2014 CONNECTICUT GOLF HALL OF FAME
TED MAY
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Inducted into Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame for Distinguished Service to Golf
HEN DAVID POLK attended
The First Tee national meeting
last year in Nashville, Tenn., the
discussion eventually turned to the board,
governing and leadership.
The meeting’s facilitator asked the
Executive Directors in attendance how often
they talked with their Board Chairman. All
hands were raised at “every couple of months”
and “once a month,” most were lowered
at “every two weeks” and only one, Polk’s,
remained in the air at “once a week.”
Polk, now in his fourth year as
President and Executive Director of The
First Tee of Connecticut, then stunned the
moderator when he revealed his relationship
with his Chairman, Ted May.
“I virtually talk to or communicate
with him about The First Tee of Connecticut
(TFTCT) just about every day,” Polk said. “If
I’m not getting an email or text, then we’re
talking on the phone. That’s how committed
he is, and it’s at 10 o’clock at night, it’s first
thing in the morning, it’s on the drive to work.
Of course we’re friends – I’ve known him for
40 years – but his dedication to The First Tee
and making golf available to every kid, he’s a
giant.”
After being a driving force for more
than four decades behind the Insurance
City Open/Greater Hartford Open/Buick
Championship/Travelers Championship cofounded by his father in 1952, May found “a
new baby” when he spearheaded the birth of
The First Tee of Connecticut. What started
with 50 youngsters in the “Mayor Mike’s Golf
Club for Kids” program at Goodwin and Keney
Golf Clubs in Hartford in 1999 has grown into
one of Connecticut’s all-time success stories
with more than 67,000 kids learning about
golf and the Nine Core Values at 14 outdoor
facilities and 147 schools statewide each year.
So few people deserve a place in the
Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame more than
May, who joins his father, Ed, as only the
second father-son tandem to earn induction.
Ironically, the other duo, Bobby and Jimmy
Grant, is also from Wethersfield Country
Club.
“My dad had passed away when he
was selected (in 2002), so I gave his acceptance
speech and that was a very proud moment
for our family,” May said. “To be a father-son
www.csgalinks.org
combination is tremendous.”
Polk said May’s induction “is long
overdue.”
“Ted May has done more for junior
golf, and golf in general, than anyone else I can
think of in the state,” Polk said. “He has been
involved in so many different aspects of the
game and is an amazing guy to work with. And
knowing how dedicated he is to the game and
how much he has done to grow the game in this
state, I can’t think of anyone more deserving
and couldn’t be more pleased for the guy.”
May, 67, began volunteering at what
was then the Sammy Davis Jr.-GHO in the
mid-1970s and was tournament chairman
of “The Last Blast at Wethersfield” in 1983.
May then helped oversee a move to TPC
River Highlands in Cromwell, a bridge plan
and solicitation of Buick and Travelers as title
sponsors to keep the tournament alive after
Canon pulled out in 2003.
May was born in Hartford and grew
up in Wethersfield alongside the second hole at
Wethersfield CC, where he played and caddied.
He also played at Goodwin and attended
Williams College, where he was co-captain his
senior year and helped the Ephmen win the
New England Championship to qualify for the
NCAA Championship.
After graduating from Williams, May
entered a sales management training program
with Phoenix Mutual Insurance Co. In 1985, he
formed May, Bonee & Walsh, an independent
insurance and financial services company now
in Glastonbury. May and his wife, Debbie, live
in Wethersfield and have three children who
have been tournament volunteers.
May was Chairman of numerous
tournament committees and has been a
member of the management committee since
1982. After being Tournament Chairman, he
was the liaison between the PGA Tour and
tournament for 25 years, his major duties being
player recruitment and serving on the longrange planning committee.
May’s major project these days is
TFTCT, which he started with Kent Scully in
Hartford in 1996. PGA Tour Commissioner
Tim Finchem thought 6