know, shortened lengthen you know all that.
(27:10):
I says, Mark, you're getting to be an obsess and
you don't have enough room in your wheelchair for all
these putters. But I related to Arnie. You know how
many putter's Arnie collected when I was working for him
and working at La Job Country Club.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I have no idea. I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
He had over ten thousand putters, and I am not exaggerating.
I worked on some of them. I witnessed it. And
how did he get that many? He would go and
play in a pro am. He would look at one
of the amateurs that he's playing with bag he would
pull the putter out. He'd say, boy, this feels pretty good.
(27:50):
I think I can And the guy would say, mister Palmer,
if you can win another tournament, you go ahead and
take that butter and see what you can do with it.
Collected continued to grow until he got to about ten
thousand and what was Arnie's weakest part of his game
as he got a little bit older in his career, right, he.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Couldn't make anything. Yeah, he couldn't make anything. He had
all the equipment. He doesn't have that. He doesn't have
that anymore.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
We're all looking for that magic one exactly. But anyways,
there's Mark over there at the Southwest. Now he's up
to four when he didn't even own. I loan them clubs.
And the next thing he says, I think I want to,
you know, give me one of these, and give me
one of those. And now he's shopping on Amazon, onon.
So those are three stories that just bring out the
(28:41):
connection or the emotions of what you can do with
the game of golf.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
So let me ask you this though. So you know
you know straight numbers. You know you do spring, summer, fall,
You've got seventy five veterans a year.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Well, yeah, if you had them all together, that's correct.
That's how I work. And then you know the PGA hope,
which I've done before they even are to the stage
they're at today. I had those guys added because they
only you know, budget so much for six to eight weeks,
(29:18):
and if I'm doing a good job, and we're doing
a good job. The first thing that they would always
say to the veterans to me is what's next, right,
And that particular program, it's basically six to eight week session.
And so that's why I entered into my own independent
to help the guys spring, summer, fall, including the PGA Hope, right.
(29:42):
So you could say I was doing more if necessary,
but the bottom line wasn't for anything but the veterans.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, that's yeah. The sheer numbers of what you've done.
I mean, you know, if you take you know, I'm
not that good at mass, but if you take seventy
five guys and they do it for five years, I
mean it's it's four almost four hundred people.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
It's actually three hundred and seventy five people.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Maybe I'm better at math, and I think I am,
but it's you know, so and that's and that's basically
just the definition of using golf to better people's lives period.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yep. And you know, I also work if you want
to get into this part of the show with autistic
individuals and the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation with the City
Connection and their challenge is the Hysteric program. So it's
not just exclusive to veterans and their injuries. Sometimes it's
(30:47):
the autism, it's the down syndrome, it's other situations that
you can include in the game of golf.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Right right, But I just think it's it's it's fascinating,
and you know, I've I would tell you that, you know,
we're going to wrap up this segment, and because we're
going to talk about Pittsburgh Uth Golf Foundation in the
next segment, but I want to wrap this one up
by just saying that, you know, the PGA of America
does a really good job with hope, but you are correct, there's.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
An end to it, and.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
You can do as much as you want, and clearly
you have a ton of want, because nobody would actually
look around and go, hey, you know what I can
do more except for it. Well, actually, nobody in the
Tri state section that I know of looks around says
can I do more.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Other than you?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
And so you should be not only commended, but you should.
It's got to make it a lot easier to fall
asleep at night knowing you've done as much as you
have for veterans.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Oh yeah, Well, well I told you the history with
my dad and growing up and everything, and so it's
rewarding as we get up into those golden years. I
know that you are doing something not just for monetary side.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
That's perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
So when we come back from this break, we are
going to talk about the other half of the veterans,
which is the young people that Ron's involved in, and
we're gonna hear some really cool stories about some of
the impacts that Ron has made in the inner city
and with the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation. This is the
Rich Combo Golf Show. Welcome back to the Rich Como
(32:23):
Golf Show. We're joined this week by Ron Lucas Or
We're joined by Ron Lucas, PGA professional in the Tri
State Section PGA, and we just spent a good amount
of time talking about Ron's efforts with the veterans and
just some major impacts he's made. He heard some great
(32:44):
stories about that. But there's also a second side to
Ron's effort to use golf for good and it has
to do with the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation. Pittsburgh Youth
Gold Foundation has been around for a lot longer than
people realize, and I'm going to kind of let Ron
tell the story of how he got involved in the
areas that they're making. The Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation is
(33:08):
making an impact.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
So n how did it all start.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Well, Actually, the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation was the first
one in the Pittsburgh area and I think maybe in
the state of Pennsylvania, possibly the United States, way before
the first team. And that was in nineteen ninety one,
and the founder was Bob Yaeger and he was instrumental
(33:36):
into thinking about how we can help better some of
the inner city schools and with the game of golf
because he was a golfer and he cares a lot
about trying to give back as well. And Larry Burns
as the president, and unfortunately Bob Yeger is no longer
(33:57):
with us. But it started back in nineteen ninety one.
We had four schools. We had frick Sterret Maligns, and
I think the other one was Option Center. Anyways, through
the times, it was challenging to get golf professionals and
(34:22):
psite coordinators and then the Pittsburgh Public Schools administration and
then we talked transportation and so on and so forth.
In the beginning, we went to the schools themselves on
site and the gymnasiums. The problem with that was too
many interruptions and sometimes too many kids in a very
(34:44):
small space. So then we started to branch out to
go to Scalli's and that way we were getting them
off site. But then that came into the transportation, so
budgets and so on led to where we're at today.
That is basically one school for the sixth, seventh, and
(35:04):
eighth graders where that was where it was targeted in
the beginning, and that is stare At School. Stare it
is and by the Homewood, Shady Side Squirrel Hill area.
And we now recognized when I was the psyche coordinator
and then became the executive director, we need to get
(35:27):
them out of that school. And bus is about forty
eight is a capacity, so we're looking for top fifty. Well,
they would have one hundred and fifty sixth graders. Now
one hundred and fifty sixth graders in the inner city
Pittsburgh public schools would be way too chaotic and you
(35:47):
would have some situations where things would get out of hand.
So we had to start streaming them down to approximately
forty five, no more than forty eight plus their school teachers,
and from there it was challenging to get some of
those kids that were not just looking to get off
site and have their self some fun, but focus on
(36:10):
the game of golf. So then, per my suggestion, we
were down to twenty five to thirty five, and that's
where we are today. We basically are now down to
the month of May because they have testing and they
have other interactions that conflict with the game of golf
(36:31):
in our schedule. So may we do four sessions. We
do them off site at Scaley's. We average somewhere around
thirty five per session and they're a lot better, smaller
groups and better ratios and instruction. So from there approximately
fifteen years ago, so do the math. I recommended that,
(36:55):
you know, I'm doing so much with the vets, what
about some of the challenging groups that we have with kids.
