Howard Bankhead, a 1981 Alabama State University graduate, dedicated servant member of his community, and Founder of several youth development programs including the Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development, The First Tee of Huntsville, and Par Excellence Youth Development (PEYD) in the metro Huntsville, AL, area. Howard will be recognized and inducted into the 19th Annual African American Golfers Hall of Fame during its annual event being held in Palm Beach County, FL, May 25-29, 2023.
The multi-day program is packed full of activities and includes a leadership conference, golf skills camp and tournament, reception, awards dinner celebration, auction, and the 13th Annual African American Collegiate & Youth Golfers Hall of Fame, all hosted by Malachi Knowles, founder of Inner City Youth Golfers Inc.
The mission is “to celebrate and honor the history and achievements of Black Americans and other significant supporters who have contributed to growing the game of golf since the early 1800’s.” said Knowles, in a press announcement.
Howard attended Alabama State University on a track scholarship earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing with a minor in Management with additional studies at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama. The natural leader uses his Marketing degree in unique ways, he creates and shares things that he enjoys in life including creating the Huntsville Apartment Tennis Circuit, the Tennessee Valley Jazz Society-Huntsville, and the youth golf development programs.
Through the Tennessee Valley Jazz Society, Howard created “Jazz Education is Cool in the Schools,” to counteract the negative music of pop culture. The art form of jazz music includes history, math, and democracy. From 1998 up to the present day, over 38,500 individuals, students, faculty, and staff in Huntsville and Madison County schools have benefited from the program.
A zealous tennis player for years, fortunately, Howard’s tennis days ended due to knee problems. That lead him to discover golf. However, Howard wasn’t enthusiastic about the sport, because he thought it was a game for rich white people.
But that all changed when Howard became enlightened on the rules of golf and the history of the sport. His life completely changed at the age of 44. From the experience of volunteering in the schools and realizing the negative images and influences of other sports, Howard was inspired to give youth alternative sports options to choose from. In addition, in the late 60’s, and early 70’s when Howard was growing up in Florence, Alabama, he like many other Black youth was denied access to the golf world, simply because of social structure and historical norms. Therefore, in 2001, Howard convinced the Tennessee Valley Jazz Society Board of Directors to expand their mission from art to include health and sports. With that Howard created the Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development.
Through Howard’s leadership, in 1998 the Tennessee Valley Jazz Society, a nonprofit organization, used the art form of Jazz to introduce the music style to youth in schools while giving youngsters other positive music to choose from.
In 2002, Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development partnered with Huntsville City School’s Camp Success programs. “From 2002 to 2007, we introduced over 2,100 students in 2nd-6th grades to golf and life skills,” says Howard. “Camp Success was an after-school program where we visited several schools including Colonial (now Martin Luther King), Rolling Hills, Lakewood, Terry Heights (now Sonny Hereford), and Lincoln Elementary Schools.” Along with learning golf skills, the program supplemented students’ academic curriculum with reading, writing, math, life skill, and character behavior.
“I was new to golf and didn’t know a lot about the golf industry. But from learning to play the sport I naturally gleaned some powerful stuff that I call ‘spiritual tenets’ to include integrity, perseverance, civility, and confidence. It’s amazing how I found these spiritual tenets in golf before I heard of The First Tee program. It’s a great and powerful experience having the opportunity to help pour into our youth these life skills using golf skills as the context,” says Howard.
“Since I’ve ventured into the wonderful world of golf, I relate to the ‘Mother to Son’ poem by Langston Hughes: ‘Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.’ When I started the youth golf program in 2002, I faced opposition from both the white and Black golf communities. But like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said at the end of the Mother to Son poem, ‘If you can’t run walk if you can’t walk crawl, but by all means keep moving,’ and yes, I’m still moving on,” reiterates Howard.
Due to the music programs in the school and the afterschool golf program, auspices under the 501(c)(3) Tennessee Valley Jazz Society, reaching directly serving underrepresented and underserved youth, the organization was awarded a grant for equipment with Hook-A-Kid on Golf. Howard continued, “In 2002, I applied for the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of America Growth of the Game grant and our friend, Earnie Ellison (a retired PGA Executive) supported our program. We were awarded several United States Golf Association (USGA) For the Good the Game grants with the support of Judy Bell.”
Howard humbly shares that “In 2004, with the support of a good friend Dr. Michael Cooper (retired First Tee Executive), we were awarded The First Tee of Huntsville chapter. Under The First Tee of Huntsville, I helped several of our participants receive the RBS Achievers Award scholarships. In addition, The First Tee of Huntsville was featured on the Golf Channel, twice. Also on May 12, 2005, Huntsville City Council and Mayor Spencer, because of our efforts, presented a Resolution to The First Tee of Huntsville. But the biggest transformation success stories are when I encounter former students and they remember me from the experience of being introduced to golf in elementary and or middle school and the values that they learned.”
Today the Par Excellence Youth Development serves Alabama youth and their families in rural Madison County and urban Huntsville. Through seamless programming, youth are instilled with character-building factors such as good manners, critical thinking, etiquette, public speaking, punctuality, thinking green, and environmental and energy consciousness. Fitness and good eating habits are also integrated into the program.
PEYD was awarded a matching grant from National Alliance for Accessible Golf. The grant and program provide great opportunities for individuals, with and without disabilities, to integrate into the social fabric of their community while engaging in and building a healthy lifestyle.
Since 2021, Par Excellence Youth Development (PEYD) has been selected to receive funds through the golf industry’s “Make Golf Your Thing” Grassroots Grant Program. Par Excellence Youth Development is one of 81 organizations across the U.S. receiving grants through the “Make Golf Your Thing” DEI Initiative. “Make Golf Your Thing” was created and funded by The American Golf Industry Coalition grassroots grant programs.
A pillar in his community, in 2018, the Arts Fellowship recipient and Vista Volunteer was awarded the Key To The City by Huntsville, Alabama Mayor Tommy Battle. Howard is a keen journalist and contributes as a blog writer for the African American Golfer’s Digest and writes for Junior Golf USA.
