Celebrating Col. John Morley’s big idea

As is tradition, I connected with GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans to talk to him about his expectations for the upcoming Conference and Trade Show. After we chatted about our families and before we got going about what’s new and how show attendance is tracking (registrations up 10 percent from last year as of press time, and the tournament is about to sell out), we shared a laugh about how long we’ve been doing this.

Rhett let out a sigh and told me that on many of the industry committees he’s on, most of the people have cycled out — he’s the grizzled veteran of the group.

I don’t have that problem — people don’t ever ask me to join committees (but hey, they do invite me to their receptions). But I get what he’s talking about. I visited the North Coast Media headquarters in Cleveland to attend the company holiday party — always a good time — and my human resources director stopped by my office with a card. It contained a gift card and a congratulatory note. The recognition was in celebration of working for Golfdom for 15 years.

And I’ve also got a card for Debbie Pipik, our HR director (Yeah, I’ve had a few closed-doors meetings with her. See above comment about all the receptions).

Debbie is retiring. Cheers to you, Deb!

Sigh. Like Rhett said, these cycles keep moving on. 

A key topic of my interview with Rhett was on the party they’re throwing in Orlando at ICON Park. It’s a kick-off party celebrating GCSAA’s 100-year anniversary — 1926 to 2026. GCSAA, you’ve come a long, long way.

GCSAA is where my career as a professional journalist started. I was still in college when I started working for the association. It became my first full-time job and led me into a career covering this industry. Trips to the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Turfgrass Management Exhibition, celebrity golf tournaments, Caribbean islands. It eventually led to Golfdom taking a chance on me, and then me adopting our sister publication, Landscape Management magazine. It was at GCSAA where I met my wife of almost 20 years. 

To say I owe the brainchild of Col. John Morley a lot would be an understatement.

I worked at the association 25 years ago and recall preparing for the party we were going to throw for its 75th anniversary. As a low-level editor for the association (I mean, the lowest), my job was to park cars and valet them as people arrived at the front. And as a car guy, I was actually excited for the gig. Heck, maybe I’d even make some tips — I guarantee you Seth Jones of 25 years ago could have used some tips… 

Those who were there will know where this is going — the tragedy of 9/11 happened the very same week and threw everything into chaos. The party was called off. People who had already traveled into Lawrence, Kan., for the occasion were stuck for days. It’s one of the few sad memories I have of my time there.

GCSAA has big plans for the 100th anniversary of the association, and it kicks off in Orlando. Check out my article covering the event on pages 10-11. Following that article is a section spotlighting more than a dozen tools that’ll be on display at the show.

The 100-year party will keep going into September, when the GCSAA will again invite attendees to a celebration. They’ll unveil a new statue, this one of Col. John Morley, who will be joining the statue of the legendary Old Tom Morris. A committee was formed, made up of past GCSAA presidents and younger association members, to plan the events celebrating GCSAA’s landmark.

I wasn’t invited to serve on the 100-year committee. 

But maybe I’ll get invited to the reception.