Have you wondered what’s going on with all the construction behind the gym? Brick by brick, the Jack Jensen Golf Center is taking shape.
“The golf center is named in honor of former golf and basketball coach Jack Jensen, who passed away in 2010,” said Sports Information Director and Assistant Director of Athletics Dave Walters. “It’s a building constructed behind the Ragan-Brown Field House which is to be a training facility for the Guilford golf team.”
Jensen developed Guilford’s golf success during his 45 years as a professor and coach. The Quakers won three national golf championships and secured five runner-up finishes during Jensen’s reign.
“Jack Jensen was a great man and a great teacher for young people,” Athletic Director Tom Palombo said in an email interview. “Our golf program is one of the best in the country.”
The members of the 2013 golf team have high expectations for the season.
“We are currently the number two ranked golf team in the nation,” said junior golfer Travis Tolbert. “This facility will only help us.”
Head golf coach Corey Maggard believes that the new center will be instantly valuable.
“We will recruit more,” said Maggard. “(Also), players will be able to practice in inclement weather.”
Unfortunately, the golf center is not for everyone.
“The building will be exclusively for the golf team,” said Maggard. “No different than the baseball field and batting center for the baseball team.”
The idea for the center was first put forth by the college’s Advancing Excellence campaign, with an overall fundraising goal of $550,000.
In order to aid the fundraising efforts, former professor and administrator Herb Appenzeller donated the first six months’ royalties from his book “Ethical Behavior in Sport” to the project.
Appenzeller also dedicated the book to Jensen.
“Every so often, a person comes along who touches the lives of countless numbers of people without fanfare or publicity,” said Appenzeller in his dedication. “This was Jack Jensen, golf and basketball coach at Guilford College for 45 years, who was a role model for ethical behavior in life as well as sport.
“Jack, in a quiet, modest and humble way, exemplified all that is good in sport today.”
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