The Metropolitan Golf Association will present its 2004 Distinguished Service Award to former MGA President John C. Baldwin of The Meadow Brook Club.  The award will be given at the Association’s 107th Annual Meeting and Dinner at Westchester CC on Wednesday, December 1st.

 

The DSA award, given annually, is presented to a Met Area candidate who has contributed “…distinguished service to golf and its related activities, consistent with the valued standards and honorable traditions of the game.”

 

MGA Executive Director Jay Mottola, says of Baldwin, “there are lots of players in this area who are deeply involved in golf as volunteers, and lots of volunteers who are good players.  But John Baldwin is a unique combination of volunteer and player, who not only serves but leads.”

 

John Baldwin’s playing career is well documented and includes two Met Amateurs – 1967 and 1990 – 23 years apart- two consecutive MGA Player of the Year titles (1990 and 1991), The Ike, The Travis Memorial, The New York State Amateur, four Long Island Amateurs and a Richardson Memorial, among his many titles. He’s done well outside the Met Area as well, and has competed in the French Amateur, and in 2002 won perhaps his biggest event, the British Senior Open Amateur in England.

 

John’s playing career began in the 1950’s as a caddie at Plandome Country Club on Long Island where he learned to play well enough to win the junior club title.  He attended college at the University of North Carolina, where he won the ACC championship in his junior year.  After graduation, he earned his MBA from the University of Miami and earned his PGA Tour card, only to discover that the life of a touring professional was not for him.  In 1967, he joined First Boston Securities as a trainee and over the next 20 years rose to national sales manager of municipal securities.

 

Mr. Baldwin joined the MGA as a member of the Junior Committee in 1984, at the urging of then MGA President Joseph Donahue.  He was elected Treasurer three years later and became president in 1993, serving for two terms. It was during this period, in the early 90’s, that the game of golf was exploding and it was John’s unique grasp of the potential impact of this growth on the future of the game that distinguished him as one of the game’s outstanding leaders. He became one of the key players in the formation of a new MGA Foundation that would set the stage for the many innovative programs like GOLFWORKS and First Tee that today attract thousands of new Met Area young people to the game each year.

 

The Foundation’s agenda was an ambitious one, and acquiring the funds necessary to sustain it became a personal mission for John who, following his presidency, agreed to chair, along with Lowell Schulman, the Foundation’s first major Fundraising Campaign.  His financial background, his congenial manner and his passion for the game made him one of the Foundation’s most effective spokespersons and staunchest supporters. As the campaign entered its public phase in 2003, he continued to devote his time and energy to insure its success.

 

In addition to Mr. Baldwin’s many volunteer efforts, he has also sat on the boards of the Long Island Caddie Scholarship Fund and the Long Island Golf Association and formerly was a member of the United States Golf Association’s Mid Amateur Committee.

 

On winning the Award Mr. Baldwin said, “I have always respected those who have donated their time to the game. I have always found it quite rewarding and something I happily made a priority. Golf is the kind of game that makes you want to give something back.”

 

For his many years of commitment to golf and its future, the MGA is proud to add his name to our list of Distinguished Service Award winners.

 

The award will be given at the MGA’s Annual Meeting, December 1st, at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, NY. Along with the Distinguished Service Award, the MGA will present its MGA’s Jerry Courville Sr. Player of the Year Award to Staten Island’s Peter Meurer and will also elect the officers of the Association.

 

For more information, please contact Jeanne McCooey or Jeff Carroll (914) 347-4653, jmccooey@mgagolf.org.

 

 

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD WINNERS

 

 

 

1973  Clarence Benedict

1974  Joseph C. Dey

1975  Jerry Courville, Sr.

1976  William P. Turnesa

1977 Fred Corcoran

1978  Al Laney

1979  Cynthia Alexander

1980  Harry Cooper

1981  Robert Trent Jones, Sr.

1982  Dr. Richard Silver

1983  P.J. Boatwright, Jr.

1984  Isaac B. Grainger

1985  George E. Sands

1986  James R. Hand

1987  Dana Mozley

1988  Arthur E. Lynch

1989  John F. McGillicuddy

1990  Arthur “Red” Hoffman

1991  Ann Beard

1992  Ira L. Mendell

1993  Joseph A. Donahue

1994  Guido Cribari

1995  Arthur Weber

1996  C.A. “Tony” Wimpfheimer

1997  William & Lois McTurk

1998  Rees Jones

1999  James Cotter

2000  Oliver & Eleanor Lazare

2001   Gerald T.  Mahoney

2002    Lowell M. Schulman

2003   Charles L. Robson