When Jim Nantz learned earlier this year that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Greg McLaughlin, CEO of the First Tee Foundation, wanted to arrange a call among the three of them, Nantz assumed it was about making an appearance at a First Tee event sometime this year.
It was much bigger than that.
Nantz was asked and has accepted the role of honorary chair of the First Tee, a role held previously by only two people – his friends and former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush or, as Nantz sometimes calls them, 41 and 43.
“It was a surprise and a wonderful surprise,” Nantz said from his Nashville, Tennessee, home earlier this week.
As the honorary chair, Nantz will be charged with promoting the First Tee’s purpose and expanding its reach. The announcement was made Friday, coinciding with First Tee Week, a nationwide campaign to recognize coaches and their impact on young people and their communities.
“I’ve always been a strong believer and advocate for what the First Tee can do. I’ve seen what it does for young people,” Nantz said.
Nantz said he will begin in earnest in September after a board of governors meeting at Pebble Beach. That’s where he and the organization will begin game planning how he can be most effective.
With his busy travel schedule as CBS Sports’ lead announcer for PGA Tour golf and the NFL, Nantz will try to coordinate visits to First Tee sites around the country when he is in various cities for his television work.
“I will be as hands on as I can be,” Nantz said.
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