GCSANE board members Brian Skinner, CGCS, Ryan Boudreau, Mike Murphy, Eric Richardson, Jonathan Wilbur, Greg Cormier, CGCS, Bob Dembek and Peter Rappoccio, CGCS celebrate the chapter's centennial alongside Jeff White, GCSAA president, and GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans. Photo by Jason Powers
It wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say the Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England celebrated the first 100 years of its existence during Friday’s Centennial Celebration.
Instead, it simultaneously celebrated its past and optimistically looked ahead to its future as one of the oldest golf course superintendent chapters in North America.
“We’re proud we still exist,” says Eric Richardson, GCSANE president and GCSAA Class A director of grounds at Essex Country Club in Manchester, Mass., and 23-year GCSAA member. “We’ve survived world wars and pandemics and recessions and depressions. We’re proud we have the chapter in good standing, and we look forward to remaining in good standing well into the future.
“It’s important to tie both our past and future together in terms of optics. What celebrates the past is the (under-development) history book. That will document our past. As superintendents in general, I don’t think we’ve done a great job about documenting our past successes. And the celebration is about what the association will be going forward, about how impactful it can continue to be.”
The celebration at Peirce Farm at Witch Hill in Topsfield, Mass., was a sellout — 120 folks strong.
In keeping with the past-and-future theme, GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans attended and spoke about the history of the chapter and GCSAA. GCSAA President Jeff White, CGCS, spoke about the present, the value of association membership and GCSAA initiatives focused on the future of the industry.
GCSANE is the second-oldest chapter in the United States and the third in North America to celebrate a centennial. The oldest golf course superintendent chapter, now known as the Northern Ohio GCSA, celebrated its 100th year in 2023. That chapter’s formation in 1923 as the Cleveland District Greenkeepers Association led to the 1926 founding of the National Association of Greenkeepers of America — which became the GCSAA.
The Ontario Golf Superintendents’ Association celebrated its centennial earlier this year.
GCSANE was founded as the Greenkeepers Club of New England in 1924 and changed its name to the Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England in 1955.
Three GCSANE past presidents went on to serve as GCSAA president: Richard C. Blake, CGCS, in 1972; Donald E. Hearn, CGCS, in 1987; and James R. Fitzroy, CGCS, in 2010.
To learn more about the GCSANE, visit gcsane.org.