HOWARD BANKHEAD (October 2014)

  Paula Pearson-Tucker: The Heart Of A Champion

Paula Pearson Tucker knows a thing or two about possibilities. And opportunity. And at one time she was the only active African American competing on the Duramed FUTURES Tour.  She always knew that her spot in a tournament field represented more than just another pro trying to win a golf tournament.

Sure, she would love to win tournaments but, Pearson-Tucker knows it’s about opportunity and presence. For some kids back home in Miami, the hope she represents could be the difference in which side of the steel bars they spend the rest of their lives viewing the world.

“I started playing golf when I was 38,” said Pearson-Tucker. “But I always played sports. And sports saved me.”

She grew up in North Miami in the African American community of Opalocka. As a child in a tough neighborhood, she learned to fight, steal and experiment with drugs. Pearson-Tucker says both of her parents were alcoholics, so as a youngster, she “had a lot of freedom and took advantage of it.” But in her neighborhood, where gunshots were common and the police were ever-present, young Paula began to notice that many of her friends were starting to die. Some overdosed on drugs. Some died at the wrong end of a gun.

“By the grace of God, I survived,” she said.

A tall, athletic woman, as a teen, she ran track, played volleyball and softball and fell in love with gymnastics. When told by a high school coach that she wasn’t good enough to be on the gymnastics team, Pearson-Tucker made sure that she took a beginning gymnastics class at Miami-Dade Community College. Through endless practice, she eventually gained the grace and flexibility she had lacked and earned a scholarship in gymnastics at Southern Connecticut State University.
She returned to Miami-Dade and coached the gymnastics team for three years and eventually went back to school at the University of Florida to earn her bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications in 1981. But she didn’t discover golf until 1994, while working as a stockbroker in Atlanta. In a client meeting in Tucson, somebody put a club in her hands, gave her a few pointers and that was the beginning.

“I had been a stockbroker for 17 years and I hated my job,” she said. “It was a cut-throat business and I was under a lot of pressure, so I quit and moved back to Miami. While I was trying to decide what to do, I played golf for two months. I was broke, but I was finally happy. That’s when I realized that this game had changed my life.”

Pearson-Tucker began to see new possibilities. Life had not changed much for kids in her old neighborhood. When she began managing Lauderhill Golf Course and the First Tee of Lauderhill in urban Miami, she realized there was something she could do for those youngsters using golf. Along with NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, she co-founded Fore Life, Inc., a not-for-profit program designed to use golf and “its life-enhancing skills” to keep youth out of jail.

As executive director of Fore Life, Inc., she combines her own street smarts with golf in a diversion program for troubled youth. Offered for boys and girls, ages 9-17, the youngsters are assigned to the program for six weeks from Florida’s Juvenile Justice System or the State Attorney’s Office.

“My program is an alternative to locking them up,” she said. “They have committed a crime and this is part of their rehabilitation. If they don’t show up, they get sent back to jail.”

While the youngsters in Pearson-Tucker’s golf program might not be the model citizens often showcased in junior golf, they are kids who are learning key elements in the game – such as patience, calmness, focus and tenacity – to apply in their already challenged young lives.

“I relate to these kids because I was one of them,” she said. “I give out lots of hugs. I plant seeds and try to put something in their minds to make them think about alternatives to bad choices. Sometimes, it breaks my heart and makes me sad, but I pray that I can make a difference in the lives of these young people.”

Pearson-Tucker remembers one 17-year-old young man who got in trouble for fighting police officers at his high school. The 6-foot-2 former high school football player was sent to her program and with it, he brought some heavy emotional baggage. He and Pearson-Tucker had some verbal bantering back and forth and it was obvious he wanted no part of what she was trying to do.

“He told me he was ‘destined for jail,’ just like his father and his uncle,” she said. “I sat down next to him, put my arm around his shoulders and told him, ‘You do have a choice. Let’s make a choice right now. For one hour, you’re going to be a kid and we’re going to have some fun.’”

By the time Pearson-Tucker had worked her magic, the young man gave a thumbs-up to the next group of youngsters who walked through the door. He also went back to high school and graduated.

In another in-coming class, Pearson-Tucker watched as a group of 12 girls walked through the door, already fighting with each other. Sure, there were challenges, but there also were success stories — like the boy who was arrested for fighting with brass knuckles. That same young man later had another instance where he nearly came to blows, but as Pearson-Tucker proudly says, he walked away. He made a choice. The golf program had taught him to slow down, to think and to make better choices when it came to real life out on the streets.

“These kids are junior criminals, but they have been given a second chance,” she said. “The fact that I got into golf in the first place was a life-altering thing for me. I know what it has meant in my life and I hope it can help them turn it down a few notches and be calm and patient. If you’re patient, you’re thinking and making choices.”

Pearson-Tucker also is a teaching professional and has served at The Links at Miami International and assisted with the First Tee of Miami.

When she competes, Pearson-Tucker says, “I don’t like shooting high scores, but I know it’s important for me just to be visible. “I love to compete and I’m gaining more experience when I do, but playing out here is about the people I can influence and the lives I can impact. I know there’s always the possibility of some little girl seeing me and wanting to try this game.”

“I’ve paid my dues, but I’m proud of the ones I’ve paid and I’m happy about the person I’ve become,” she said. “In my heart, I’m a champion.”

Author, Lisa D. Mickey.  Reprinted from Winter/Fall 2013 edition of the African American Golfer’s Digest.

About Paula Pearson-Tucker

Friday the 13^th is viewed as a day of jinx by many, but this September day started off filled with hope by professional golfer Ginger Howard.  In the end, the day belonged to both of the Howard sisters: Ginger, who executed consistent shot-making, and her little sister/caddy Robbi, who worked side-by-side with her elder sibling,  offering advice only when asked during the week of the second stage LPGA Tour Qualifying School

“We had a lot of fun out there,” Robbi Howard said. “I knew in my head something to say, but I’d only say something if she asked. Not to give her too much to think about.”

20-year-old Ginger, who trains at IMG Academy, had younger sister Robbi to caddy for her at the high-pressure tournament held at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, California.
Photo: (L-R) Robbi and Ginger Howard

Ginger (Bradenton, Florida), shot a 1-under 71 on Friday to earn medalist honors at the LPGA Qualifying Tournament Stage II at Plantation Golf and Country Club.  Howard finished with a four-day total of 9-under 289, one stroke clear of Alison Lee (Valencia, California).

Older and wiser, the strategy worked as smooth as butter for Ginger, as she progressed to the final stage along with 85 other players who are scheduled to bout it out in early December in Daytona Beach.  Ginger, as beautiful as ever, came in at 9-under par for a 279 total for the 72-hole tournament.

“The thing that really got me going was my sister on the bag,” said Howard, whose 71 on Friday made her the first player to earn medalist twice in the event’s history after she accomplished the feat in 2011. “And she just kept feeding me great mental notes and just keeping my head in the game.”

Howard’s little sister, Robbi is an accomplished golfer in her own right and was a rising contender several years ago, hoping some big-time action herself.  Being on the bag this week for big sis Ginger, the Howards played at courses en route, carving up the Bobcat and Panthers courses during the trip.

Howard finished 78th on the LPGA Symetra Tour money list, with a little more than $8,400 in earnings. But, that was just not enough to gain her a place in the final stage.

After that experience, Ginger seems to have learned how to listen to her inner voice and better understands just how competitively tough professional golf can be.  “Now I understand all of the trials and tribulations of it, and I think … I’ve had so many years of just learning and just understanding and growing in this professional life,” Howard said.

The top 80 players and ties advanced, meaning the cut came at 7-over par 295.