CLEARWATER, FL — If golfing legends Chi Chi Rodriguez and Jack Nicklaus had their way, children would attend school on golf courses, not classrooms.
Nicklaus, 83, who now lives in North Palm Beach, said that’s where he received his education. Considered one of the greatest golfers of all time, Nicklaus won 117 professional tournaments, including 18 major championships, during his career (three more than Tiger Woods).
He said the golf course was his schoolroom, the place that molded his character and instilled in him the values he holds dear today.
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Therefore, when the board of the nonprofit Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation at 3030 N McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater, approached Nicklaus to promote the academy, Nicklaus said he didn’t hesitate to sign on.
“When Chi Chi’s asked me to get involved, I was delighted. It’s an organization of people who are really interested in trying to help kids,” Nicklaus said. “It’s so unbelievable and so moving to see kids have their lives transformed through golf. It builds character and teaches them to win with honor.”
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And for Nicklaus, winning with honor doesn’t necessarily mean getting the lowest score in a contest with other golfers. He said, in golf, everyone wins because it’s an individual sport that challenges each golfer to perform at his or her best.
“You never lose when you golf,” he said. “A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave and instills values like good sportsmanship that carry you through life.”
The Chi Chi Rodriguez Academy middle school, a public-private partnership school with the Pinellas County School District, opened in 1993 as an outgrowth of the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation.
In 1979, golfer, teacher and part-time detention officer Bill Hayes invited golf legend, Juan Antonio “Chi Chi” Rodriguez, to the Pinellas juvenile detention center to give a golf clinic to the youths confined to the center after landing in trouble.
Rodriguez said he could relate to the challenges facing these youngsters. He grew up as one of six siblings in a poor family in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, where he began earning money for the family at the age of 7, carrying water to workers on a sugar plantation.
“I never had a childhood,” Rodriguez, 87, said in an interview shortly after starting the foundation. “I started working when I was 7 years old. I got $1 a day getting water for the workers at the sugar cane plant. Why do I love kids so much? Because I was never a kid myself. I was too poor to really have a childhood.”
One day, Rodriguez wandered onto a nearby golf course and said he instantly became enthralled with the game. He traded his water bucket to carry golf clubs as a caddy at the golf course. In his spare time, he said he taught himself the game using a branch from a guava tree for a club and a tin can for a golf ball.
Using that rudimentary golf equipment, he became more proficient over the next five years, scoring a 67 in 1947 at the age of 12.
To this day, Rodriguez said he always takes time to acknowledge and thank the caddies on the green.
“The caddies are so overlooked,” he said. “I remember the tough times I had making ends meet when I used to carry the bag.”
Rodriguez eventually went from carrying golf bags to riding in the golf cart, winning eight PGA Tour events during his career and becoming the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Now retired and living in Port St. Lucie, Rodriguez said his mission is to pass his love of the game on to youngsters, adding that the desire to give back is a legacy he inherited from his father.
“My father would give his dinner to any hungry kids who walked by and then go in the backyard and pick weeds from the yard to eat. So, everything I’ve ever had, I share,” he said. “A man never stands taller than when he stoops to help a child. To inspire children is my goal. Kids need adults to help them. Behind the success of a child is an adult.”
Just before Hayes approached him, Rodriguez said he had a brief encounter that became the greatest moment of his life. He met Mother Teresa. He said that meeting inspired him to devote his life to helping others.
He immediately agreed to help Hayes host that first golf clinic at the juvenile detention center. It proved so successful that Rodriguez and Hayes agreed there had to be a better way to help troubled adolescents turn their lives around — through the game of golf.
They enlisted the help of Bob James, founder of Raymond James Financial Inc., and the three men established the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation, an after-school program for struggling youngsters, launched with just 17 students in 1983 at the Glen Oaks par-three golf course near downtown Clearwater.
Today, the foundation operates an outdoor classroom at the 170-acre Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club and Sports Complex.
Principals and teachers with the Pinellas County School System identify children in need — youngsters who are not achieving at their grade level, have low self-esteem, troubled histories or are having problems adjusting to the academic environment. And the foundation provides the unique classroom environment, teachers and enrichment materials where children learn life-enhancing values through the game of golf.
The Chi Chi Rodriguez Academy’s mission is to prevent students from dropping out of school, a mission it’s fulfilled. The academy has one of the highest dropout prevention rates in Florida.
“At the Chi Chi Rodriguez Academy, we are determined to positively impact the graduation rates
in our community and prepare our students for success in life,” said James Poulter, Chi Chi
Rodriguez Youth Foundation chief executive officer.
Nicklaus said he’s not surprised at the academy’s success.
“A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course,” he said. “Golf teaches you how to behave.”
He said golf especially offers a valuable lesson for disadvantaged youth.
It teaches children to “resolve never to quit, never to give up, no matter what the situation,” he said. And it “focuses on remedies, not faults. Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You’ve got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from.”
Nicklaus said golf is especially valuable for troubled kids because it provides an activity that doesn’t involve hanging out on the streets.
“The best way to cope with trouble is to stay out of it as much as possible,” he said.
He said he can also relate to kids who struggle with success.
“People used to always pull me down. They said, ‘You’ll never make it.’ They said I was too small. You know what I told them? The golf ball and the golf club don’t know my size,” he said. “You don’t learn by being perfect all the time. You learn more when you’re failing because you’ve got to work harder at it when you are failing and then rise to the top. That’s the ultimate feat that a person can have.”
With the new school year starting Aug. 10, Josh Meurer, Chi Chi Rodriguez Academy director, said the academy is launching a new initiative designed to expand enrollment and reach more children who are struggling in a traditional academic setting.
“By reimagining our class structure, we look forward to supporting more students in Pinellas County by giving them the tools they need to be successful long after they leave our program,” Meurer said.
Beginning this fall, the academy, which previously served fourth- through eighth-graders, will discontinue its fourth-grade class and redirect its resources by offering two sixth-grade classes to cater to the current enrollment demands, as well as the developmental needs of its students, he said.
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“The academy will include fifth- through eighth-grade classes, including two sixth-grade classes, allowing for even further class expansions in the future for seventh and eighth grades,” he said.
“Each student that comes to the academy has previously faced challenges adjusting to a traditional academic environment, whether through attendance, receiving poor grades or having low self-esteem,” said Meurer.
“Through a holistic approach to education that covers foundational subjects, as well as art, retail, social skills and mentoring relationships, students embrace a love for learning in a tailored program that caters to their individual needs and interests,” he said.
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