REBHOLZ AWARD PRESENTED TO GEORGE REYNOLDS

When George Reynolds became the girls golf coach at Hopkins Eisenhower in the mid-1970s, one of the first things he did was send out survey forms to the girls in the school, asking whether they would like to play golf.

"A lot of those girls said, yes, they would like to play," Reynolds remembers, "and then in the spring they all went out for softball, or for track."

So he tried a different tack.

"I sent out another survey," he says, "and I asked: 'Does your mother play golf?' There were quite a few that came back 'Yes,' and the coach was pretty smart, because this time I called the mothers and asked them if they'd like to have their daughters play on the team."

It worked. The Eisenhower girls golf progam became established, and a couple of years later that team produced Jody Rosenthal, who won three consecutive state championships in 1979, '80 and '81, thereby establishing a record that wasn't broken until this spring by Katie Detlefsen.

The whole episode was quintessential George Reynolds. For 50 years, he's been teaching, coaching and promoting golf, and in all that time he's never stopped trying to think of new and inventive ways to get the job done.

And it was in recognition of all his efforts over the past half-century that he was named the 2007 Warren J. Rebholz Award recipient, which was presented to George on Monday night during the Annual MGA Awards Dinner at Midland Hills Country Club.

Reynolds was a first-rate golfer in his own right. He played for Les Bolstad at the University of Minnesota from 1951 to '54 (he also played basketball for the Gophers), and after turning pro he had his share of top-10 finishes in the State Open and the State PGA.

He turned 50 in 1982, he became one of the state's best senior players, qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open three times, posting three top-5 finishes in the State PGA during a span of four years, and winning the State Senior Open in 1986.

But it was as a teacher, coach, administrator and general advocate for the game of golf that he made his greatest mark. He was the head professional at Greenhaven in Anoka, then became a coach, and not long after that he helped to start the Minnesota Section PGA Junior Golf Program, which has grown into one of the largest junior programs in the country.

George also was a founding father for the section's Junior Golf Academy and served as the lead instructor from 1979 to 1987. In 1982, he started the Sunshine Clinic for high school coaches, and it is still going strong, attracting more than 200 coaches every March.

While he was doing all that, he continued to coach, and his teams continued to win. His 1999 Eden Prairie team won the state Class AA high school championship and set the tournament scoring record (for 18 holes and for 36) in the process. It was Reynolds' third team title.

And in 2002 the Eagles' Scott Gustafson became the fourth of his individual champions, setting single-round and tournament scoring records (67-72--139) while he was at it.

"It's the players who make the coach," Reynolds says, "not the coach who makes the player."

That, however, is not the way Gustafson, who went on to play four years of varsity golf at Notre Dame and win the 2005 MGA Player of the Year Award, sees it.  

"Without George," he says, "I never would have been able to accomplish what I have in golf."

Reynolds retired as the Eden Prairie coach last year, but at age 75 (he was born Jan. 30, 1932, which was a Saturday) he is still making all sorts of contributions to the game. Among other things, he runs the Clubs for Schools program that he started to supply clubs to players who wouldn't otherwise have them, and he also serves as a rules offical for sectional high school tournaments.

"Golf is such a great game that I just want to see everyone have a chance to play it, and play it reasonably well," George says, "because once this game hooks you, you're hooked for life."