Lell: 'I am both honored and humbled'
HOOVER – The Alabama Golf Association honored its award winners for 2021 and also conducted its annual board of directors meeting at a luncheon held at the Country Club of Birmingham.
The AGA announced the Joe H. King Award, the Sadie Roberts Volunteer of the Year winners, along with celebrating its players of the year, all-state junior teams and 2021 champions which were announced earlier this year.
Travis “Tab” Hudson II of Jasper and Carol Lell of Birmingham each received the Joe H. King Award. The Joe H. King Award is the highest honor that the Alabama Golf Association presents in amateur golf.
Hudson is a former Alabama men’s golf standout. He also served as the AGA president from 2007-2008, won the Alabama State Mid-Amateur in 1990 and claimed the Alabama Open Championship title in 1980. Siblings Steve and Tab Hudson are also both in the Birmingham Golf Association Hall of Fame.
Lell was the first female president in the history of the Alabama Golf Association (2019-2020). She was a key player in the merger of the Women’s Alabama Golf Association (WAGA) and the Alabama Golf Association, also serving as WAGA’s President from 2007-2010.
“I am both honored and humbled to be included in this outstanding group of golfers,” Lell told alabamagolf.org.
“When I look at their pictures and read their resumes, I ask myself: ‘Why me? What have I done to deserve this prestigious award?’ Certainly, it is not because I am a scratch golfer who consistently won major competitions.
“No, my shelves are filled with how-to-books and swing aides… not medals and trophies. So, why me? I can only hope that, like my predecessors, I have contributed, in some small way, to the Good of the Game.”
Sadie Roberts Volunteer of the Year Award
Jan Berry of Madison received the Sadie Roberts Volunteer of the Year Award. Berry has supported the AGA, NCAA and USGA at countless tournaments, worked thousands of hours while traveling untold miles throughout the state and nationally to serve as a rules official and board member all at her own expense.
Alabama Players of the Year
The Alabama Amateur Player of the Year awards are presented to the number one ranked individual in each of six categories at the end of the calendar year based on the AGA’s state amateur ranking system except for the two junior awards that utilize a September-August calendar year.
2021 Players of the Year:
- Men: Gordon Sargent, Birmingham
- Women: Molly Brown Davidson, Birmingham
- Senior Men: John Wright, Fairhope
- Senior Women: Kathy Hartwiger, Birmingham
- Junior Boys: Nick Dunlap, Huntsville
- Junior Girls: Molly Brown Davidson, Birmingham
Annual Board of Directors Meeting
At the Alabama Golf Association’s annual membership meeting, Steve Hudson of Birmingham was re-elected to serve a second one-year term as president.
“It’s a great time to be a part of the AGA with our wonderful staff and all the things that we’re doing,” Hudson said. “The future also looks incredibly great as we look to help our young people and expand the golf services that we provide to the state of Alabama.”
Other elected officers for 2022 include: Walker Grant of Montgomery (Vice-President), Joey Dzwonkowski of Mobile (Secretary), and Derrel Curry of Birmingham (Treasurer).
Three board members were elected to serve a one-year term on the AGA Executive Committee along with the four officers: Chris Marr of Mobile, Will Swift of Vestavia Hills, and Susan West of Tuscaloosa. Retiring from the Executive Committee is Carol Lell of Birmingham.
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Featured image by Ainudil, via Flickr
