PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Mary Bea Porter-King, a former LPGA Tour professional and one of the premier athletes in Arizona State University history, has been named the next Independent Director of The PGA of America.
Porter-King will be formally sworn in by delegates at The PGA of America’s 90th Annual Meeting, Nov. 13-19, at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island, S.C. Porter-King replaces Leslie Greis of Cambridge, Mass., whose three-year term concludes this fall.
The PGA of America’s Board of Directors is composed of the Association’s president, vice president, secretary, honorary president and 17 directors. The directors, who each serve three-year terms, are comprised of representatives from each of The PGA’s 14 districts, two independent directors and a member of the PGA Tour.
A resident of Lihue, Hawaii and a 1973 graduate of Arizona State University, Porter-King concluded her fifth year of service in February 2006 on the USGA Executive Committee. She continues to serve on the USGA Junior Championship and Regional Associations Committee, and is co-founder and president of the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association, and president of the Kauai Junior Golf Association.
Porter-King’s golf career spans from an amateur campaign that included medalist honors in the 1967 and 1968 Nebraska State Amateur, three Omaha City Championships (1967, ’68, ’70), All-America honors at Arizona State University, and being named Outstanding College Athlete of America. In recognition of her athletic achievements, Porter-King was inducted in 2001 into Arizona State University’s Sports Hall of Fame in four sports (golf, basketball, volleyball and softball.).
She was 1973 medalist in the LPGA Qualifying School, and won the 1973 LPGA Golf Inns of American Classic. She left the Tour from 1981 to 1986, and rejoined in 1987 and competed on tour until 1998. In 2001, Porter-King was awarded the LPGA Budget Service Award for her work in junior golf, and was inducted in 2004 into the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame.
Porter-King is married to Charlie King, and has a son, Joseph, 23.
In 1988, during a qualifying round in Phoenix, Ariz., for the former Standard Register Turquoise Classic, Porter-King noticed a boy drowning in a nearby swimming pool. She climbed a fence and administered CPR to save the life of three-year-old Jonathan Smucker.
As a result, the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association established the Mary Bea Porter Humanitarian Award to honor a heroic or humanitarian act that enhances human life. Porter-King was the first recipient of the award.
Celebrating its 90th anniversary, The PGA of America was founded in 1916, and is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the game of golf while continuing to enhance the standards of the profession. The Association is comprised of more than 28,000 men and women PGA Professionals who are dedicated to growing participation in the game of golf.
Contact:
Jamie Carbone
561/624-8446
jcarbone@pgahq.com
