The Morehouse College golf team was once good enough to win a national championship. Now, thanks to the generosity of couple of successful graduates and an enthusiastic coach, the Tigers may be back on the road to greatness.
At least they’re starting at the top.
The entire team was able to attend the Masters on Wednesday and will return for the first round on Thursday. They stayed in one of the cabins and saw parts of the facility that few people ever get a chance to experience. They even got to drive down Magnolia Lane.
“I think this will bring more attention to what we’re trying to do and inspire our players and young players we recruit what is possible,” said Edgar Evans, a PGA professional who took the job as head coach in the fall.
Morehouse golfer Chip Banks Jr. had been to the tournament before, but most of the team had only watched it on television. Banks enjoyed being able to show some of his teammates around. All the Maroon Tigers understood the significance of being able to live a dream.
“This is really inspiring and I hope one day I can do this for someone else,” freshman Nicholas Hosten said.
Credit: Jason Getz
Credit: Jason Getz
The event was brokered by Morehouse graduates Olajuwon Ajanaku and Earl Cooper, founders of Eastside Golf, a multimillion-dollar apparel and shoe company that began with a dream and a logo — a self-portrait of Ajanaku in non-traditional golf attire with a gold chain swinging around his neck — and has grown into a sensation. There’s even a four-part series about the company on Hulu.
The entrepreneurs continue to give back to their alma mater. They donated a $50,000 van and arranged for the Masters experience through connections with Mercedes-Benz.
Ajanaku understands the difficulty of access. He grew up in East Atlanta near East Lake Golf Club, but never played there until he was 33. He was almost as excited to see the Morehouse golfers experience the Masters as the players were.
“I want them to have the experience so they’ll know to pass it down to the next generation,” Ajanaku said. “That’s how we grow as a program. That’s how we grow as a college. That’s how we grow as a people. This is a dream come true for me.”
Cooper said, “For their first time to be our best time, that’s the best way I can describe it. They’re not starting from where we started. They’re starting from up here. To put it in that perspective, it unlocks so much.”
The golf team did its part by participating in Eastside’s Community Golf Day last week. The event, which drew 300 participants at The Patch golf course, was the second of six being hosted around the country this year. The event offered free golf, music and food to help locals experience the fun of golf without financial barriers. A similar event will be held in Atlanta prior to the Tour Championship this fall.
The Community Golf Days are a way for Eastside Golf and its extensive Morehouse presence to give back and stay connected. It was especially nice for Evans, who grew up in Augusta and played at Evans High School. He competed at Southern University — often playing against Morehouse — and was a PGA Professional at Atlanta Country Club before leaving to start his own faith-based shoe company and host a televised golf program.
Evans took the job as coach of Morehouse in November and is working to help the Tigers regain the stature they enjoyed 20 years ago when the late William Lewis, a Georgia Golf Hall of Fame member, was the coach.
Credit: Jason Getz
Credit: Jason Getz
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