Long Time First Tee Supporter Awarded Heart of First Tee
Since Day 1 in 2006, Steve Pacella has been part of our chapter through our partnership with the Cincinnati Recreation Commission. From the early days of the Golf Ball Drop event to more recent years where we have reached over 1,000 kids a year, we could not have made such an impact in our community without Steve. His passion for empowering local kids and teens in the Greater Cincinnati area is evident to anyone who has had the pleasure to work with him during his time at the CRC. He was nominated by a peer who is now carrying forward his work in Steve’s previous position because:
In 2004, Steve was instrumental in obtaining two Solorider golf cars which was the catalyst for the CRC Golf Courses becoming one of the pioneers for accessible golf in the county. Not only was he able to grow our Solorider fleet to 7 vehicles while supervising CRC’s golf operations, but he also arranged specialized training for the professional team to better prepare us to provide golf instruction for those with physical or cognitive challenges. Steve’s dedication and efforts in this area led to CRC and Cincinnati being recognized as one of the nation’s most accessible areas for golf.
In addition to his dedication to accessible golf, Steve was instrumental in the development of the partnership between the Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC) and the GCNKY. His support of the partnership since inception has assisted in the chapter’s ability to obtain over 1,000 registrations annually through First Tee Programming, CRC’s Community Days and Recreation Center based instruction. Once again Steve’s focus on growth of the game efforts and forward thinking has assisted in thousands of inner-city youths to be introduced to a game that was more than likely never on their radar.
I want to thank you again for the honor of nominating Steve Pacella for the Award. In my 33 years working in the golf industry, I have never run into another individual as passionate to make golf accessible for everyone. Steve has supported or led the charge on the creation of numerous growth of the game initiatives, but more importantly his passion in the area was infectious and has led others to continue to carry the same torch into the future.
Steve is one of those incredible people who advocate and speak up for our chapter whenever possible. We’ve really enjoyed working with Steve and were incredibly excited to see Steve’s name come up in the nominations this year. Congratulations, Steve and enjoy retirement!
