Joe Dey Award Capsules

Presented annually since 1996, the USGA's Joe Dey Award recognizes an individual's meritorious service to the game as a volunteer. The award is named after the late Joseph C. Dey Jr., who served as USGA executive director for 35 years, from 1934-69, and was later the first commissioner of the PGA Tour.

Here are capsules of each of the Joe Dey Award winners:

		Dr. David Cookson - 2015 A doctor of internal medicine, Dr. David Cookson has served as a Rules official at nearly 90 USGA championships, including 25 U.S. Opens and numerous qualifiers. He was a USGA committee member from 1983-2011, serving on the Regional Affairs, Senior Amateur and Nominating committees. He's also been a member of the Wisconsin State Golf Association (WSGA) Board of Directors since 1970, including a two-year term as president from 1977-78. He also served on the Western Golf Association's Board of Directors from 1977-1998. He received the President's Distinguished Service Award from the WSGA in 1993, thanks in part to contributions for the renovation of the University of Wisconsin Evans Scholars House in Madison. He was elected to the WSGA Hall of Fame in 1996. Cookson, who started playing golf at age 8, is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Medical School.
		Michael Cumberpatch - 2014 Affiliated with the USGA since 1993 when he joined the Regional Affairs Committee, Michael Cumberpatch has worked at 20 USGA championships, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Mid-Amateur and Men's State Team. Since 1999, he has been the official-in-charge of U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying for the Washington, D.C., region. He is a past president of the Middle Atlantic Golf Association, where he earned recognition for his efforts to bring neighboring golf associations and fo instilling a sense of community with the USGA committee members in the region. The Middle Atlantic PGA Section presented him with the David Wortman Citizen of the Year Award in 2009.
		Taizo Kawata - 2013 Taizo Kawata of Japan is the first non-American to receive the Dey Award. A true international ambassador for the game, Kawata has been a fixture at USGA championships for 30 years. His first association with the USGA came in 1981 when he served as a color commentator for Japanese television's broadcast of the U.S. Open. In 2001, he became a member of the USGA Rules Committee and has served as a Rules official at the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open for the better part of the last decade. Kawata also was the driving force behind getting the USGA to conduct U.S. Open sectional qualifying in Japan, which began in 2005. Since 1990, Kawata has been a member of The R&A and he has been a Rules official for 19 Open Championships.
		Stan Grossman - 2012 Stan Grossman of St. Louis has served on the U.S. Junior Amateur Committee since 1982, and in 2007 he received the USGA's Ike Grainger Award for 25 years of committee service. A veteran Rules official, Grossman worked at the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open from 1996-2007. He also has served as president of the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association in St. Louis since 1998. Grossman was also a member of the NCAA Division II Men's National Championship Rules committee from 2001-2007, and is a founding member of Forest Hills C.C., which opened in 1964.
		Inez Muhleman - 2011 Inez ('Nez) Muhleman of Houston served on the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship Committee for 31 years (1980-2010), but her legacy will be the the travel fund she established to allow qualifiers from Texas to be reimbursed for airfare and caddie fees. Despite two bouts with cancer and heart surgery, Muhleman never missed a Girls' Junior during her tenure on the committee.
		Joe Luigs - 2010 A committeeman since 1982, Joe Luigs of Carmel, Ind., has worked more than 80 USGA championships as a Rules official. He first served on the Green Section Committee, but later joined the Sectional Affairs and Regional Affairs committees. His wife, Marcia, also has been heavily involved with the USGA, rising to chairman of the Women's Committee.
		Dick Rundle - 2009 Texan Dick Rundle made a lasting imprint with his knowledge of the Rules and his dedication to the game as a volunteer. Not long after receiving the 2009 Dey Award, Rundle passed away at the age of 78. He had served on the Regional Affairs Committee since 1993. He worked many USGA championships, including the U.S. Open, as a Rules official. In 1995, the North Texas Section of the PGA of America honored Rundle with the Byron Nelson Award for his distinguished service to the region.
