Page 11 - english winter 2017

After a productive day of meetings, it is social time for Henry Schmitz, Larry Ungerman, Mark Seabrook and Jeff.
event and would go on to become the regional director of that newly formed Central Ontario Chapter.
Mac Frost came up to me immediately after our presentation and announced that he would like to be the first in the room to join. I didn’t want to mess it up by telling him that Gord Evans at Pheasant Run had already beat him to the punch, so I just agreed!
Dalt Hicks and Larry Ungerman also emerged as leaders from that initial meeting at Parkview. Mac would become their first chapter president, followed by Larry and Dalt. All three would go on to serve on the NGCOA Canada national board as well, and Larry would later be elected as national president.
Various other “champions” emerged from that cross-country tour and would go on to play criti- cal roles in the NGCOA Canada’s success story.
In Vancouver, John Nick was the GM at Hazelmere Country Club and fully embraced the NGCOA Canada vision. His leadership in that market included several years on the NGCOA Canada board and later as our BC Chapter regional director. We owe him a lot for those developmental years in BC.
Don Seable, Fairmont Hot Springs Resort, also stepped up and played a critical leadership role in BC. He served several terms on the BC Chapter Advisory Board
The award winning Gilles Debut and Dalt Hicks Golf Business Canada share a laugh.
magazine is launched
in 1997.
Alastair Barr, Colin Nisbet, Scott Atkinson and Neil Champagne, share ideas while having some fun on the course.
and on the NGCOA Canada National Board, including a term as national president. Don was an exceptional spokesperson for the NGCOA Canada and, to this day, has not submitted for any of his expenses incurred.Very dedicated to the cause!
In Calgary, Ron Ehlert at Elbow Springs and Scott Atkinson at HeatherGlen led the charge. They both served on our national board and Scott would follow Mark Seabrook as the second NGCOA Canada president, serving two terms. If you know Scott, you know that it was an action packed 4 years together.
In Winnipeg, Réal Curé, Rat River, emerged as the first MB Chapter president. He was not only a big NGCOA Canada supporter but also demonstrated the most perse- verance I have seen from a golf course owner, having been closed for months due to serious flooding several times within a few years.
One of the earliest adopters was Henry Schmitz from Brookfield Country Club in Cambridge, Ontario, who would go on to lead our Southwestern Ontario Chapter as president for many years, and on our NGCOA Canada national board.
Henry not only hosted our first presentation to courses in his region, he flew his plane to Ottawa and back to get Mark and I to the meet- ing, and he put us up in his home. As luck would have it, the return flight home would be cancelled due to snow and sleet, so we had to endure a long, slow car rental ride back to Ottawa. “Air Hank” remains the official airline of the NGCOA Canada!
In Ottawa, Mark Seabrook’s leadership was well supported by a strong core of NGCOA Canada members including Bill Brown, Tom Welch, Debora Giffin, Frank Chiarelli, Clayton McCredie, Don Ferne and Gib Patterson. Most of them had originally donated that $1,000 to get us started, and Bill went on to become national presi- dent years later.
Neil Champagne at Tremblant established our Quebec Chapter, serving as chapter president and on our national board for several terms. Gilles Debut, Les Quatre Domaines, would then follow with his own passionate leadership style, and rise up the board ladder to become national president.
In Atlantic Canada, Harry Simmons at Fox Meadow stepped up to launch that chapter, followed by Alastair Barr. And that completed the NGCOA Canada national rollout of regional chapters.
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