Pearl Carey of Seaside, CA Receives USGA Joe Dey Award
-- recipient of USGA Joe Dey Award
Far Hills, N.J. -- Pearl Carey of Seaside, Calif., a former president of the Western States Golf Association and a member of the USGA Regional Affairs Committee, has been chosen as the second woman to receive the USGA Joe Dey Award.
Given since 1996 in recognition of meritorious service to the game of golf as a volunteer, the award will be presented Feb. 6 at the Association’s Annual Meeting in Santa Barbara, Calif.
It is named in honor of the late Joe Dey, who served as USGA executive director for 35 years, from 1934 to 1969 and was later commissioner of the PGA Tour.
“The chairman [of the selection committee] called me a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been sick ever since,” said an elated Carey. “I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. Oh my … this is such an exciting thing I can’t believe it. I would have never thought I would get such a thing.”
Carey grew up in an era when many golf facilities were unavailable to minorities and vowed to help change that in her community. As a member of the Western States Golf Association (WSGA), one of the oldest African-American golf associations, she held numerous positions and championed programs to open the game to minorities.
Among her many contributions to the game, she secured funding from the USGA Foundation to implement the Seaside Junior Golf Program in 1997. Four graduates of that program are currently playing college golf. She is a former Monterey area director of the Pacific Women’s Golf Association and was the Association’s president in 1994.
Her previous awards include the 2002 California Golf Writers Association Golden State Award for lifetime service to the game and especially to junior and women’s golf. In 2003, she received the Helen Lengfeld Award from the Pacific Women’s Golf Association for outstanding service to the Association.
She follows Adele Lebow, who was the first woman to receive the award, in 2004.
The Joe Dey Award has previously been awarded to Charles Eckstein (1996), John Staver (1997), Joe King (1998), Frank Anglim (1999), Jack Emich (2000), Bill Dickey (2001), Clyde Luther (2002), John Hanna (2003) and Adele Lebow (2004).