Humble Start Leads to Great Dedication
Joe Luigs, shown with his 2010 Joe Dey Award, and his wife, Marcia, have served the USGA for decades.
"There are some families that are white collar, and some are blue collar," says Joe Luigs. "Our family was no collar."
Joe was introduced to the game at 11. His father brought home hickory-shafted golf clubs that Joe carried across the street to an unimproved city park in Evansville, Indiana. With some buddies, Joe dug up grass and inserted cans into the soil as makeshift holes.
From there, the 2003 Indiana Golf Hall of Fame inductee and 2010 Joe Dey Award recipient was off and running. He played in high school and college, and joined the USGA Green Section Committee in 1982. Nine years later, Joe was appointed to the Sectional Affairs Committee, which later became the Regional Affairs Committee. He has also served as a volunteer and Rules official at many USGA championships.
"Golf is different for me than it is for most people," Joe says. "I just like being out there. I have not kept score for 15 years. I might start again because I'm getting so old I might shoot my age."
Joe introduced his wife to the game after he won pro shop money in a tournament. Marcia used the prize to purchase a pair of red, white and blue golf shoes that she wore with a group of women she joined for a weekly round.
"Think how much money winning that tournament cost me," Joe jokes.
The Luigses were fairly new members at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, when the course hosted the 1982 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Marcia got to know some USGA staffers, beginning decades of service to the organization. She was a member of the Women's Committee from 1990 to 2006, concluding her tenure as chairwoman.
"I was enthralled with the game and started off crazy about hitting golf balls and getting to go out and play," Marcia says. "But it very soon became about the people that I met and had this in common with."
In 2009, the Luigses became the first couple to each earn the USGA Ike Granger Award, recognizing a quarter-century of volunteer service, when Marcia received the honor three years after Joe.
The couple will continue supporting golf even after they're gone by including the USGA in their estate plan.
"We are very committed to making golf available for everybody," Marcia says. "My love has always been junior golf, especially getting girls interested in the game."
What's Your Legacy?
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