		Gene McClure - 2008 Gene McClure of Atlanta has served the USGA for more than 15 years, working many USGA, state and collegiate competitions as a Rules official. A year after receiving the Dey Award, McClure was chosen to be on the USGA Executive Committee. It was McClure's work with the Georgia State Golf Association that caught the attention of the USGA in 1992, and he has been involved with the USGA ever since. Outside of the USGA, the attorney has served on the Bobby Jones Foundation that was created by the Atlanta Athletic Club, and he was a member of the Atlantia History Center's Executive Committee when it created the permanent exhibit "Down the Fairway with Bobby Jones."
		Harry McCracken - 2007 Harry McCracken of Westwood, Mass., is a longtime member of the Regional Affairs Committee who also has provided dedicated service to the Massachusetts Golf Association and New England Golf Association. As the de facto executive director of the NEGA, McCracken not only conducts three major events (Amateur, Senior Amateur and Junior Invitational), but also organizes two executive committee meetings each year where he often brings in guest speakers from the USGA and New England Superintendents Association. He joined the Regional Affairs Committee in 1989 and was responsible for landing qualifying sites for varioius USGA championships.
		Bob Hooper - 2006 Dr. Bob Hooper of Wilmington, Del., was one of the original members of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship Committee and he has worked every Mid-Amateur since the championship's inception in 1981. Hooper's involvement with the USGA came as a result of losing his club championship because he didn't know a rule. He began attending Rules workshops and eventually became a USGA volunteer, along with his wife, Carolyn, a past member of the USGA Women's Committee. In 2002, Bob and Carolyn became the first husband-wife duo to referee a championship match; Bob at the Mid-Amateur at Stanwich Club and Carolyn at the Women's Mid-Amateur at Eugene C.C.
		Pearl Carey - 2005 Californian Pearl Carey became just the second female (behind 2004 winner Adele Lebow) and second African-American (behind 2001 winner Bill Dickey) to receive the Dey Award. Carey was a past president of the Western States Golf Association and the Pacific Women's Golf Association, which serves some 300 public golf clubs in Northern California. She also served on the USGA Regional Affairs Committee and the AT&T Pebble Beach Junior Golf Association. She is a past recipient of the PWGA Helen Lengfeld Award and the California Golf Writers Association Golden State Award.
		Adele Lebow - 2004 Adele Lebow of Royersford, Pa., is the first female recipient of the Dey Award. She is a former president of the Pennsylvania State Women's Golf Association and the Women's Golf Association of Philadelphia. For the past 27 years, Lebow headed up the course rating committee for the WGAP. She served as the president of the WGAP from 1976-1977. Lebow also was a 10-time club champion at Spring Ford Country Club in her hometeown.
		John Hanna - 2003 John Hanna of Chicago was an ambassador for the highly successful Chick Evans Scholarship Program of the Western Golf Association since 1981. A Rules expert and corporate lawyer, Hanna officiated at the Western Amateur and Western Junior events for more than 20 years. But he also has been the face of the Evans Scholarship Program for many of the 7,500 alums and the person identified for opening the door for their college education and later career stories. Hanna, himself, attended DePauw University in southern Indiana on an academic scholarship from a wealthy railroad benefactor, so he saw the benefits of what financial assistance can do for young people.
		Clyde Luther - 2002 Few people can match the number of USGA championships worked as a Rules official of Clyde L. Luther of Burke, Va. A member of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship Committee, Luther has officiated at more than 100 USGA championships, including the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur. Luther, who joined the Junior Amateur Committee in 1982, is one of the few individuals to have scored a perfect 100 on the USGA Rules Test. Outside of his USGA duties, Luther has had the privilege of working the Masters, Presidents Cup and several NCAA Division I Championships. In 1992, he started teaching at joint USGA-PGA of America Rules seminars and has taught at various regional workshops. A former pilot in the U.S. Air Force, Luther worked as a commercial pilot for United Airlines from 1956 until his retirement in 1989.