And there's a section of Pittsburgh Public schools called the
City Connection. They are actually schools from the north, east,
south and west. That's the City Connection, and they have
(37:17):
varied challenges. They can be autism, they could be down syndrome,
they could be a few others that they're not able
to tell me what all their challenges are. But that's
pretty much the personality of the kids and then the
game of golf. And so we started that program four
times a month, and then it got into budget and
(37:39):
then it got into transportation. So we basically are now
we do a spring and a fall program and a
summer camp. So we still have it, but we have
them pretty much one a month with an average of
about twelve students plus the school teachers. Offsite either it's
Galleys at the RMU or great place for the veterans
(38:02):
and handicapped and that is the Woodlands Foundation up there
in Wexford. So that has been well received. It has
been very very successful and some unique stories with those kids.
It can be that Number one, there's a student there
and you've probably seen the movie rain Man, Yes, with
(38:24):
Dustin Hoffman. Well there's a girl. Her name was Opel,
and she had this special talent where she could say, rich,
you were born on such and such a day your
year and the day of the week that you were born.
And you never met her before, And I asked her
(38:49):
after several of the golf pros that wouldn't believe me,
and she came up with it, and it was like,
how does she do this, and I asked her one
day and she says, I don't know. I just got it,
you know, And it's just her personality. She was great
with game and golf. But unfortunately, here's why I started
(39:12):
another program, which I call Plus twenty one, and it's
because I found out several years ago into the City Connection,
two of the students came up to me and said,
mister Lucas, we really loved the game of golf. We
had a lot of fun, we enjoyed coming out, but
I'll never see you again. Can I shake your hand?
And I said, why, We're going to have this in
(39:33):
the spring, fall, summer, whatever, and they said me out,
But I have a birthday next week. And I turned
twenty one to twenty two, and apparently when you turn
the age of twenty two, you're dropped from everything, and
that never made sense to me. So about three or
(39:54):
four years ago, I started this independently program I called
Plus twenty one where with the Autism Society of Pittsburgh
and we work with individuals with a game of golf
that can range anywhere from the age of twenty four,
twenty eight, thirty two, thirty six. And I have one
in my group that age is sixty three years old. Wow,
(40:19):
and their parents just love the program because there's nothing
else for him. And these individuals at that age, you
can't put them in with a fourteen year old or
a nineteen year old, and so you keep them separate.
But you know, you get them started in the game
with the city connection, and then they turn twenty two
and there's nothing for him, so that it was never
(40:42):
made sense. So giving back to the game on that
end is very rewarding as well.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
You know, it's interesting you say that because my daughter
is a speech pathologist at the Children's Institute in Pittsburgh
and she has kids up until they're through their twenty
first year here and then by law, that's what I've
been told.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
I don't you know, I don't.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
I don't go in there, but yeah, I don't know
who the powers will be to put that number on it,
but it's true.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
So the twenty one because she lose I mean, she
has she has students that you know, will never have
that type of interaction again because they're not they're not
able to walk into buildings or walk into programs like
you're talking about. So the fact that you actually had
the wherewithal there's a big word, the wherewithal two to
(41:34):
go ahead and say, you know what we need to
we need to have, we have to have, we have
to pave the road further, you.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Know, because twenty one doesn't end the road.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I think that's I think that's remarkable.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
And well, yeah, thank you. And you know from some
of your experience and when talking to your sister, what's
also very important to these individuals and the challenges that
they have is a routine. They like routines, and you
give them a routine, and you give them a sport,
and you give them an opportunity to maybe have some
(42:07):
socializing and interaction and so on. And then at age
twenty two, you've got nothing right.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Right, We're just going to rip that band aid right
off and let's see how that goes for us.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Yeah, And the biggest challenge, like any of these programs,
whether it's Veterans or this plus twenty one, is transportation.
But typically in my case with the Plus twenty one,
it's a small group, which is fine, but their parents
are always there. They're interacting, and it gives their parents
a chance to either have a little break or it
(42:39):
gives their parents a chance to play golf with them,
and that is so special they wouldn't do at home.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah, I know exactly.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
I know what you mean, because because it's interesting because
you know my sister.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
You know, I know you're it's her.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
But my sister had spinted bifida, and I know that
you know the parents. You know, she lived to be
fifty and the only reason she lived to be fifty
is because my parents such good care of her. And
and but the fact of the matter is is these
you know, as much sad as it is, and it's
not even funny, but as sad as it is, I mean,
(43:21):
these parents, they haven't forever and they you know, obviously,
you know I have two children, and you know that
they're on their own and one's still in college, but
they're going to go make their own way. But these kids,
they can't make their own way. They need they need help.
And just because you know you need help at twenty
(43:43):
twenty doesn't mean you're not gonna to help at twenty two,
especially in their situation. So I just think it's remarkable
that you would think that way forward.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
So let me ask you this question.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
You know, just sitting in this little chair here, how
can how can we help?
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Well, the Autism of Pittsburgh has been a very great supporter,
and you know, helping is basically the one thing is transportation.
The other thing how you get the transportation these kids,
they don't live in one little area. They don't go
to school anymore in that particular case, and we had
(44:26):
as the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation, with the City Connection
and the Board's support, it would have been dropped probably
about three years ago because at that particular time of
these fifteen years up until about three years ago, the
school provided transportation and City Connection is north, east, south
(44:48):
and west of the city, so they're not in one area.
And so what we had to do is, you know,
through the director that I was working closely with, she says,
if you know we can't go, why, well, we don't
have any more bus, we don't have a budget for
bus transportation. And I said, let me work on it.
(45:10):
And when I went to the board and they saw
all the rewards and all the positive things that were
happening with that challenge group, they said, we'll take care
of it. And so that that was taken care of
by the board and their support of knowing what we're
doing for the betterment of the game of golf and
what Bob Jaeger initiated back in nineteen ninety one. So
(45:33):
support is always either financial or little things or major
things like that. But you know, growth, you know, bigger
doesn't always make it better. Growth is quality versus quantity.
Making sure the personalities and the connection and the security,
(45:54):
the safety. There's a lot of things when you get
into that particular group. And that's why with the VA
Hines in the Southwest Veterans Center, I have a very
strong support of their activities director and they can provide that.
So it's you know, how can you help, It's whatever
anybody wants to contribute to assist. We're well on our way.
(46:19):
We naturally are not big because as I said, it's
not designed that way, all right.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
So okay, So that's that's the that's the Pittsburgh Youth
Golf Foundation, that's the twenty one plus, that's that's all
of that. But I do want to acknowledge the fact
that you have won several awards because of your efforts,
and I know from sitting and reading nominations for these
(46:52):
things that you do not go out and lobby for
these and people are wise enough to recommend you, but
or to nominate you.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
But tell me what award you've won.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
Well, it goes back to my first one in twenty ten,
and that was the era of Dennis and Karen Derek,
and it was the PGA President Plaque Award, which I
was very proud to receive. And then in twenty thirteen
(47:26):
was my first recognition of the Junior Achievement Award recipient.
