It's possible that all of Ralph Paulk's experiences have prepared him for his most impactful chapter.
Paulk spent eight years in the Marine Corps and applies the disciplines he learned to lead and teach. He's toiled as a journalist in four cities, including Akron, covering sports and politics and is now focused on a book project. He's discussed Indy car successes and mistakes with Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi, and written about established franchises like the Pittsburgh Steelers .
Paulk, 65, of Fairlawn, is putting all that to use as president of Tiretown Golf Club , the largest predominately Black golf club in the United States.
When he took over in 2017, the club founded in Akron in 1950 had under 50 members; now the roll is nearing 200. There were six women; now there are 25. Tiretown provided about 60 volunteers, the largest number of any group, for the $3 million Bridgestone Senior Players Championship , which concludes Sunday at Firestone Country Club .
With its focus on bringing in younger members and providing them assistance, Tiretown awarded eight scholarships this year for high school students, nine when a $2,000 scholarship given to the Urban League is included. Tiretown also pays for 30 youth to participate in First Tee of Greater Akron programs.
That's just one push begun since Paulk took over.
"I have to rein Ralph in," said Michael Robinson, Tiretown's vice president and a local board member for the First Tee. "I'm kind of like his guard and he bounces things off of me. If Ralph would have his way, everyone in this club would be going crazy right now because his mind thinks like that. He's so creative and he's got so many ideas. 'Ralph, we can't do everything right now. We have to put a strategic plan together to make some of these things come off in a very effective way' as opposed to just racing to get things done.
"I've been a member for 13 or 14 years. I've never seen the excitement, the engagement … in terms of our community involvement, our focus on youth development, our partnership with groups like the Urban League, NAACP, South Akron Youth Mentorship. Our visibility as a club in the eyes of some of these organizations is really fulfilling for me."
But Paulk is not doing it alone. Tiretown has counted among its membership six in the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame — Les Carney, Elmore Banton, Mike Buckner, Frank Williams, Bill Alford and the late Rod Dingle.
"He's the Pied Piper, without a doubt, but we've got some pretty talented folks on our board," Robinson, 63, of Akron, who works for Cleveland Clinic, said in a phone interview. "We're all catching the vision with him and helping to execute these things."
Tiretown sold out its annual scholarship tournament Saturday at Good Park as 144 golfers competed in an 8 a.m. shotgun start. Paulk said they secured corporate sponsors and more than 100 co-sponsors. When the event was over, some of the members headed to Firestone to volunteer.
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"That level of commitment is what has really set us apart, not just from Black golf clubs in the country, but any club in the country," Paulk said last week. "There are a lot of things that we do, but I think helping in this way at this tournament volunteering, helping other charitable organizations raise money, it means a lot to us.
"The thing I appreciate being president of this group is they love to compete when it comes to fundraising, they love to compete when it comes to being there for the kids. Our members want to do something significant in the community. We don't have time to sit back on our laurels and say we're the biggest African-American golf club in the country, there's so many different things we're trying to do, and this is just a big piece of it."
Dr. Robert Kamienski, 74, the retired chief of cardiac surgery at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, joined Tiretown about two years ago. His involvement came at the suggestion of Greg Hill, an orthopedic surgeon in Cuyahoga Falls whose wife, Judi Hill, is president of the Akron branch of the NAACP.
Kamienski has an interest in golf; his son Matt ran the President's Cup for over 10 years and is now director of business affairs for the PGA Tour. In 2021, Paulk asked Robert Kamienski to join the fund development committee, which he and Paulk's wife, former Beacon Journal reporter Marilyn Miller Paulk, now co-chair.
"I think Tiretown's got a great future because their attitude is not just a bunch of guys that weren't able to play golf many places before," Kamienski said in a phone interview. "These guys are gentlemen, they enjoy playing golf, they're taking their opportunities to help the Black youth of the community with the First Tee and also through their scholarship opportunities. Not just Black kids, but underprivileged kids."
Kamienski said Tiretown is working on an association with Cleveland Clinic that would enable some of the club's scholarship recipients to enroll in a radiology program. While details are not finalized, Paulk said students would study X-ray technology for two years at Kent State, then work for Cleveland Clinic.
Paulk is also trying to revive the golf program at Buchtel CLC.
"Ralph has some great ideas and I hope he's around to see some of these come to fruition in the future," Kamienski said. "I back Ralph 150%. This is a dream for him, but he's not trying to be a big hero here. He's bringing everyone else along, I think that's awesome.
"I met a couple of the young fellows that are going to be on the Buchtel team who are with First Tee. They shake my hand, they look at me, they remember my name from one day to the next week. It's something I love to see. That's one of Ralph's big dreams and it's not a pipe dream."
Carney, 88, a silver medalist in the 200 meters at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, is an avid Tiretown member who has volunteered at PGA and Champions Tour tournaments at Firestone for 40 years. This year he had his 9-year-old grandson, Issa Perry, a student at Holden Elementary in Kent, with him as he worked the pass-through between No. 9 and 10.
"This year is the first year we're going to have some of our junior golfers volunteering along with fellow members," said Bellaire-born Carney, who came to Akron in 1959 to work for the M. O'Neil department store company, staying until 1989.
Robinson said none of these projects would have been launched without Paulk's connections. After Paulk left the Beacon Journal in 2001, he taught in the Akron Public Schools, then went back to the newspaper business. He covered politics in Ft. Myers, Florida, college football and NASCAR in Richmond, Virginia, and the Steelers, auto racing and golf in Pittsburgh.
"His military background in the Marines, he's a guy that just goes after it and doesn't really accept no," Robinson said. "He has so many connections from when he was writing and he's utilizing those contacts to better the club."
Paulk said while he's drawing from all he's done as an adult with Tiretown, it started in the Marines.
"In the Marine Corps, it's about organization, it's about being forgiving, it's about being unforgiving," Paulk said. "NASCAR and Indy car was interesting because you see the work they put in getting sponsors, being organized, you have no shot at doing it if you're not.
"You watch their successes, their mistakes. I've had some very good conversations with Chip Ganassi about things he wishes he had done differently. You look at his Indy car team, he's gone through more drivers than probably anybody. But it's the lessons he learned with those mistakes, that's why he's so successful. They won [the Indianapolis 500] this year with Marcus Ericsson."
Paulk is negotiating with NASCAR so some of the young Tiretown members attend the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 31. That's another of Paulk's ideas that Robinson hasn't been able to rein in.
Paulk's wife, Marilyn, is also immersed in Tiretown, but said her husband thinks about it "24/7" as he's revived the club that was virtually dead.
"He's very passionate about it," she said Friday while volunteering at No. 17 at Firestone. "He's let people know, the members, that they can do so much more. They don't have to just settle, they could make a difference.
"He's met people on the golf course, gives them his card, talks them up, draws them in. He's never met a stranger. If they have a Marine cap on, he goes up and tells them about Tiretown. He's a good cheerleader, good spokesperson. Approaching the mayor to make Good Park our home course. Drawing women into the group. At one point we didn't have any. We even have members that don't play golf who are enthusiastic about doing things for the organization."
Tiretown's "Pied Piper" is enjoying every moment.
"It's one of the most satisfying and rewarding things I've ever done," Paulk said.
Editor's note: For more information on the club, go to tiretowngolfclub.net or emailt Ralph Paulk at rpaulk@tiretowngolfclub.net.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com . Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Retired journalist helps Tiretown Golf Club focus on youth
