Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 27

AFTER 21 YEARS AS THE MGA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
TOM RYAN LEAVES BEHIND A REMARKABLE LEGACY.
BY W.P. RYAN
" I
didn't take it personally, " joked Tom Ryan
to the MGA Board of Directors during a
recent meeting this past spring. The longtime
MGA executive director and COO, having recently
announced his retirement, was reflecting on the irony of
a decades-long decline in golfer participation which, by
happenstance, coincided with his start at the MGA. In
August of 2002, Ryan took the reins from the outgoing
executive director, Julie Sprau, who was the MGA's first
female chief executive and one of the few women to run
a state amateur golf association.
" It wasn't because of me or unique to the MGA, it was
happening everywhere, " Ryan said.
After 21 years as the MGA chief executive, Ryan is
planning to exit the association in the fall.
In post-9/11 America, with U.S.
forces involved on the ground in
combat in Afghanistan and Iraq,
even the President of the United
States very publicly quit
the
game. After the boom years of
the 1980s and 90s, the 2000s
amounted to a nasty hangover
for the golf industry.
But the challenging times
Ryan is quick to point to the MGA's highly seasoned
senior staff, six of whom have a combined 130-plus
years of golf administration experience, as the reason
for his success in the executive director's role.
" The unique part was we all grew up in the job
together, " he explains.
But close observers point out that there is more
to an organization's success than its skilled or
seasoned individuals.
" Tom was always aware of the bigger picture and
" The unique
didn't dim Ryan's passion for the
amateur game, nor did the hurdles-some
of which were highly
existential-stand in the way of Ryan's
prolific and productive career at the helm
of one of the country's most admired state and
regional golf associations.
During his tenure, the MGA produced two ecopart
was we all
grew up in the
job together. "
-Tom Ryan
willing to consider change, and that's a really positive
attribute in a leader, " says Ede Rice, MGA president and
a member of the association's search committee tasked
with finding Ryan's successor. Both Rice and Cal
Simmons, a past president of the MGA who
chaired the search committee which
identified Ryan as one of two finalists
in 2002, recalled exactly the
impression he made when interviewing
for the executive director
position.
" The most persuasive thing
Tom said was, 'this is my
dream job, and the way I would
wish to finish my career,' "
edges
Simmons says.
Simmons, who jokes that hiring
Ryan was the only thing he accomplished
as president, also acknowlthat
Ryan and another longtime
executive director, Warren Rebholz, are cut from
nomic impact studies, three strategic planning summits,
revamped the club membership model, dealt with
fallout from internet discount programs, established
a golf foundation and one of the nation's most active
player development programs in Youth on Course, successfully
combined the women's public and private golf
associations under the same tent, and proved indispensable
in getting golf open during the early weeks of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
mngolf.org
the same cloth. Both were raised in St. Paul's Highland
Park neighborhood, both attended Cretin High School
and both played their public golf at Highland National
Golf Course. Rebholz, or " Rebbie " to one and all who
knew him, was a former president of the MPGA and
the MGA, before accepting the executive director position
in 1973. He retired in 1992, after shepherding the
association through an era of unprecedented growth in
amateur competitions and member club services, and
in particular, the introduction of a universal handicap
system. Rebbie is, for all practical purposes, known as
Summer 2023 MINNESOTAGOLFER
27
PHOTOS BY W.P. RYAN
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023

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