And then with finally in twenty seventeen, eighteen nineteen, and
twenty twenty, I was awarded the Patriot of the Tri
State Section Award. I got to tell you a couple
(47:50):
other ones after I read through the Tri State Section.
And then in twenty twenty three, I was nominated in
award the Tri State PGA Section Deacon Palmer Award, which
gave me the opportunity to be a finalist in the
twenty twenty four PGA of America Deacon Palmer Award. I
(48:13):
guess I finished second to another guy out in the
state of Indiana. But I can tell you a couple
others that were important to me that I branched off
and saw the rewards and they recognized my contributions and
that is a member of the Rotary of Turtle Creek,
(48:36):
And in twenty twenty two, I was a Rotarian of
the Year award. And in twenty nineteen, because of my
connection with the Southwest Veteran Center, I was the Pennsylvania
State Award for the Pennsylvania Coalition hacka award Pennsylvania Coalition
(48:57):
of Affiliated Healthcare and Living Communities, which was statewide and
I was recognized in twenty nineteen. And then I'm a
member also of the American Legion and a group called
the SAL which is Sons of American Legion, and I
(49:19):
was recognized as the Pennsylvania State Award winner of the
Steven W. Bogan Award, which was for the Veterans Affairs
and rehab Services of the SAL. And then in twenty
twenty four, I'm the award recipient of the Pennsylvania sal
(49:40):
VAVs Award, which stands for Veterans Administration Volunteer Service. So
it's not just what the tri state, but branching out
and being connected with other groups that are connected with
my veterans, for example, or the Plus twenty one and
so on. That's how you grow or you need to
(50:04):
have those other ones in the rotary motto is service
above self, and I do recognize that is a great
organization and the Turtle Creek Rotary is fantastic group of people.
I got to add one more thing that I think
is very special that I want to at least have
(50:28):
you recognize. In twenty nineteen, besides the Packer Award, my
association and development with some of those veteran stories with
the Southwest Veteran Center, which is off of Washington Boulevard
up there sort of across from what used to be
the old Schumann Center. We started to say about the
(50:50):
game of golf, and I got together with Chris Feach,
I got together with Gordon Vittmar, one of our fellow
golf pros whose business is country club gardens landscaping, and
I got together with the sal and the Turtle Creek
Rotary and per the instructions and development. We took a
(51:15):
three year project. Cost was over thirty five thousand dollars,
but we have the only one of a putting green
on site at the Southwest Veteran Center. Now there's six
VA hospitals state run in the state of Pennsylvania, three
east of Harrisburg, three west of Harrisburg. We are the
(51:37):
only one that has in the state of Pennsylvania. Might
be bigger than that with a putting green on site.
And it was specifically designed by Gordon and myself to
withstand those automatic wheelchairs motorized wheelchairs, because they can weigh
over four hundred and fifty pounds. Then you add the
(51:59):
body that's on there, it could be over two hundred pounds,
and so it's built to last over fifteen years. It
was started in twenty nineteen. It was completed in May
of twenty twenty two, and that was our goal. That
was our projective date and we hit it and it
has been a great success for those guys and they
(52:21):
can just go up in their little area where the
pavilion is and they have a chipping area that we
put it together, and it's now lighted so when we
run into a nice day in the spring or fall,
but the time in the day light has changed, we
still can continue on. And that's part of my two
to four sessions per month on site. And it's fantastic
(52:44):
and we're the only ones that got that.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
I had to tout that.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
I understand completely. Ron I got to tell you, I
thank you very very much. Like I said, I'm going
to have you on the spring. We're actually very fortunate
to have people like you, and specifically you, people like you,
so thank thanks for being on and I will I
will be will bring you back in the spring and we'll.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Go from there.
Speaker 3 (53:07):
All right, Well, thank you, Happy holidays and happy New Year.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
That's great. This is the rich Comwell Golf Show.
Welcome to the Rich Comwell Golf Show. It is Thanksgiving
week and I have obviously family will come in to
see me. And this is the this is the first
Thanksgiving for me that I actually have a.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Son in law formally.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Oh boy, yeah, he's been he's been. Uh he's been
dating my daughter for one hundred and twelve years.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
But so anyway, this week I am really.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Really, really excited and very honored to have PGA professional
Ron Lucas with us. Ron has a tremendous golf story
and does uses golf. I talk a lot on this
show about golf for good. Ron is a definition of
golf for good.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And as we go through.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
All of this, I'm gonna find out just how what great,
great amounts of good that Ron is doing with the
game of golf. But first off, Ron, thanks for thanks
for joining us on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You're welcome, thanks for the invite, and happy Thanksgiving to all.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
So, as I always do wrong with everybody, why don't
you start us out with your early years and your
introduction to golf.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
All right, in my early years, I go back a
few decades. I was born in nineteen fifty and I
was born in La Trobe and on nineteen fifty two,
I contracted the polio. So I was one of those
baby boomers that also prior to the Salk vaccine, and
I had a little challenge naturally at the younger years,
(01:31):
and remember many trips to Pittsburgh and my whole left
side was affected by the polio virus. And so then
both my parents worked and they my dad played golf,
so I caddied for him, and when I was out
on the golf course with him, I decided that I
wanted to pick up the game. Being right handed golfer,
(01:56):
I had a very weak left side. So the challenge
is I had learning the game and developing a decent
game or many Then I started to caddy at La
Trobe Country Club when I was fourteen, and I got
on the golf team at La Trobe High School, and
I started to really work hard at the game. And
(02:20):
caddying at Latrobe Country Club really helped because one of
my guys that I got to be very close to
and bonded with was Deacon Palmer. Deacon Palmer Arnie's dad
had his left leg affected by polio as well, so
we had a special bond that we created and developed
(02:41):
throughout my years, cat in at La Trobe Country Club
and Arnie caddy in for him at younger in his prime,
and also being on the La Trobe High School golf
team and being number one, and I went to States
and we had a very good golf team. So there
was a lot of history there with being from that
(03:03):
area and being at that time of Arne's career, so
there was a lot of initiating to say, I'd like
to think about getting into the golf profession after I
got out of college, and it was a tough road
in the beginning, but I got into the golf business
(03:25):
about nineteen seventy two as an apprentice and that started
my career of where I'm at today.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That's really neat. So let me go. Let me walk
backwards a little bit here.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So you were born in nineteen fifty Arnolpulm was born
in nineteen thirty, correct.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yes, I caught him at his when he was the amateur,
and then I think it was fifty eight, was the
first Masters, if I'm not mistaken, and in nineteen sixty
he won the US Open. So I was one of
those kids that was in awe of Arney's Army, and
(04:04):
I saw him fly in after some of those wins
at a young age, and in nineteen sixty two when
he was tied with Jack Nicholas over at Oakmont Country Club,
I was actually there witnessing that playoff where he lost
to Nicholas, and again just being that close up and
being from the town and his era of developing Arney's Army,
(04:28):
you know, I was definitely inspired.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Okay, so let me walk backwards here, see, because I've
known you for a long time and you never told
me you saw the playoff between Nicholas and Palmer.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Well, we never got to that conversation.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So that was on Monday, correct, Yes, yeah, they played
an eighteen hole back then, So okay, so yeah, that's
that's pretty od you you don't still have.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
They probably didn't even give you a ticket, did they.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I can't remember. I went with my father, being at
that age I would have been thirteen twelve, twelve to
thirteen years old, and so I would have been with him.
