Henry Oelhafen is the 2025 Ron Balicki Scholarship Recipient
NORMAN, Okla. - The GCAA announced today that Henry Oelhafen is the recipient of the 2025 Ron Balicki Scholarship. The Human and Organizational Development junior minoring in English at Vanderbilt University will receive a $5,000 grant.
“I am thrilled to have received the 2025 Ron Balicki Scholarship,” said Oelhafen. “I have dedicated my college career to sports journalism, and this is a melding of two of my greatest passions, college golf and journalism.”
A student with a 3.97 cumulative GPA who has made the Peabody College’s Dean's List every semester, Oelhafen has published over 120 articles on over eight sports for The Vanderbilt Hustler, the Vanderbilt University student newspaper. The Raleigh, North Carolina native has been with the newspaper since his freshman year (2022) and has sported titles that included Sports Copy Editor (Spring 2024) and Deputy Sports Editor (2024-25). Oelhafen will be the Sports Editor for the 2025-26 school year.
42 of those articles have been around Vanderbilt Golf. Oelhafen exclusively covered the men’s and women’s golf teams during his freshman and sophomore years, writing features and tournament recaps and completing live coverage at select tournaments.
“Having covered extensively on the Vanderbilt Men’s and Women’s Golf teams for the past three seasons, it is incredibly satisfying to achieve such a distinguished honor and place my name amongst some incredible past recipients,” the 21-year-old said. “This scholarship is a fantastic accomplishment for me, and I am proud to carry on the legacy of Ron Balicki.”
As a United States Golf Association (USGA) Pathways Intern last summer, Oelhafen took part in a 10-day educational experience held at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club during the 2024 U.S. Open. He networked with a variety of USGA staff members, including President Fred Perpall and CEO Mike Whan, and learned how young leaders can grow the game of golf by prioritizing equity and accessibility.
With his intern class, Oelhafen had the opportunity to meet with several NBC Sports executives to network and learn more about the broadcasting space.
“I immersed myself in all of the USGA’s departments but fell in love with the USGA Communications and Media staff,” said Oelhafen. “Their impact is so far-reaching at every USGA Championship and their dedication to storytelling is admirable. Not only were their jobs fascinating, I saw a real career possibility within that sector of the golf industry.”
Oelhafen was a Marketing Intern for Vanderbilt Athletics during his freshman year, working numerous athletic events promoting corporate partnerships and other marketing initiatives. He is a member of the Vanderbilt Sports Business Club and Vanderbilt Club Tennis and was a secretary of Vanderbilt Club Golf. While attending Harrow School in London, England, Oelhafen received multiple essay prizes for his work, and he participated in the Yale Young Global Scholars program.
“It was wonderful to get the call from Denny Glass that I had received the 2025 Ron Balicki Scholarship! This is the culmination of a lot of hard work the past few years during my time with Vanderbilt’s student newspaper. It’s amazing to be recognized for my dedication to storytelling and golf.”
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 Writers 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 Writers 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 Golf Coaches Association of America 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. Truly one of the kindest men one could ever meet, Ron is greatly missed.
The first Ron Balicki Scholarship was awarded for the Spring 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.
Past winners of the Ron Balicki Scholarship include Ben Parris (Arizona State University), Carson Racich (Florida Gulf Coast University), Alex Gelman (Arizona State University), Cade Tjomsland (Palm Beach Atlantic University), Brayden Conover (University of Oklahoma), Tracy Peyton (Palm Beach Atlantic University), and Hendry.
Any college/university student at the undergraduate or graduate level or high school journalist may apply for consideration. A recipient is only eligible to receive the Ron Balicki scholarship once during their college career.