For more than five decades, children throughout northwestern Ohio had a love-hate relationship with Dr. Charles Spragg.
The pain they might have endured as patients with Spragg's dental practice in Findlay, Ohio, was only temporary, but the opportunities he provided to generations of kids as an advocate for youth golf will last a lifetime.Now, that relationship is relegated to memory.
Spragg, who co-founded the Findlay Area Golf Association more than 40 years ago and served as its only president, died March 27 at his winter home in Bradenton, Florida. He was 76.
"The news of Doc has been pretty tough to swallow," said University of Cincinnati men's golf coach Doug Martin, a former PGA Tour professional who grew up playing in the association Spragg started. "His legacy is that he will go down as one of the most influential people in Hancock County.
"Anyone who met Charlie was touched by Charlie."
Known simply as "Doc", Spragg arguably impacted the game in northwestern Ohio more than anyone short of Jack Nicklaus. He loved kids and he loved golf, and he recognized the importance of growing the game through youngsters years ahead of industry initiatives. Long before The First Tee, the youth golf league that Spragg founded in 1975 introduced the game to hundreds of children, providing them with instruction and a competitive environment. He also spent the past four years as Findlay High School's boys golf coach.
Martin's father, Lynn, was a local high school coach and golf legend, and was among a small group of civic leaders who helped co-found the Findlay association that also produced former University of Michigan women's coach Cheryl Stacey.
"Look at Charlie. Whatever he touches is done in a first-class manner. There was no doing things second-rate with him," Martin said. "The Findlay Area Golf Association wasn't about Charlie; it was about growing the game. There was no financial interest. It was strictly about boys and girls in northwest Ohio playing golf."
The FAGA also promotes life skills such as sportsmanship, integrity, honesty and respect. Hard work and perseverance are recognized with player-of-the-year and sportsmanship awards as well as scholarship assistance for graduating high school seniors who have played in the system for at least three years.
"He loved the game, loved the kids and he enjoyed watching us grow up," Martin said. "He helped keep us out of trouble. It was known that if you played in his association, you were going to do it the right way. He demanded that."
Through the years, the Findlay association touched hundreds if not thousands of local youths.
"My greatest reward was that we started something that has survived for 40 years," Spragg told TurfNet in 2014. "We've had some of the greatest kids you could ever want. It's been rewarding to watch them play, go on to college and succeed in their lives. It's always a reward when you see young people succeed."
Jordan Schroeder, head pro at Findlay Country Club, was the recipient of the association's Dr. Charles Spragg Male Player of the Year Award in 1999. Two years later, he received FAGA's Walt Whithaus Male Sportsmanship Award, which is named for the local Pizza Hut restaurateur and longtime supporter of youth golf. When handing out credit for those who helped shape his career in golf, Schroeder deferred to Spragg.
"Dr. Spragg has been a long time contributor to the development of many junior players in the area, including myself. He has donated his time over the years guiding the kids and helping them become the people they are today," Schroeder said. "As a former FAGA Sportsman of the Year and Player of the Year, FAGA gave me the opportunity to compete at local golf courses, develop my skills, and have fun playing golf with my friends. I truly thank him for all of the time, work, and effort he has put in for junior golf in the Findlay area."
The association was started by a group of civic leaders that included Spragg initially as a way to promote the game to players of all ages, but organizers soon realized the association's future was in promoting the game to children. Each year, the association conducts 10 tournaments at local courses, with boys and girls players segregated by age rather than a USGA index, followed by a season-ending championship at Findlay Country Club. Registration fees are $30 for the year, with tournament fees of $16 per player for 18 holes and $14 for nine holes (for younger players), including a hotdog and drink.
The program has been equally economical for local sponsors who are asked to pay $300 each, the same fee they paid in FAGA's inaugural year of 1975, to help keep the association afloat.
A native of Bridgeport, Ohio, Spragg graduated from Ohio State's dental school in 1965 and joined the Army soon after. He spent four years and two months in the service, including three years at a military hospital in Germany. He says he learned a lifetime of dentistry in those four-plus years. It was during his last year of dental school at Ohio State that he learned an appreciation for golf.
His most memorable playing experiences include Augusta National, Pebble Beach and Olympia Fields.
"My wife doesn't ask me anymore if' I'm playing," Spragg told TurfNet. "She asks when is my next tee time."
While early FAGA tournaments were on the brink of 100 players, today tournaments boast 30 to 40 participants as golf clubs take a back seat to travel sports leagues, video games and other distractions.
Those who come out to play each week do so, Spragg said, for the love of the game.
"You'll see some kids who've just taken up the game come out and shoot 140 or 150 over 18 holes, but they don't quit," he had said. "The next week, there they are again, trying to get better. To me, that is the best reward of all, to keep them involved in doing something positive and trying harder each week."