I remember it was a rainy day. I remember watching
some of the open prior to that, like the practice
round we went to, and then it ended up as
(05:21):
a tie for Marnie and Nicholas on Sunday, So they
played the eighteen hole playoff on a Monday. Being on
the driving range Oakmont Country Club naturally back then was
totally different than the design that it is today. And
when we were on the practice tee during the practice round,
they had some young guys. You know, we're going to
(05:41):
try to make the cut, and I'll never forget one guy.
They had a rail fence on the practice tee working
down the left and he was sitting up on the
rail and lo and behold, one of the younger guys
who never made it on the tour, might have been
a club professional or amateur to make that position. He
(06:03):
duck hooked a drive and hit this guy right in
the ei knocked him off the fence. And it was
one of those things where the golf ball can be
very damaging and you got to watch where you're standing
and so on and so forth. So it was a
different culture, a different era of the game of golf,
and the equipment and everything was the history of the
(06:25):
game right there.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Okay, So, so U turn professional and as an apprentice
in nineteen seventy two, correct, So, where did you work.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I started where my father had played, and in the
old days it was called Holiday Acres, which is in
La Trobe and today it's the Late tro Of Elks
right off of nine eighty one, and that's where he played.
So I caddied for him and we, you know, both
my parents, as I said, work, so he never had
(06:55):
to worry about me. They would drop me off in
the morning and go to work and pick me up
when the sun was setting. And we used to play
our little fun matches. I was Arnold Palmer, the other
guy was Billy Casper, another guy was Champagne Tony Lima,
and we would have our matches and they would be
heated at times. We were very competitive. And they also
(07:18):
were my fellow teammates on Lake Trow High School. So
the area of where I started my career at the
Lea tro Elks again has many memories in many histories.
I worked for Marty Statler back then, and Marty also
had a driving range and a little mini golf area
(07:39):
like a pitch and putt that they have at Scalley's.
So I worked for him over there, and that's when
I started to be in my apprenticeship and I'd like
to say that back then in nineteen seventy two, one
of the first things that I had to do as
an apprentice working for Marty Statler because his brother in
law was Carl Ross. Carl Ross was the found under
(08:00):
the Lynx golf club factory. Also worked for Arnie as
a sales rep years ago, back in the sixties. But
he said, no apprentice is going to work for me
that does not know how to whip a golf club.
And so that was the first thing I had to do,
and then the second thing was putting a grip on,
(08:21):
and the third thing was wrapping leather grips. So that
started my career in nineteen seventy two, and I think
the traditions of the game, we should do it in
twenty twenty four in future.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, it's interesting because I know how to whip a
golf club. For those of you everybody listening, this doesn't
understand it. The old days, when we had wooden woods
and when they were percimmons, the neck of.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Them had around.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Them is actually what could be considered to be was whipping.
But it looks like thread. It's a really really hard
plastic threat malleable thread, and you had to whip it
and then tie it off so it looked correct like
it came out of the factory really good. But sometimes
it would it would come apart, especially if you if
you crack the neck of the golf club, so then
you had to rewhip it. I know how to do
(09:08):
that or not how to put a grip on. I've
never let wrap the leather grip. I've never done that.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well. Working for Arnie for many years and caddying for him,
that was a good stepping stone for me because he
didn't have to tell me anything. I had already have
that talent. And when you uh wrap a set of
twelve fourteen golf clubs with leather grips, you want to
(09:35):
talk about building building your hand strength and forearm strength,
you got a challenge there. And it does require a technique,
just like whipping. And the more you do, the more
better you'll get. And if you're not you don't even
try it.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, I know, because I'll tell you what it took me.
And I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine doing
the grips, but it took me for ever to learn how.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
To do the whipping.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yeah, and it's not just for cosmetics or the traditions
of the game. Because I'm also a member of the
Golf Heritage Society, I'm an ambassador for them and we
deal with a lot of hickory shafted golf clubs, the
ones that were built and started the game back in
the seventeen eighteen hundreds early nineteen hundreds, and it was
also for securing and supporting the neck of the golf
(10:28):
club head which connects to the golf shaft. So it's
not just cosmetics, but that's where the tradition started back
in Scotland and the hickory shaft days.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah. So, but you're not that old one.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
You're only born nineteen fifty buddy. You still talking about
hickory club You're talking about Bobby Jones.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Now, Yeah, No, I'm not that old. But I worked
and collected and have a collection that will date back
to that and I think it's again part of the game,
in the history of the game. That's very important for
golf professionals or golf enthusiasts at all get some of
that history.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
So, okay, so you mentioned your collection because I know
there's a ton of stuff I want to talk you
about today. But what's what's the most valuable golf club
you own.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Well, Arnie never really autographed, personalized too many things in
his career. He would love to sign his photos, sign gloves,
do a lot of signatures, but very rarely would you
see him say two rawn best wishes in your club
(11:36):
repair or to anything personalized and then his signature. So
my father, who had several heart attacks in his day,
in the off season, he learned to paint, paint oils
and he did all kinds of different media. And one
(11:56):
day I gave Arnie for his birthday painting of my
father's and I thought he really appreciated that. And so
what he did is he gave me one of his
drivers and he signed it to my father's name, which
happens to be Ermine E R M I n to
ermine best wishes Arnold Palmer. And that was the top
(12:20):
of the list as far as uniqueness are rare and specialized.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Okay, so now since we're talking about Palmer for a minute,
I've only talked to Arnold Palmer twice in my life.
But you obviously grew up in this town. You were
around him as he was younger when you were younger,
and he.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Was obviously younger.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
He was truly that good of a guy, Like people
don't realize how good of a.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Guy he was.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Oh yeah, well, you know, I got to tell you though,
in my particular case of caddying for him, born raised,
knowing his father, I worked at Bay Hill, I worked
as the head pro Legrue country Club. Eventually, you know,
he uh really, you know, was expecting a lot out
(13:14):
of me. When you work for somebody, you always see
a little different side. And I'm giving him a lot
of credit. Uh. His father was the same way to him. Uh.
