Golf helped veteran Steve Ogletree escape from PTSD ’ s grip and find renewed purpose in life
by RICH KATZ
he Virginia State Golf Association has countless amazing members . One , though , takes amazing to especially high levels .
Steve Ogletree , a 59-year-old Woodbridge resident and ardent golfer , is a guy whose fireside chats could go on for hours with nary a twitch of boredom . The abridged version of his travails follows :
Soon after birth in Plymouth , Ind ., and a move to Jena , La .— a tiny town sandwiched by Alexandria , La . and Natchez , Miss .— life became complicated for young Ogletree . He was beyond devastated at the age of five when his father , a member of the artillery army , was fatally shot by Ogletree ’ s uncle .
“ You can ’ t make this stuff up ,” he says . “ No one should ever have to go through that . I was lost .”
Compounding the difficulties was growing up in the segregated south . It wasn ’ t until 1970 when schools became integrated . That ’ s when Ogletree , a gifted athlete , got his bearings and played baseball at an elite level . A dual-sport star , he became one of the region ’ s first Black , high-school quarterbacks . When he was an eighth grader , the high school coach would drive him from junior high after school to varsity high school practice .
Golf was a late addition to Ogletree ’ s athletics repertoire .
“ It wasn ’ t something a Black kid did , so I didn ’ t watch golf on TV until I was 17 ,” says Ogletree . “ Besides , while my mom was working as a schoolteacher , I was busy doing oddsand-ends jobs to make ends meet for my two siblings and me — it was about survival .”
Ogletree made the basketball team at Northeast Louisiana State University , but his focus quickly shifted away from sports . An ROTC friend tabbed Ogletree as an ideal candidate for the military . Moreover , Ogletree felt that enlisting would honor his dad and great grandfather , who was a World War II veteran .
vsga . org N OVEMBER / D ECEMBER 2022 | V IRGINIA G OLFER
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