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Joe Luigs – Joe Dey Award

Nov 4, 2009

Far Hills, N.J. – Joe Luigs of Carmel, Ind., has been selected as
the recipient of the 2010 Joe Dey Award by the United States Golf
Association.

Presented annually since 1996, the Joe Dey Award recognizes meritorious
service to the game as a volunteer. The 66-year-old Luigs will receive the honor
Feb. 6 at the USGA’s Annual Meeting in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C. The award
is named after the late Joseph C. Dey Jr., who served as USGA executive director
from 1934 to 1969 and was later the first commissioner of the PGA Tour.

The owner of an insurance agency, Luigs has been a USGA committee member
since 1982, when he first was appointed to the Green Section Committee. In 1991,
he was also appointed to the Sectional Affairs Committee, which became the
Regional Affairs Committee in 2004. He has served in a volunteer capacity over
the past 25 years at more than 80 national golf championships and assisted the
USGA in conducting more than 70 local qualifying events for USGA
championships. 

“Joe’s history of volunteerism and service to the game is inspiring,” said
USGA President Jim Vernon. “He has dedicated countless hours of his time
promoting and supporting the game. Golf is most fortunate to have such an
advocate. We congratulate Joe on being the recipient of the 2010 Joe Dey Award,
an honor he has most certainly earned.”

Luigs was the co-general chairman for the 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur
Championship and the caddie chairman for the 1989 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship,
both of which were hosted by his home course, Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel,
Ind. Luigs has worked in an official capacity for all six of the USGA
championships that have been held at Crooked Stick, including the 2009 U.S.
Senior Open, for which he served on the Rules Committee.

“It’s quite an honor to be chosen from among the hundreds of men and women
across the country who love golf and who might be deserving of this award,” said
Luigs. “Certainly, it’s not something that I set out to pursue, but I’m very
humbled by the gesture. All I’ve really done is help organize golf
championships, and by now there have been quite a few of them, because I’m
getting pretty old.”

A former director of the Indiana Golf Association and trustee for the Evans
Scholars Foundation, Luigs has traveled throughout his home state to promote or
initiate caddie programs at various clubs. He was inducted into the Indiana Golf
Hall of Fame in 2003.

Luigs’ wife, Marcia, was a member of the USGA Women’s Committee from 1990 to
2006 and was chairman of the committee in 2005 and 2006. She was the captain of
the USA team for the 2008 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in Australia
and, with Joe, has volunteered at many USGA competitions.

“We do work together,” Joe explained last summer in typical self-deprecating
fashion. “If it’s her qualifier, she is the boss. If it’s my qualifier, she is
the boss. If it is a USGA national championship, the USGA is the boss.”

Previous winners of the Joe Dey Award are: Charles N. Eckstein (1996); John
Staver (1997); Joe King (1998); Frank Anglim (1999); Jack Emich (2000); Bill
Dickey (2001); Clyde Luther (2002); John Hanna (2003); Adele Lebow (2004); Pearl
Carey (2005); Dr. Bob Hooper (2006); Harry McCracken (2007); Gene McClure
(2008); and Dick Rundle (2009).