His father said, never forget your roots where you came from.
Always remember, uh, you know the history and your area,
(13:35):
and it's so important. So Arnie was under a microscope
a lot of times and Deacon's guidelines and rules, and
Arnie had the same way when for me working for him, that's.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
That's really interesting, that's really really interesting.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I never called him Arnie. It was mister Palmer. And
even though I caddied for him and knew his dad,
and like I said, at bail and so on and
so forth, a lot of more closeness than the typical relationships.
As well as I worked on a lot of his
golf clubs and the workshop. So you know, we had
(14:19):
a whole different relationship in a different game than a
typical owner of a golf course and your golf professional.
Who's your head pro.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
That's that's interesting. But so I'll tell you what you
probably have. Yeah, I could probably.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Get you to talk for like hours on stories of him,
but we have so so okay, So all right, So
the last couple of minutes of this segment, you you
have now turned professional. You've gone through you know, you've
overcome all your all your physical challenges and and and
now you've turned professionals. So when we come back from
(14:56):
from this commercial, we are going to talk about how
you've you've used your PGA membership and your efforts and
they're all your efforts to use this game for for good.
I mean, because I you know, before before we go
to this break, I mean, for anybody who doesn't know
(15:18):
anything about Ron Lucas, you need to really, really really
listen to the next two segments because you're going to
find somebody who just I don't know when he decided
to do it, but he just decided that he was
going to use golf to impact positively on a massive
amount of people in Western Pennsylvania and beyond.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And so.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
You know, I while I would while I love talking about,
you know, the history of things with with Ron, and
and I didn't even know that he was at the
playoff in sixty two at Oakmont.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
But but when.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
We come back from this commercial, I'm gonna focus really
hard on Ron's efforts to not just grow the game,
but to actually use the game of golf for good.
This is the rich Comwell Golf Show. Welcome back to
the rich Comwoll Golf Show. We were joined this week
with joined by Ron Lucas, who is a PGA professional
(16:19):
and Tri State Section PGA. And as I said at
the end of the last segment, Ron's got some interesting
stories and some great stories of some early in the
early years having grown up in western Pennsylvanian around Arnold
Palmer and Arnold Palmer's father. But what I want to
(16:42):
do now, Ron, is I want to talk about, first off,
your involvement with United States veterans and the game of golf.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So tell me tell me this story of how that started.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Well, my father number one was two veteran. He was
in the Pacific Theater in the Army and nineteen forty
four to nineteen forty six. And then, as I said,
I was born in nineteen fifty contracted polio in fifty
two to fifty four fifty five. In my rehabs and such,
(17:17):
and that challenge that I had as a young person,
and my father's ties with World War Two veterans, as
we know, there's not many left spurred me to say,
I want to give something back to the game, and
these guys are very very important to me. And that
started back in two thousand, well actually nineteen ninety, I
(17:43):
attended a two day seminar with the mid Atlantic Section
down in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It was called the International Amputee Invitational,
and I got an education. I got to see a
lot of guys, you know, without their eggs, there, crutches,
their wheelchairs, stroke victims, all kinds of different injuries, and
(18:06):
how they were able to find some solace, some gratitude,
some enjoyment out of the game of golf. And it
just says, Wow, you think you have problems, You got
no problems compared to some of those guys. So in
twenty eleven, Bill Kirk and myself and Robert Morrise Dome
(18:30):
with Jim Chikra. We got together with the administration and
we had a seminar with Penn State University and another
group called Salute Military Golfers Association. They were from the Philadelphia, Washington, TC,
Baltimore area. They came over. We did a two day
(18:52):
seminar over at RMU on the grounds next to the
golf dome, and so they were talking about certain injuries
and physical side the first day. The second day was
more the mental side, and they had some guys that
came over from the eastern part of Pennsylvania, some veterans.
(19:16):
One was an army veteran and he was a colonel
and he had seventy operations plates in his head, plates
in his back, all kinds of different injuries that they
kept on trying to cure and help him. And the
second day, the Penn State leadership got up and started off,
(19:42):
well today we're going to talk about post traumatic stress
d PTSD, and he got up and he raamed her
another one. He said, people got to understand it's not
a disorder. You can call it PTS, post traumatic stres
or post traumatic stress syndrome, but you leave the D off.
(20:04):
And that just opened my eyes up because you got
to listen to those individuals who go through all that,
and the book doesn't always teach you that stuff. So
we decided to do our own thing and work with
guys with wheelchairs and stuff. And we start off with
about six or eight, and unfortunately, as time goes on,
(20:25):
they get depressed, they stay at home. Transportation was the
key to getting them to us and so on and
so forth. So we then got Robert Morris involved and
we were trying to do a spring in a fall
program and that worked out okay, but we wanted it
(20:46):
to grow, and so then we brought in a VA Hines.
VA Hines is the federal hospital down in Aspenwall, federal
government side, and most of those guys were drug alcohol rehabs, homeless,
that type of personality, so they were able to do
(21:08):
some of the other stuff that the guys in the
wheelchairs were not able to do, and they had transportation
to get to us, and so from there things were growing.
We were up to twelve sixteen eighteen, and then I
threw the Jerry Coyn, who was the guy that was
the activities director at the time over at the VA Hines.
(21:31):
He said to his friend and colleague of the Southwest
Veteran Center that's the Pennsylvania state run and they were
interested and maybe doing something with the game of golf,
and so he connected with me. His name is Chris Beach,
and he loved the idea. So from twenty nineteen to
(21:54):
present we have grown. My average now for my up
for VET golf is spring, summer, and fall. We average
somewhere between twenty five and thirty two veterans heat session.
We have eight week sessions. We have spring, summer, and fall,
and I actually have two to four sessions per month
(22:16):
on site at the Southwest Veteran Center. And it's grown
because of, you know, giving back to the game, understanding
some of their challenges which I had, and knowing that
your father, for example, and all those ties mean something.
And then working on golf clubs and developing my golf
(22:37):
club repair business gave me an opportunity to also design
and fit some adaptive golf equipment for the guys in
the wheelchairs to make the game a little bit more enjoyable.
So you can see a lot of the history, and
I can go on and on and on, but I
can vouch that it's the game of golf that brings
(22:58):
them together. And one of the things I always encourage
with the guys, and you've been in one of my sessions,
we have teams, and teams are where they came from
when they were in the service. A little competition, friendly competition,
Marines versus Army, versus Navy, versus the Air Force, versus
the Coast Guard. You have those interactions and they enjoy it,
(23:22):
and you know, we have fun back and forth and
they have something to do spring, summer and fall once
a week getting together and sharing stories. And it's just
been a great experience. And I have several examples, but
I don't know how long your show is, so I
can go. You're good, go is wherever you want it.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Go ahead to give me, give me, give me one
of your really good stories, because I know.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Well I have several, but one of which is a
guy who was World War Two. His name was Regis.
