USGA Awards Ede Rice The 2022 Joe Dey Award

USGA

The United States Golf Association awarded Ede Rice, of Edina, Minn., with the 2022 Joe Dey Award, Jun. 15, at the Harvard Club in Boston, Mass. The Dey award is given in recognition of an individual’s meritorious service to the game as a volunteer, and it is named for Joseph C. Dey, Jr., who served on the USGA’s executive director from 1934 to 1969, and who was later inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975.

“In the true spirit of the award, Ede is one of the most dedicated, highly principled, and service-oriented individuals that I have come to know in my years with the MGA,” said Tom Ryan, MGA executive director and COO. “She has been recognized by both the MGA and most recently, the Western Golf Association, with their highest lifetime service awards, and she’s not done yet.”

Rice, 68, a member of Edina and Woodhill Country Clubs, is the current vice president of the Minnesota Golf Association and is in line to be elected president in 2022. She was the first woman elected as a director in 1994, and has been an active board member from the beginning, including serving in numerous committees, as a rules volunteer and ultimately being recognized with the Warren J. Rebholz Distinguished Service Award, the MGA’s highest honor. She is a past president of the Minnesota Women’s Golf Association and was instrumental in guiding that association’s merger with the Minnesota Golf Association in 2017.

Certified as a Rules of Golf expert, Rice has volunteered at more than 39 USGA championships, including the men’s and women’s U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Amateur and U. S. Senior Amateur championships, and two Curtis Cups. She has served on numerous USGA committees including the Women’s Committee, 2006-2010, the Senior Women’s Championship Committee, 2008-2011, the Joe Dey Award Committee, 2016-2019, and the Regional Affairs Committee, 2012 to present. Rice was General Chair of the 4th USGA Women’ State Team Championship contested at Woodhill Country Club in 2001, and later served as Minnesota’s women’s team captain at the 5th USGA State Team Championship in 2003.

“She has an amazing record of assisting the game of golf in a wide variety of ways. I do not think I know of another person who has a broader record of volunteerism in golf than Ede. It is particularly interesting to note that whatever association she becomes involved with, she invariably ends up in a leadership position,” said Reed Mackenzie, former USGA president and past president of the MGA.

As a passionate advocate for the caddie scholars at the University of Minnesota Evans Scholars Chapter House, Rice has had an impact on virtually every Evans scholar for the past 25 years. She became an WGA director in 1995 and was the first woman elected to the WGA Board of Governors in 2010. Typical of Rice’s commitment to the program, she assumed numerous leadership roles within the Minnesota chapter, including serving as State Chair from 2010 to 2016. She played a key role in the building of the new U of M Scholarship House in 2003, which enabled for the first time a coeducational setting for deserving young women and men caddies under one roof and into a home for all Minnesota Evans Scholars.

“Beyond the imprint she has left locally, her presence has been deeply felt on the national level as well. I have witnessed it firsthand as a fellow member of the WGA Board of Governors. She has strongly influenced the direction of the program has taken, and is taking, especially with strategies designed to bring a more diverse group of young people to the caddie yard and as candidates for the Evans Scholarship,” said John Mendesh, Evans Scholars Foundation Trustee and WGA Board of Governors.

“I’m amazed by what Ede’s given back to golf—in her community, her state and in so many USGA championships and events across America,” said Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA. “She’s inspired countless volunteers and encouraged women of every age to compete and chase their dreams, while setting an example for volunteerism that is virtually unmatched. We’re proud to recognize and elevate her incredible contributions through this award. She’s set the bar high for everyone.”

Last summer, Rice was awarded the WGA’s 2021 Donald D. Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of her exceptional commitment, dedication and devotion to the WGA and the Evans Scholarship Program.  


This story was originally published on Jan. 31, 2022.