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PRESIDENT's
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Messages from the past
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We now are just days into GCSAA's 80th anniversary. Eight decades ago, in an address at the Sept. 13, 1926, organizational meeting for the National Association of Greenkeepers of America at Sylvania Country Club in Toledo, Ohio, Col. John Morley set the tone for what today's GCSAA is and always should be. ItÕs particularly appropriate at this time to reacquaint ourselves with Col. Morley's philosophy and to let his words shine in recognition of the association's 80th year.
Of equal interest, and also reproduced here, is a letter to Col. Morley from legendary golf course architect Donald Ross, in which he acknowledges the creation of GCSAA's predecessor association and celebrates the special place that greenkeepers have in the game of golf.
Aims and Objectives of the National
Association of Greenkeepers of America
The association of mankind for the purpose of advancement and improvement
is a divine arrangement. Men are made for companionship. No life is, or
can be, self-existent. We depend upon each other. We should organize on
those principles which have lived and been recognized, wherever men have
been found who have devoted themselves to the happiness of others, and
sought to make men wiser, braver and better, and imbued them with aspirations
of a nobler manhood. If these teachings could find a throne in every heart,
if they could find expression in the daily acts of men, they would put
a new color into life and a new light on the face of humanity.
This Association will be founded on justice, faithful brotherhood and generous benevolence. It will seek to so mold and influence human character as to make men rightly appreciate and esteem one another. We will endeavor to make our Association the outgrowth of the spirit and the prevailing sentiments of the times. Character has more to do with healthy human progress than any other of the many elements of civilization. It is the gem of life, which ennobles man and lifts the human to the divine image.
– Col. John Morley
Sept. 13, 1926
Mr. John Morley
Youngstown Country Club
Youngstown, Ohio
Dear John:
I have read most carefully the prospectus you have drawn up of the National
Association of Greenkeepers of America. It would be a splendid thing for
golf in general if such an association could be organized on the lines
you suggest. As I have said before and I again repeat, the greenskeepers
as a whole are a very intelligent and honest class of men.
The wonderful development of golf in this Country is largely due to their unselfish efforts and hard work in improving the golf courses and making it possible for players to enjoy the game to the fullest extent. I congratulate you on your work as a greenkeeper of outstanding ability, and with leaders of your type an Association would unquestionably be a great success, not only from the standpoint of the members, but also from the Clubs who employ them.
With my cordial regards.
Yours very truly,
Donald Ross
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