He was in a wheelchair. He was from the Southwest Veterans,
and his activities director said, this is a great game,
we're having fun. You ought to come out and join us. No,
I can't do that. I'm in a wheelchair. I don't
want to do that. Blah blah, blah blah blah, all negativity.
(24:13):
So finally he encouraged him to come out one time,
and from there on and out, he was hooked on golf. Literally,
he had perfect attendance. He wanted me to give him
a gap. He wanted to have a shirt, he wanted uniform,
he wanted a golf ball so I could drill a
hole in and he could put it on his apparatus
(24:34):
of his wheelchair so he could move around. That's how
much it changed him around. And unfortunately, like a lot
of World War Two vets, he's no longer with us.
But that was the start. And there was another guy.
He was a marine. He was from the va Hines.
His name was Tom Council, and he had both legs
(24:55):
severed in the war Vietnam war mine. And he said
that he didn't want to go, but he was encouraged
by one of his other veterans. And that's really the
how you get it to grow is a veteran sell
them to another veteran. We can do a lot of things,
but we can't do everything. And so he said, I'm
(25:19):
not sure why I'm here, but he told me to come,
So I'm here, well alone, behold his time war on
that guy said, you know, every vet needs to bring
one on every session. And he was then the inspiration
for the whole Va Hinz Hospital to continue with the
(25:40):
game of golf. And then one more story that I
think is touching. He's from the Southwest Veteran Center. His
name is Mark, and his sister would visit him periodically,
and you know, the Southwest was a residence home, and
he was in the army and he was in a
(26:01):
kind of a depression for the majority of the times
when she visited him, and he was always grumpy and
never smiled. So one day, after a few sessions of golf,
and his sister visits him and then goes to the
activities director Chris and says, Chris, what did you do
to my brother? He said, why, what happened? She says,
(26:25):
He's smiling. Wow, he's laughing. I've never seen him so happy.
And you know, that's just a story that brings a
little choking up here, because you mean that much to somebody, right.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Right, right, you're saving lives, yep.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
And today he's now not because of my recommendation, So
he doesn't listen to the committee all the time, but
he now has like four or five putters. He goes
on Amazon. He has to get this. He wants me
to put a grip on a little thicker. He wants
me to get what was on in a little thinner,
and he would, you know, shortened lengthen you know all that.
(27:10):
I says, Mark, you're getting to be an obsess and
you don't have enough room in your wheelchair for all
these putters. But I related to Arnie. You know how
many putter's Arnie collected when I was working for him
and working at La Job Country Club.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I have no idea. I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
He had over ten thousand putters, and I am not exaggerating.
I worked on some of them. I witnessed it. And
how did he get that many? He would go and
play in a pro am. He would look at one
of the amateurs that he's playing with bag he would
pull the putter out. He'd say, boy, this feels pretty good.
(27:50):
I think I can And the guy would say, mister Palmer,
if you can win another tournament, you go ahead and
take that butter and see what you can do with it.
Collected continued to grow until he got to about ten
thousand and what was Arnie's weakest part of his game
as he got a little bit older in his career, right, he.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Couldn't make anything. Yeah, he couldn't make anything. He had
all the equipment. He doesn't have that. He doesn't have
that anymore.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
We're all looking for that magic one exactly. But anyways,
there's Mark over there at the Southwest. Now he's up
to four when he didn't even own. I loan them clubs.
And the next thing he says, I think I want to,
you know, give me one of these, and give me
one of those. And now he's shopping on Amazon, onon.
So those are three stories that just bring out the
(28:41):
connection or the emotions of what you can do with
the game of golf.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
So let me ask you this though. So you know
you know straight numbers. You know you do spring, summer, fall,
You've got seventy five veterans a year.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Well, yeah, if you had them all together, that's correct.
That's how I work. And then you know the PGA hope,
which I've done before they even are to the stage
they're at today. I had those guys added because they
only you know, budget so much for six to eight weeks,
(29:18):
and if I'm doing a good job, and we're doing
a good job. The first thing that they would always
say to the veterans to me is what's next, right,
And that particular program, it's basically six to eight week session.
And so that's why I entered into my own independent
to help the guys spring, summer, fall, including the PGA Hope, right.
(29:42):
So you could say I was doing more if necessary,
but the bottom line wasn't for anything but the veterans.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, that's yeah. The sheer numbers of what you've done.
I mean, you know, if you take you know, I'm
not that good at mass, but if you take seventy
five guys and they do it for five years, I
mean it's it's four almost four hundred people.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
It's actually three hundred and seventy five people.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Maybe I'm better at math, and I think I am,
but it's you know, so and that's and that's basically
just the definition of using golf to better people's lives period.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yep. And you know, I also work if you want
to get into this part of the show with autistic
individuals and the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation with the City
Connection and their challenge is the Hysteric program. So it's
not just exclusive to veterans and their injuries. Sometimes it's
(30:47):
the autism, it's the down syndrome, it's other situations that
you can include in the game of golf.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Right right, But I just think it's it's it's fascinating,
and you know, I've I would tell you that, you know,
we're going to wrap up this segment, and because we're
going to talk about Pittsburgh Uth Golf Foundation in the
next segment, but I want to wrap this one up
by just saying that, you know, the PGA of America
does a really good job with hope, but you are correct, there's.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
An end to it, and.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
You can do as much as you want, and clearly
you have a ton of want, because nobody would actually
look around and go, hey, you know what I can
do more except for it. Well, actually, nobody in the
Tri state section that I know of looks around says
can I do more.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Other than you?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
And so you should be not only commended, but you should.
It's got to make it a lot easier to fall
asleep at night knowing you've done as much as you
have for veterans.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Oh yeah, Well, well I told you the history with
my dad and growing up and everything, and so it's
rewarding as we get up into those golden years. I
know that you are doing something not just for monetary side.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
That's perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
So when we come back from this break, we are
going to talk about the other half of the veterans,
which is the young people that Ron's involved in, and
we're gonna hear some really cool stories about some of
the impacts that Ron has made in the inner city
and with the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation. This is the
Rich Combo Golf Show. Welcome back to the Rich Como
(32:23):
Golf Show. We're joined this week by Ron Lucas Or
We're joined by Ron Lucas, PGA professional in the Tri
State Section PGA, and we just spent a good amount
of time talking about Ron's efforts with the veterans and
just some major impacts he's made. He heard some great
(32:44):
stories about that. But there's also a second side to
Ron's effort to use golf for good and it has
to do with the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation. Pittsburgh Youth
Gold Foundation has been around for a lot longer than
people realize, and I'm going to kind of let Ron
tell the story of how he got involved in the
areas that they're making. The Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation is
(33:08):
making an impact.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
So n how did it all start.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Well, Actually, the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation was the first
one in the Pittsburgh area and I think maybe in
the state of Pennsylvania, possibly the United States, way before
the first team. And that was in nineteen ninety one,
and the founder was Bob Yaeger and he was instrumental
(33:36):
into thinking about how we can help better some of
the inner city schools and with the game of golf
because he was a golfer and he cares a lot
about trying to give back as well. And Larry Burns
as the president, and unfortunately Bob Yeger is no longer
(33:57):
with us. But it started back in nineteen ninety one.
