Skip to main content

The Official Website of the Golf Coaches Association of America

 
   

JR

Alex Gelman is the 2022 Ron Balicki Scholarship Recipient

NORMAN, Okla. - The GCAA announced today that Alex Gelman is the recipient of the 2022 Ron Balicki Scholarship. The sports journalism sophomore at Arizona State will receive a $5,000 grant.

Gelman has combined his passions for golf and broadcasting during his time in Tempe. He currently travels with the nationally-ranked Sun Devils Men’s Golf program as their official broadcaster. He is a P.J. Boatwright Intern with the USGA and Arizona Golf Association (AGA), where he has worked two Patriot All-America Invitationals. He received media credentials for the 2022 Waste Management Phoenix Open, has created his own media network, AG Sports Network, and is a John T. Reis Media Intern with the GCAA.

“This past year has changed my life,” Gelman said. “I used to only cover basketball and football games, and although I am very passionate about these two sports, I never felt like I fit in. With golf, I’m home. I now know that I want to cover the sport of golf as a professional, and it is an honor to represent Ron Balicki’s name.”

Past winners of the Ron Balicki Scholarship include Luke Hendry (University of Texas), Tracy Peyton (Palm Beach Atlantic University), Brayden Conover (University of Oklahoma), and Cade Tjomsland (Palm Beach Atlantic University).

About the Ron Balicki Scholarship

The Ron Balicki Scholarship for aspiring golf journalists is dedicated to the memory of Ron Balicki for his lifelong commitment to covering the game of golf.

Few individuals have done more to bring exposure to college golf than Balicki. Since practically inventing the college golf beat while at Golfweek in 1983, Balicki became part of the fabric of the college and amateur game. He covered his first golf tournament in 1980 while with the Florida Daily News. He won first-place and third-place in Golf Coaches Association of America writing contests and won four first-place and numerous honorable mention awards with the International Network of Golf. Balicki also won three first-place awards from the Texas Golf Writers Association. He was a winner of the Golf Writer’s Association of America Jimmy D’Angelo Award and the Northwest Florida Sports Association Al Byrne Award, both of which are presented to a person for contributions, devotion, and service to the organization and the community.

A 2010 inductee into the GCAA Hall of Fame, Balicki covered every NCAA Championship dating back to 1985 and every GCAA National Convention since its inception until 2013, when the cancer that claimed his life prevented him from traveling. Dubbed "Wrong Ron" for his propensity to incorrectly pick the winner of the NCAA Championships and playfully teased for his uncanny ability to bring the rain with him to events he covered, Balicki was truly fond of the sport and people he covered and was loved back by the players, coaches and everyone involved with college golf. One of the kindest men one could ever meet, Ron is greatly missed.

The first Ron Balicki Scholarship was awarded for the spring of 2018 semester with a $2,500 grant awarded to Luke Hendry from the University of Texas. A $5,000 grant ($2,500 per semester) has been awarded since the 2018-19 academic year. Any college/university student at the undergraduate or graduate level or high school journalist may apply for consideration. A Ron Balicki recipient is only eligible to receive a scholarship one time during his/her college career.