Originally published in CantonRep.com on November 7, 2020
Editor’s note: In the global golfing community, Renee Powell is a well-known pioneer and advocate for the game and inclusion. Her hard work continues to be honored, with the Charlie Bartlett Award (presented in April at the Masters any other year) being the latest recognition for her “unselfish contributions to the betterment of society.” This is the first in a three-part series on Powell and her efforts to continue the legacy of her family.
As 2020 runs out with no British Open for the first time since World War II, and as fresh waves of golf-world love pour onto her home course in Ohio, Renee Powell keeps Scotland with her.
“You see your name on a building at St. Andrews … a university that is more than 600 years old … in the home of golf?” she said, searching for words. “What does that mean? I’m still trying to figure out even who I am.”
Who is Renee Powell?
For many, she’s a pioneer in golf as a player who now serves as one of the game’s great advocates for inclusion. Countless awards and honors have been bestowed upon the one-time golf prodigy from East Canton.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Renee Powell Honored by University of St. Andrews
In 2015, Royal and Ancient Golf Club welcomed Powell and six others as its first female members. In 2018, the University of St. Andrews (founded in 1413) opened Renee Powell Hall as a sequel to presenting her an honorary doctor of laws degree 10 years earlier.
“The Powell name is there in St. Andrews,” she said. “Without my mom and dad and my whole family making sacrifices ….”
“My life has seemed to me … normal. When I go outside, I know it’s not normal. To have my name connected to the place where golf all started? People don’t even know me here.”
“Here” is Clearview Golf Club, which is in East Canton if you are going by mailing address and is two miles southeast of the center of town, where the land opens up in Osnaburg Township, if you get technical.
Golf icons know her
The American Society of Golf Course Architects recently found its way to Clearview to present Powell with the Donald Ross Award. Ross is Mount Rushmore material in golf course architecture, his hundreds of creations include Brookside and Congress Lake in Stark County.
Themes of awards tie together Powell’s life story. Golfer. Historic figure. Ambassador. Crusader. At 74, working hard and getting better.
Jan Bel Jan, representing the Society, said, “Renee is on the leading edge of inclusivity in everything, not just golf. As a human being, she is out there for humanity to be together.
“More people need to know her story.”
Golf icons such as Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus know her story, and the story of her family, pretty well. So do many others at the upper levels of golf around the world.
Read the entire story at CantonRep.com