We had four schools. We had frick Sterret Maligns, and
I think the other one was Option Center. Anyways, through
the times, it was challenging to get golf professionals and
(34:22):
psite coordinators and then the Pittsburgh Public Schools administration and
then we talked transportation and so on and so forth.
In the beginning, we went to the schools themselves on
site and the gymnasiums. The problem with that was too
many interruptions and sometimes too many kids in a very
(34:44):
small space. So then we started to branch out to
go to Scalli's and that way we were getting them
off site. But then that came into the transportation, so
budgets and so on led to where we're at today.
That is basically one school for the sixth, seventh, and
(35:04):
eighth graders where that was where it was targeted in
the beginning, and that is stare At School. Stare it
is and by the Homewood, Shady Side Squirrel Hill area.
And we now recognized when I was the psyche coordinator
and then became the executive director, we need to get
(35:27):
them out of that school. And bus is about forty
eight is a capacity, so we're looking for top fifty. Well,
they would have one hundred and fifty sixth graders. Now
one hundred and fifty sixth graders in the inner city
Pittsburgh public schools would be way too chaotic and you
(35:47):
would have some situations where things would get out of hand.
So we had to start streaming them down to approximately
forty five, no more than forty eight plus their school teachers,
and from there it was challenging to get some of
those kids that were not just looking to get off
site and have their self some fun, but focus on
(36:10):
the game of golf. So then, per my suggestion, we
were down to twenty five to thirty five, and that's
where we are today. We basically are now down to
the month of May because they have testing and they
have other interactions that conflict with the game of golf
(36:31):
in our schedule. So may we do four sessions. We
do them off site at Scaley's. We average somewhere around
thirty five per session and they're a lot better, smaller
groups and better ratios and instruction. So from there approximately
fifteen years ago, so do the math. I recommended that,
(36:55):
you know, I'm doing so much with the vets, what
about some of the challenging groups that we have with kids.
And there's a section of Pittsburgh Public schools called the
City Connection. They are actually schools from the north, east,
south and west. That's the City Connection, and they have
(37:17):
varied challenges. They can be autism, they could be down syndrome,
they could be a few others that they're not able
to tell me what all their challenges are. But that's
pretty much the personality of the kids and then the
game of golf. And so we started that program four
times a month, and then it got into budget and
(37:39):
then it got into transportation. So we basically are now
we do a spring and a fall program and a
summer camp. So we still have it, but we have
them pretty much one a month with an average of
about twelve students plus the school teachers. Offsite either it's
Galleys at the RMU or great place for the veterans
(38:02):
and handicapped and that is the Woodlands Foundation up there
in Wexford. So that has been well received. It has
been very very successful and some unique stories with those kids.
It can be that Number one, there's a student there
and you've probably seen the movie rain Man, Yes, with
(38:24):
Dustin Hoffman. Well there's a girl. Her name was Opel,
and she had this special talent where she could say, rich,
you were born on such and such a day your
year and the day of the week that you were born.
And you never met her before, And I asked her
(38:49):
after several of the golf pros that wouldn't believe me,
and she came up with it, and it was like,
how does she do this, and I asked her one
day and she says, I don't know. I just got it,
you know, And it's just her personality. She was great
with game and golf. But unfortunately, here's why I started
(39:12):
another program, which I call Plus twenty one, and it's
because I found out several years ago into the City Connection,
two of the students came up to me and said,
mister Lucas, we really loved the game of golf. We
had a lot of fun, we enjoyed coming out, but
I'll never see you again. Can I shake your hand?
And I said, why, We're going to have this in
(39:33):
the spring, fall, summer, whatever, and they said me out,
But I have a birthday next week. And I turned
twenty one to twenty two, and apparently when you turn
the age of twenty two, you're dropped from everything, and
that never made sense to me. So about three or
(39:54):
four years ago, I started this independently program I called
Plus twenty one where with the Autism Society of Pittsburgh
and we work with individuals with a game of golf
that can range anywhere from the age of twenty four,
twenty eight, thirty two, thirty six. And I have one
in my group that age is sixty three years old. Wow,
(40:19):
and their parents just love the program because there's nothing
else for him. And these individuals at that age, you
can't put them in with a fourteen year old or
a nineteen year old, and so you keep them separate.
But you know, you get them started in the game
with the city connection, and then they turn twenty two
and there's nothing for him, so that it was never
(40:42):
made sense. So giving back to the game on that
end is very rewarding as well.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
You know, it's interesting you say that because my daughter
is a speech pathologist at the Children's Institute in Pittsburgh
and she has kids up until they're through their twenty
first year here and then by law, that's what I've
been told.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
I don't you know, I don't.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
I don't go in there, but yeah, I don't know
who the powers will be to put that number on it,
but it's true.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
So the twenty one because she lose I mean, she
has she has students that you know, will never have
that type of interaction again because they're not they're not
able to walk into buildings or walk into programs like
you're talking about. So the fact that you actually had
the wherewithal there's a big word, the wherewithal two to
(41:34):
go ahead and say, you know what we need to
we need to have, we have to have, we have
to pave the road further, you.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Know, because twenty one doesn't end the road.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I think that's I think that's remarkable.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
And well, yeah, thank you. And you know from some
of your experience and when talking to your sister, what's
also very important to these individuals and the challenges that
they have is a routine. They like routines, and you
give them a routine, and you give them a sport,
and you give them an opportunity to maybe have some
(42:07):
socializing and interaction and so on. And then at age
twenty two, you've got nothing right.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Right, We're just going to rip that band aid right
off and let's see how that goes for us.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Yeah, And the biggest challenge, like any of these programs,
whether it's Veterans or this plus twenty one, is transportation.
