Michigan Golfer Simons Says PGA Stole His Idea

By Leland Stein Special to the NNPA from the Michigan Chronicle ANN ARBOR, Mich. (NNPA) – Methodically and patiently, Don Simons, a retired special and physical education teacher in Ann Arbor, has been prodding the World Golf Foundation and PGA of America to acknowledge that their First Tee program was born from his INBOUNDS program. Simons, 65, and partner Jim Nicholson, an ordained Catholic deacon, developed the INBOUNDS youth golf program while Simons worked at the Ann Arbor Municipal Golf Course, affectionately known as the Rockpile. Using his teaching foundation at the old golf course, Simons implemented the INBOUNDS program to encourage youth, particularly minorities, to learn the game of golf while teaching them about character and life skills. Simons and Nicholson eventually presented the youth golf program to officials at the PGA Academy in Florida in 1989. They fashioned an INBOUNDS clinic at the academy called, “The Sand Traps of Life.” “I went down to Florida and did a clinic at the PGA of America world headquarters, and I pitched my program (INBOUNDS) to a PGA top executive in 1989,” Simons explained. “They said they could not afford to do the program. I told them they can’t afford to not do it because of golf’s relationship with the minority community at that time. We left there feeling like we might be able to share our program nationally.” Simons said he received several letters from the PGA, but then the correspondence stopped. Then in 2006, while sauntering through the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla., Simons said he was “shocked” to see brochures about First Tee that mirrored his INBOUNDS program, including a flyer referring to “The Sand Traps of Life” and other components that had a very similar outline to INBOUNDS. “When I saw First Tee’s flyers and it had the ‘Sand Traps of Life’ as its theme, I was shocked,” Simons explained as he gazed in wonderment at the audacity of it all. “My pursuit is not just for self, but for all those who understood my vision and worked with me for over seven years (1989 through 1995) to see it implemented. First Tee is a great program, but I really believe its foundation comes from INBOUNDS.” The World Golf Foundation officially implemented First Tee in 1997 – eight years after Simons and Nicholson were asked to participate at the Florida academy and pitch INBOUNDS – and the PGA supports it financially. Simons said he took his program to the PGA of America because it is the educational arm of professional golf and it was a natural place to seek its help in developing a national program. “Being a teacher,” he noted, “we integrated the concept of learning golf skills along with teaching character, core values and life skills. Because I worked with at-risk youth, I thought of the program, INBOUNDS. I came up with that analogy because in living a productive life or playing on the golf course, one has to stay in bounds.” Simons has retained a lawyer, Squire Padgett, of Washington, D.C., and they have sent several correspondences to the PGA about First Tee. Padgett said he couldn’t discuss any legal matters on Simons’ behalf; only that they were exploring their “options.” He noted, however, that the PGA’s First Tee program in Detroit could have benefited from Simons’ program, as well as the program of Detroiter Selina Johnson. “Why didn’t they look at Don and Selina (Johnson) to run the program?” Padgett asked. “They have been working with youth golf in the Detroit area for years. Think how great it could have been if the PGA would have put millions into Don and Selina’s program? Can you imagine the pride in the Detroit golfing community that it could have garnered?” Much to Simons’ and Nicholson’s dismay, the PGA of America has taken an “I don’t know what you are talking about” position. Simons said all they are seeking is fairness, acknowledgement, due justice and compensation. In an official statement from First Tee CEO Joe Louis Barrow Jr., son of legendary boxer Joe Louis, he firmly renounces any similarity of the First Tee program to INBOUNDS. The statement reads: “The individuals responsible for developing the curriculum of First Tee had no interaction with Mr. Simons or the INBOUNDS program, nor have they incorporated or reviewed any material provided by Mr. Simons.” Barrows’ retort seems to conflict with Simons’ contention that he had interaction with the PGA. Simons, in fact, has a series of letters confirming that the PGA has indeed acknowledged its exposure to INBOUNDS. Simons provided a letter written in 1989 from Greg Shreaves, director of PGA’s Junior Golf. In the letter Shreaves wrote to Simons, he noted: “We thoroughly enjoyed having you and Jim attend our National Academy . . . We’re hopeful that there are ways in which INBOUNDS and the PGA can continue to work together. One thing we can possibly consider is to allow the two of you to travel on behalf of the PGA promoting “teachable moments” with “character building concepts.” There also are a couple of letters – received in 1990 and 1991, respectively – from Michael Peterson, manager of PGA Junior Golf, that acknowledges INBOUNDS’ proposed four levels of involvement, the need of character development and lifestyle curriculum. Following the letters of correspondence, Simons and Nicholson waited for the PGA to call and follow-up on their proposal, but it never happened. After being blind-sided in his 2006 visit to Florida, Simons contacted Jim Applegate, a former Michigan PGA official who is now involved in building golfing communities in Florida. Applegate wrote a letter in 2007 to Joe Steranka, CEO of PGA of America. In the letter, Applegate acknowledged that Simons had introduced the INBOUNDS concept to the PGA and that “Don may have been wrongly treated.” He also wrote to Steranka that this should be a win-win situation for the PGA of America and it its efforts to reach out to the minority community. “I feel like my vision has bared fruit,” Simons said. “I also feel like a parent that has been excluded from the maturation process of it child.”