68th Annual Midwest Golf Association Convention held on November 15, 2018, in Dayton, Ohio. (front row bottom, L-R) Cathy Taitt, Secretary (Chicago Women Golf Club), Kusana Turner, Treasurer (Elite Ladies Golf League), Flora Davis, Parliamentarian (Chicago Women Golf Club) (back row, L-R) Dornell Chatman, Sgt. At Arms, Elvis Douglas, President, and Youth Director, Carole Jamison, President of Midwest Golf Youth Foundation 501©3, Dorothy Che-Menju, Auditor, Attorney Lynette Lewis (Chicago Women Golf Club), Hewitt Chatman, Parliamentarian, Ciji Henderson, Vice President, (Missing officer member: Dennis Morgan, Financial Secretary and Asst. Youth Director. Missing officer member: Gay Banks, Historian (Elite Ladies Golf League) (photo courtesy Kusana Turner)
BY AAGD STAFF
The Midwest Golf Association (MGA) was founded in 1950, under the umbrella of the United Golfers Association (UGA) and the Midwest District Golf Association, and is committed to upholding the integrity of Amateur Golf and promoting Junior Golf as set forth by golf’s governing bodies — The United States Golf Association (USGA), Professional Golf Association (PGA), Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).
The organization held its 64th Annual National Junior Golf Championship at the Kittyhawk Golf Center in Dayton, Ohio on July 19 – 21, 2019. The 36 Hole Stroke Play competition for Junior and College Golfers is a popular event that attracts competitors from across the nation. The association’s commitment is achieved by member clubs hosting sanctioned tournaments and inter-club play and through club volunteers serving as role models and mentors for youth golfers; providing quality golf instruction, fostering academic achievement and fair play, and facilitating national competition for youth golfers regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin.
The MGA has several distinctive affiliations including the Elite Ladies Golf League (Youngstown, OH, and Dallas, TX) and the Chicago Women Golf Club (Chicago, IL). The MGA was formerly known as the Midwest District Golf Association and the organization was previously a part of the United Golfers Association (UGA) many years ago.
“The MGA’s membership roster has a long list of renowned African American amateur golfer’s including history-maker Renee Powell’s mother, Marcella Powell, who died in 1996. She was one of the organization’s very powerful officers,” said MGA Treasurer Kusana Turner. “She is definitely one of the unsung heroes of the black golf experience, someone whom you don’t really hear a lot about—we read more about her dad, the late William Powell. But, as the saying goes, behind every great man is a great woman. And, this is what I was told by some of the older and deceased members of the Midwest Golf Association,” continued Turner, whose sister Brunilda once served as Vice President of the MGA and was former President of the Midwest Golf Association and Youth Foundation, a 501(3)c. The sisters joined the MGA in 1998 and are still current members.
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“Once organized as a league with over 100 members we (Ebony Ladies Golf League) joined the Midwest Golf Association in 1998 under the leadership of the President, Dennis Morgan, in Detroit, Michigan. The Midwest Golf Association is one of the oldest black golf organizations which was established in the 1950’s. Its membership covers Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio and provided on-going mentoring and support of the Ebony Ladies Golf League, now renamed the Elite Ladies Golf League.
Learn more about the Midwest Golf Association by visiting https://www.midwestgolfassoc.org
