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Bill Powell and his daughter, Renee’, shared something more than lineage and a last name. Both shared a love of golf. Both excelled at it. Both overcame the sting of racial prejudice to reach their goals through perseverance. Dr. Renee’ Powell shared her story as the featured speaker at a recent gathering of the Akron Roundtable. Among those in the audience was a group of elementary and middle school girls who are involved in the First Tee of Akron. They heard Dr. Powell recount how her father purchased 78 acres of land in East Canton in Stark County in 1946 and planned to build a golf course. Two years later, the nine-hole Clearview Golf Club was opened. And Bill Powell wanted it known that it was opened to the public after he was denied access to many golf courses because he was an African-American, and it was open to people of all races and ethnicity. During her address, Dr. Powell noted how she learned from the example of her father; that he taught her more than the game of golf. He taught her to work for what you wanted and a person can achieve anything if they want it badly enough and was willing to work hard enough to make it happen. Dr. Powell wanted to be a professional golfer. She made it happen. But it came at a cost. She was introduced to the same bias that her father experienced when she became the second African-American to play on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour in the late 1960’s. Steadfast, she competed on the LPGA Tour until 1980 when she left the tour and embarked on a mission that resonates with the objectives of The First Tee both nationally and locally. Dr. Powell traveled the world teaching the game of golf until 1988 when she returned to the United States to teach the game to inner-city children. Her work resulted in an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of St. Andrew’s and she became just the seventh women to be made a member of St. Andrew’s Country Club, the home of golf in Scotland. In attendance to witness it all was her father. “Is there anyone you can think of that embodies the work of First Tee more than Dr. Powell?” asked Frank Stams, the Executive Director of First Tee of Akron. “She not only extends the reach of the game of golf, but she teaches how the game mirrors the way one should live their life away from the game.” That is the central theme of The First Tee. It is an educational program that asks its participants to adhere to the program’s Nine Core Values: Confidence, Courtesy, Honesty, Integrity, Judgement, Perseverance, Respect, Responsibility and Sportsmanship. First Tee Akron is based at Mud Run Golf Club on S. Hawkins Avenue in Akron. The organization is opening registration for the 2016 year. Children aged 6 to 17 are encouraged to participate. To register, visit the website at www.firstteeakron.org to register online.

With a blend of humor, humility and honesty, collegiate Hall of Fame coach and administrator Jack Lengyel delivered the keynote speech at a recent banquet at Firestone Country Club supporting The First Tee of Akron. A crowd of 200 attended the annual Executive Dinner. Lengyel recounted his days as a student and football player at The University of Akron where he played with local legends John Cistone, Mario Russo and Frank Stams, Sr., the father of First Tee Executive Director Frank Stams, Jr., himself an All-American defensive end at Notre Dame. Upon graduation, Lengyel embarked on a football coaching career that would eventually lead him to a university in West Virginia touched by tragedy. After stints at Akron, Heidelberg College and Cornell University, Lengyel landed the head coaching position at Wooster College in 1968. He remained there until 1970. Then fate intervened. “I came home after a game. I was laying on the couch, digesting what happened and starting to get my mind set on preparing for the next game,” said Lengyel. “Then, a report came on the television. It said that an airplane carrying the Marshall University football team had crashed, killing everyone on board.” Lengyel felt compelled to help. He called the university to offer his services. At first, he was told the university hadn’t decided whether to continue the football program. Soon afterward, though, Marshall University President Don Dedmon and Athletic Director Joe McMullen made the courageous decision to re-build the program, and they set about finding a new coach. “I wasn’t their first choice,” said Lengyel. “In fact, I wasn’t their second, third or fourth choice. But, I finally got the call.” With only four remaining players, Lengyel went about the daunting task of not only re-building the football team but, in the process, the spirit of the town of Huntington, which passionately embraced its college football team. It was at this point in his remarks that Lengyel drew parallels between the undertaking he faced and the mission of The First Tee, an educational program designed to teach youth between the ages of 6 to 17 character-building skills through the game of golf. Lengyel pointed to the bedrock of the First Tee mission to have youth embrace the organization’s 9 Core Values: Confidence, Courtesy, Honesty, Integrity, Judgement, Perseverance, Respect, Responsibility and Sportsmanship. “There are many of the qualities of the Nine Core Values that we had to employ to get to where we wanted to be, to field a team against the odds.” But Marshall was able to field a team, complete with freshmen, baseball players, soccer players, basketball players and walk-ons. It even managed to win its second game back, a 15-13, last- play victory over Xavier. The struggle and the eventual triumph was featured in the 2006 film, “We Are Marshall” starring Matthew McConaughey portraying Lengyel. “I commend The First Tee of Akron for reaching out to young people and teaching them that they can accomplish anything they want if they want it badly enough.”