Joseph Charles Dey Jr. (November 17, 1907 – March 3, 1991) was an American

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

administrator and a member of the

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame was, until recently, located at World Golf Village between Jacksonville, Florida and St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States. It is unusual amongst sports halls of fame in that a single site honored both men ...

Early years

Born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, Dey grew up in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, and attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in A skilled amateur golfer, Dey dropped out of college to become a sportswriter for New Orleans and Philadelphia newspapers and magazines. He eventually specialized in golf, and covered the final leg of Bobby Jones' Grand Slam at

Merion Golf Club Merion Golf Club is a private golf club which is located in Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a township bordering Philadelphia to the northwest along the historic Main Line. The club has two courses: the East Course, and the ...

in suburban Philadelphia in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

Golf administrator

Soon afterwards, Dey was approached by the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rule ...

and offered a job helping to run its New York office. He served as executive director of the USGA from 1934 to 1968, during a period of extraordinary growth in the sport. Dey played a key role in meetings between the USGA and

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation kn ...

in the early 1950s, to standardize the rules of golf around the world. Following his retirement from the USGA, Dey was asked to serve as the first commissioner of the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

in January

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, shortly after the tour players broke away from the

PGA of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish and elevate t ...

. During Dey's leadership the tour was known as the Tournament Players Division of the PGA. He held that position for five years, succeeded by tour player Deane Beman Dey was the originator of

The Players Championship The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as THE PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The ...

, first held in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

Later years

After retirement, Dey held the honorary position of Captain of

for 1975. He was elected to the

in 1975, its second year of existence.

Death

After a battle with cancer, Dey died at age 83 at his home on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

Locust Valley, New York Locust Valley is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2010 census. History The rolling ...

. His wife of 53 years, the former Rosalie Knapp, had died the previous year.

Legacy

Since 1996, the USGA has given out the Joe Dey Award in recognition of meritorious service to the game of golf as a volunteer.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dey, Joseph PGA Tour commissioners Golf writers University of Pennsylvania alumni World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Norfolk, Virginia People from New Orleans 1907 births 1991 deaths