INDIANAPOLIS — Mickey Powell built his first golf course the way any creative, money-starved, school-aged boy would: by digging up dirt in his yard to make holes just the right size for empty coffee cans. When the tiny white ball would plop in, the sound was a glorious, clanky rattle.
His first caddying job would come at 13 at the Country Club of Indianapolis, a chance meeting with a couple named Pete and Alice Dye, legends in the art of golf course design and the sport. They would later be key in shaping Powell’s storied golf journey.
In the world of fairways and greens, a greater start than Powell’s is hard to come by. But it was a sign of what was to come.
By the time Powell was 25, he was the first golf pro at Otter Creek Golf Course in Columbus. From there, Powell built the Golf Club of Indiana, earned one of the most prestigious positions in the sport — PGA president — in 1985 and is credited with helping to bring the 1991 PGA Championship to Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana.
And he was an incredible golfer in his own right, turning pro after graduating from college and becoming good friends with Jack Nicklaus. Even more impressive, some might say, is that Powell still holds the record for making the longest second shot on a par 5, sending the ball sailing 270 yards with a 3 wood for a double eagle.
Powell, who lived in North Palm Beach, Florida, died Sunday in Indianapolis. He was 81. He is survived by his wife, Diana, and six daughters: Stacey, Tori, Tamara, Tiffany, Marla and Michelle; as well as 12 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
“The PGA of America is deeply saddened with the passing of Mickey Powell, who led our association with vision, class, honor and a sincere love of the game,” PGA President Jim Richerson said in a statement Monday. “Mickey was someone who didn’t ask why, but rather why not?”
As his career came to an end in 2008, Powell was asked to reflect.
“It’s been a great ride,” Powell told the PGA of America. “I mean I’ve enjoyed the journey. It’s been terrific.”
Bringing the PGA Championship home
Powell was born Michael L. Powell on June 17, 1939, in Indianapolis and went to Ben Davis High. As his golf game grew and blossomed, Powell’s chance meeting with the Dyes became key.
When Powell graduated from high school, he told Dye his parents could not afford to send him to college and asked for help with expenses. Dye agreed and later said Powell was the “only kid he helped go through school who ever paid him back.”
At Indiana Central University, now the University of Indianapolis, Powell was an all-conference golfer all four years from 1958 to 1961. He turned pro upon graduation.
During his career, Powell was runner-up in the Indiana State Open Championship and finished second in the Indiana PGA Championship twice. He competed in two Senior PGA Championships and the U.S. Senior Open. Powell won two Indiana PGA Senior Championships, an Indiana PGA Senior Open title and two Indiana PGA Senior Player of the Year awards.
Mickey Powell as PGA of America president
When he landed his spot as 24th president of the PGA of America, Powell oversaw a period of rapid growth and development, the PGA said in announcing his death.
He also went to work bringing the sport’s biggest title event to his home state of Indiana. Along with Michael Browning, former chairman of the board of the Indiana Sports Corporation, Powell in 1985 helped Crooked Stick earn the 1991 PGA Championship.
A year later, Powell and PGA executive director Lou King negotiated a deal with ABC Sports to broadcast the Ryder Cup. “It resulted in charting a path of greater attention for what today is the greatest spectacle in golf and one of the most popular international sports competitions,” said the PGA of America.
Under Powell’s watch, the Ryder Cup grew in stature, children of PGA members realized dreams of higher education through scholarships; and he helped launch what became today’s PGA Golf Properties.
“A friend and mentor to many through the years, Powell helped promote PGA members as premier coaches and leaders in the business of golf,” Richerson said. “We will miss him dearly and extend our sympathies to his wife, Diana, and family.”
Throughout his decades at the Golf Club of Indiana. Powell helped 30 PGA pros become PGA head professionals.
“I’m at the end of my career,” he said in 2008, “and I don’t think that I will be able to put in any more. But 30 is not bad.”
Powell was inducted into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame in 1986 and into the PGA of America Hall of Fame in 2005. At the PGA’s annual meeting in 2002, Powell was awarded the Legends of the PGA honor for his contributions to the association and the industry.
“I am probably the most blessed golf professional,” Powell said at the time, “as a member of the PGA.”
Services for Powell will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Nicklaus Children’s Healthcare Foundation.