But typically in my case with the Plus twenty one,
it's a small group, which is fine, but their parents
are always there. They're interacting, and it gives their parents
a chance to either have a little break or it
(42:39):
gives their parents a chance to play golf with them,
and that is so special they wouldn't do at home.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah, I know exactly.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
I know what you mean, because because it's interesting because
you know my sister.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
You know, I know you're it's her.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
But my sister had spinted bifida, and I know that
you know the parents. You know, she lived to be
fifty and the only reason she lived to be fifty
is because my parents such good care of her. And
and but the fact of the matter is is these
you know, as much sad as it is, and it's
not even funny, but as sad as it is, I mean,
(43:21):
these parents, they haven't forever and they you know, obviously,
you know I have two children, and you know that
they're on their own and one's still in college, but
they're going to go make their own way. But these kids,
they can't make their own way. They need they need help.
And just because you know you need help at twenty
(43:43):
twenty doesn't mean you're not gonna to help at twenty two,
especially in their situation. So I just think it's remarkable
that you would think that way forward.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
So let me ask you this question.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
You know, just sitting in this little chair here, how
can how can we help?
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Well, the Autism of Pittsburgh has been a very great supporter,
and you know, helping is basically the one thing is transportation.
The other thing how you get the transportation these kids,
they don't live in one little area. They don't go
to school anymore in that particular case, and we had
(44:26):
as the Pittsburgh Youth Golf Foundation, with the City Connection
and the Board's support, it would have been dropped probably
about three years ago because at that particular time of
these fifteen years up until about three years ago, the
school provided transportation and City Connection is north, east, south
(44:48):
and west of the city, so they're not in one area.
And so what we had to do is, you know,
through the director that I was working closely with, she says,
if you know we can't go, why, well, we don't
have any more bus, we don't have a budget for
bus transportation. And I said, let me work on it.
(45:10):
And when I went to the board and they saw
all the rewards and all the positive things that were
happening with that challenge group, they said, we'll take care
of it. And so that that was taken care of
by the board and their support of knowing what we're
doing for the betterment of the game of golf and
what Bob Jaeger initiated back in nineteen ninety one. So
(45:33):
support is always either financial or little things or major
things like that. But you know, growth, you know, bigger
doesn't always make it better. Growth is quality versus quantity.
Making sure the personalities and the connection and the security,
(45:54):
the safety. There's a lot of things when you get
into that particular group. And that's why with the VA
Hines in the Southwest Veterans Center, I have a very
strong support of their activities director and they can provide that.
So it's you know, how can you help, It's whatever
anybody wants to contribute to assist. We're well on our way.
(46:19):
We naturally are not big because as I said, it's
not designed that way, all right.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
So okay, So that's that's the that's the Pittsburgh Youth
Golf Foundation, that's the twenty one plus, that's that's all
of that. But I do want to acknowledge the fact
that you have won several awards because of your efforts,
and I know from sitting and reading nominations for these
(46:52):
things that you do not go out and lobby for
these and people are wise enough to recommend you, but
or to nominate you.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
But tell me what award you've won.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
Well, it goes back to my first one in twenty ten,
and that was the era of Dennis and Karen Derek,
and it was the PGA President Plaque Award, which I
was very proud to receive. And then in twenty thirteen
(47:26):
was my first recognition of the Junior Achievement Award recipient.
And then with finally in twenty seventeen, eighteen nineteen, and
twenty twenty, I was awarded the Patriot of the Tri
State Section Award. I got to tell you a couple
(47:50):
other ones after I read through the Tri State Section.
And then in twenty twenty three, I was nominated in
award the Tri State PGA Section Deacon Palmer Award, which
gave me the opportunity to be a finalist in the
twenty twenty four PGA of America Deacon Palmer Award. I
(48:13):
guess I finished second to another guy out in the
state of Indiana. But I can tell you a couple
others that were important to me that I branched off
and saw the rewards and they recognized my contributions and
that is a member of the Rotary of Turtle Creek,
(48:36):
And in twenty twenty two, I was a Rotarian of
the Year award. And in twenty nineteen, because of my
connection with the Southwest Veteran Center, I was the Pennsylvania
State Award for the Pennsylvania Coalition hacka award Pennsylvania Coalition
(48:57):
of Affiliated Healthcare and Living Communities, which was statewide and
I was recognized in twenty nineteen. And then I'm a
member also of the American Legion and a group called
the SAL which is Sons of American Legion, and I
(49:19):
was recognized as the Pennsylvania State Award winner of the
Steven W. Bogan Award, which was for the Veterans Affairs
and rehab Services of the SAL. And then in twenty
twenty four, I'm the award recipient of the Pennsylvania sal
(49:40):
VAVs Award, which stands for Veterans Administration Volunteer Service. So
it's not just what the tri state, but branching out
and being connected with other groups that are connected with
my veterans, for example, or the Plus twenty one and
so on. That's how you grow or you need to
(50:04):
have those other ones in the rotary motto is service
above self, and I do recognize that is a great
organization and the Turtle Creek Rotary is fantastic group of people.
I got to add one more thing that I think
is very special that I want to at least have
(50:28):
you recognize. In twenty nineteen, besides the Packer Award, my
association and development with some of those veteran stories with
the Southwest Veteran Center, which is off of Washington Boulevard
up there sort of across from what used to be
the old Schumann Center. We started to say about the
(50:50):
game of golf, and I got together with Chris Feach,
I got together with Gordon Vittmar, one of our fellow
golf pros whose business is country club gardens landscaping, and
I got together with the sal and the Turtle Creek
Rotary and per the instructions and development. We took a
(51:15):
three year project. Cost was over thirty five thousand dollars,
but we have the only one of a putting green
on site at the Southwest Veteran Center. Now there's six
VA hospitals state run in the state of Pennsylvania, three
east of Harrisburg, three west of Harrisburg. We are the
(51:37):
only one that has in the state of Pennsylvania. Might
be bigger than that with a putting green on site.
And it was specifically designed by Gordon and myself to
withstand those automatic wheelchairs motorized wheelchairs, because they can weigh
over four hundred and fifty pounds. Then you add the
(51:59):
body that's on there, it could be over two hundred pounds,
and so it's built to last over fifteen years. It
was started in twenty nineteen. It was completed in May
of twenty twenty two, and that was our goal. That
was our projective date and we hit it and it
has been a great success for those guys and they
(52:21):
can just go up in their little area where the
pavilion is and they have a chipping area that we
put it together, and it's now lighted so when we
run into a nice day in the spring or fall,
but the time in the day light has changed, we
still can continue on. And that's part of my two
to four sessions per month on site. And it's fantastic
(52:44):
and we're the only ones that got that.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
I had to tout that.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
I understand completely. Ron I got to tell you, I
thank you very very much. Like I said, I'm going
to have you on the spring. We're actually very fortunate
to have people like you, and specifically you, people like you,
so thank thanks for being on and I will I
will be will bring you back in the spring and we'll.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Go from there.
Speaker 3 (53:07):
All right, Well, thank you, Happy holidays and happy New Year.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
That's great. This is the rich Comwell Golf Show.
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