Knoch grad Dickson joins HOF
This is the fourth in a series of articles profiling the 2014 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame NEW YORK, N.Y. — Golf has taken Jeff Dickson to a lot of places.He didn't think the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame would be one of them.A 1993 Knoch graduate and two-time WPIAL and PIAA golf champion, Dickson will be inducted into the Hall during the organization's annual banquet April 26 at the Butler Days Inn.“I was surprised when I got the call and it's a great honor,” Dickson said. “I filled out a resume for consideration years ago and had forgotten all about it.“It's never too late, though. Though it's been a long time, I'm still proud of the accolades I received and what I was able to accomplish in golf.”Dickson's grandfather, Dr. Jack Smith, and mother Carole Dickson were avid golfers. The youngest of three boys, Dickson said he first picked up a golf club at age 3 or 4.“My mother played college golf at Penn State and was a member at Butler Country Club when Jim Simons played there,” Dickson said. “Our house was right next to the country club, so it was only natural I started playing.“My grandfather used to take me up to Foxburg (Country Club) ... I had a lot of support while learning to play the game.”Dickson went on to take lessons from Bob Ford at Oakmont Country Club and his game took off. Besides being a two-time high school state champion, he wound up winning the Pennsylvania Golf Association Boys Championship in 1993.He won the WPIAL and PIAA titles in 1991 and 1992. He placed third in the WPIAL, sixth in the state meet as a sophomore in 1990.Now employed with Wells Fargo in New York City, Dickson went on to the University of North Carolina after high school and was to play golf for the Tar Heels.
He left the team after his freshman year.“I just didn't feel like I was at that level and it became apparent to me I wasn't going to become a pro golfer,” he said. “I decided to concentrate on my studies as a regular student.“I do regret not staying with the team, though. That was three more years of collegiate golf I passed up and couldn't get back.”He was far from through with the sport, however.From 2000-09, Dickson worked in golf course design and helped install some plush courses along the east coast. Included on that list is Saucon Valley in Bethlehem.“They've played the U.S. Women's Open there and Golf Digest gave the course an award,” Dickson said. “I'm pretty proud of that.”While he's been able to come back and play on some of the courses he helped design, he has yet to play Greenbriar in West Virginia — the course he spent the most time on.“We're talking about two years,” he said. “I'll play it someday.”When the economy went bad in 2009, the golf course design business “got turned upside down and I decided I had to try something else,” Dickson said. “That's what I'm doing now.“I enjoyed my time in that industry, but I don't see myself going back. There's a ton of travel involved and it's too much time away from family.”While Dickson learned golf from his mother's side of the family, he picked up on basketball from his father. John Dickson was a coach in the Knoch system.Dickson played point guard for the Knights and lettered for two years.“I was more of a distributor, a game manager,” he said. “My job was to get the ball down low to Nick Reiser (2013 HOF inductee).“We had a good team and most of us played basketball as a second sport. Mark Faulx was the guy who was all basketball.”Dickson said basketball was his favorite sport as a kid, “but I stopped growing by seventh or eighth grade.“Golf was going to be the game more conducive to success for me,” he added.Tickets for the Hall of Fame banquet are available at www.bcshof.com, any Hall of Fame director, Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall, Bill's Beer Barn, Snack n' Pack, Parker Appliance in Chicora, Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople or Saxonburg Drug