		Bill Dickey - 2001 Bill Dickey of Phoenix is the first African-American recipient of the Dey Award. He is the person credited for starting the National Minority Junior Golf Scholarship Association in 1984, and he's been a leader in southwest golf for more than 30 years. The NMJGSA has awarded more than $1 million to almost 600 college students. Dickey also is a past board member of the American Junior Golf Association and National Minority Golf Foundation, and serves on the Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarship selection committee. Dickey was inducted into the Western States Golf Association Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Black Golf Hall of Fame in 1989. He received the PGA of America's Distinguished Service Award in 1999.
		Jack Emich - 2000 Jack Emich of Baltimore, Md., was the former president of the Maryland State Golf Association and the Middle Atlantic Golf Association. He has served in golf administration since 1954. Six years after starting as a volunteer with the MSGA, Emich became a full-time staff member, holding the position of secretary/executive director. In 1964, he joined the USGA Green Section Committee, serving for 13 years until 1977. From there, he served on two other USGA committees: Sectional Affairs and Regional Associations. In 1995, he received an Ike Grainger Award for 25 years of volunteer service to the USGA.
		Frank Anglim - 1999 Frank Anglim of Dallas has served on various USGA committees for the past 28 years, starting with his appointment to the Sectional Affairs Committee in 1970. That same year, he began a long tenure as a Rules official, working 22 consecutive U.S. Opens, 21 consecutive U.S. Amateurs and three NCAA Division I Championships. He received the Ike Grainger Award for 25 years of volunteer service to the USGA in 1995. Outside of the USGA, Anglim has contributed greatly to the Dallas District Golf Association and the North Texas Section of the PGA of America. He was the tournament director for the 1967 Greater Dallas Open and the inugural Byron Nelson Classic in 1968.
		Joe King - 1998 Longtime Rules official Joe King has worked more than 50 USGA championships, including the past 23 U.S. Opens. He worked his first U.S. Open in 1975 at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club. He got his start with the USGA in 1970 as a member of the Sectional Affairs Committee and he has also served on the Regional Affairs Committee. A retired vice president of U.S. Pipe and Foundry Co., King began his involvement in golf administration in 1948, when he was elected as director of the Alabama Golf Association, a position he held for more than 40 years. He also has served as a director for the Southern Golf Association for the past 16 years. As a golfer, King was recognized as the Amateur of the Year by the Dixie Section of the PGA of America in 1969 and 1980..
		John Staver - 1997 John Staver of Virginia, Minn., is in his 16th year of serving the USGA. He was a member of the Sectional Affairs Committee from 1982-1990, then served the Green Section Committee starting in 1991. For the past six years, he also has been a member of the Implements and Ball Committee. He also has made significant contributions to the Rules of Golf Committee as a consultng member since 1996. He was a close association of former USGA Executive Director P.J. Boatwright, and he was instrumental in the re-design of the Decisions on the Rules of Golf book in 1988. Prior to that, the Decisions book had been contained in an unwieldly binder with an annual set of instructions regarding the placement of pages that contained new or updated Decisions. It was Staver's recommendation to change the format of the publication.
		Charles H. Eckstein - 1996 Charles Eckstein of Hazel Crest, Ill., was chosen as the inaugural recipient of the Dey Award. Eckstein spent six decades working as a Rules official and at the time of his honor, was still an active member of the Green Section Committee. Eckstein's involvement with golf began in 1940 and he became one of the driving forces within the Chicago District Golf Association and the Western Golf Association. He served as CDGA president in 1958-59 and was the WGA director from 1959-72. Eckstein has also served on the USGA Handicap and Handicap Procedures committees and worked 27 USGA championships as a Rules official, including 17 U.S. Opens. He also served as a Rules official for 29 years at the Western Open and Western Amateur. He also authored the WGA caddie training manual that is still in use today and provided more than a decade of leadership for the WGA's Evans Scholars Foundation, which raises funds to provide college scholarships to deserving caddies.