VETERAN
Parascenzo will be honored April 9, at the 36th Golf Writers Association of America
Annual Spring Dinner and Awards Ceremony at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion in
Augusta, Ga.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL. –
Marino Parascenzo of Ellwood City, Pa., whose six
decades of reporting – 37 years of which were spent with the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette – featured more than 60 of golf's major championships and many
of sport's pinnacle moments, has been named recipient of the 2008 PGA Lifetime
Achievement Award in Journalism. Parascenzo is the
19th individual to be selected.
Parascenzo, 77, will be honored April 9, at
the 36th Golf Writers Association of America Annual Spring Dinner and Awards
Ceremony at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion in
"It's an honor and a
delight that The PGA of America will present this award to Marino Parascenzo, a consummate professional in all respects and
someone who puts his heart and his soul into covering the game of golf,"
said PGA of America President Brian Whitcomb. "Marino has been a trusted
friend to PGA Professionals nationwide, and through those associations he has
transferred their passion into his own work. There are few in his profession
who can achieve such a fine balance."
"This is an award that
I can't figure out," said Parascenzo. "I
was doing something I loved. I just did it and I enjoyed every minute of it. I
look at those who have been honored before me, and I ask, 'What am I doing in
this company?' I know what they have meant to this game."
Born in
Parascenzo was introduced to golf coverage on
the local amateur level while with the Ellwood City Ledger. His first
professional event was the 1960 PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club in
"I went to watch
Arnold Palmer try to conquer the monster 16th," said Parascenzo.
"He made an eight instead, and Jay Hebert was the winner. I was so green;
I didn't even go into the press tent. I didn't know I was allowed."
In 1986, Parascenzo was named the 28th president of the Golf Writers
Association of America, making him the second journalist from the
Parascenzo, who has never shied from injecting
fun to supplement a story, once received the approval of then-U.S. Captain
Arnold Palmer to pose for a photo prior to the 1975 Ryder Cup at Laurel Valley
Golf Club in
Parascenzo said that he entered sportswriting by accident, when the sports editor of the Ellwood
City Ledger went to another job and stopped him in the middle of the street
to announce that he was the new sports editor.
"That moment has led
me to many wonderful times. Covering golf has been a great blessing. It is the
greatest of the games. The past generation of players understood the work of a
journalist. It has unfortunately evolved to where we are a nuisance. I think Arnie and Jack (Nicklaus) would
tell you the same thing."
Parascenzo said that the joy he finds in
covering golf is conveying to the public the game's difficulties even for the
most talented players.
"Writing about a won
or lost championship has never been my primary reason for being there,"
said Parascenzo. "I was always looking for the
story from a player's perspective that gave you a texture you could not get any
other way. At the 1987 British Open at Muirfield, I
wrote about Arnold Palmer making a 10 on a hole. A lot of us can make a 10, but
when Arnold Palmer makes a 10, that is a story. Palmer proved that he is human,
that nobody is perfect. The game is so crazy to begin with. And, the pros live
with that craziness. For golfers, it is the lifeblood of the game."
Parascenzo also is a prolific freelance
writer, in newspapers, magazines and now on the Internet. His freelance work
has taken him to the British Open and to other tournaments overseas – in
He is the winner of more
than 20 national writing awards, and
He is the founder and
chair of the Golf Writers Association of America Journalism Scholarship
Program, which through the contributions of The PGA of America, USGA and PGA
Tour, has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid to deserving college
journalism students nationwide.
Parascenzo cited Nicklaus's
victory in the 1986 Masters as perhaps his most exciting moment of his golf
writing career. But he was quick to add to the list "most any shot by Seve Ballesteros," because
he said, "it was an event" in helping readers understand how the
Spaniard "became a genius in returning to the fairway."
Parascenzo and his wife, Leona, live in
Ellwood City, Pa., and are the parents of a daughter, Marina.
The PGA Lifetime
Achievement Award in Journalism, first presented in 1989, honors members of the
media for their steadfast promotion of golf.
The award selection
committee is composed of representatives from The PGA of America, PGA Tour,
USGA, LPGA Tour, Champions Tour, European Tour, Augusta National Golf Club,
Golf Superintendents Association of America, National Golf Course Owners
Association, American Society of Golf Course Architects, the National Golf
Foundation and past recipients.
PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in
Journalism Recipients
1991 Dick Taylor
1992 Herbert Warren Wind
1993 Jim Murray
1994 Frank Chirkinian, Bob Green
1995 Dan Jenkins
1996 Furman Bisher
1997 Jack Whitaker
1998 Dave Anderson
1999 Ken Venturi
2000 Jim McKay
2001 Kaye Kessler
2002 Nick Seitz
2003 Renton Laidlaw
2004 Bob Verdi
2005 Al Barkow
2006 Ron Green Sr.
2007 Jack Berry
2008 Marino Parascenzo
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