Nick Ragone--Golf With Jay Delsing

This is golf with Jay Delsingh. A two-time college All-American at UCLA. A participant in nearly 700 PGA Tour events. Seven professional wins to his credit. Over 30 years of professional golf experience. This is Golf with Jay Delsingh. highlights of my life and I don't know that it can get any better than that. It's only downhill for me from here, Jay. Well, first of all, you're a great fisherman, but you're a grandpa, you're an author, you're a business owner.

I know you've got your consulting business right now and you're doing well with that. But I appreciate you being on the show. Folks, we formatted the show like a round of golf.

The first segment is called the On the Range segment brought to you by our friends at TaylorMade Golf. Send me an email. Jay at JayDelsinghGolf.com. Get entered for a free dozen TP5 golf balls. We forgot to mention, Pearl, last week I'm going to do it right now.

Colin Luft won the golf balls last week and this week it looks like Joey Patterson is our winner. That's such a great program on your show. I'm so glad you're doing that.

People have really enjoyed it. Great product and I think that adds a lot to what we've got going on here. What else is impressive is Bob and Kathy Donahue at Donahue Painting and Refinishing.

314-805-2132. They can help you with the inside or the outside of your house. They're professional. They're great people.

You'll love them. 314-805-2132. All right, Pearl. We've got Nick Ragon. He is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Ascension.

Can't say enough about Ascension. Earlier, oh gosh, probably now a week or so ago, they just sent Justin Leonard to our team as a new ambassador for the brand and the tournament. I can't wait to talk to Nick because I know he's going to have some other cool things to talk about that only got to benefit golf, the North County area and the tournament that we all love. Jay, what do you see changing from this time a year ago when it was their first time around to this new effort? What do you see in different? How are they handling things and you guys handling things different to even shine it up more or now that you've got the one year under your belt, what's changing behind the scenes that people might appreciate? You know how it is when you're still trying to kick off that inaugural event.

There's still a lot of question marks in your head. How is it going to be received? What's the product going to look like? Well, last year just put everybody at ease because the product was fantastic. It was really, really super well received and now it's going to be, now we've got a nice foundation. Let's build on it. So, you know, you get Jack Nicklaus there, you get Tom Watson there. This year, I know they're going to have Lee Trevino, Nancy Lopez and some other great champions.

More of the community will be involved this year over last and it's really impressive. I love that Nancy Lopez is getting involved. Have you ever played around her, Jay, or get the chance to play with her or spend any time around her? I did. Just delightful. Yes, I did.

I got to play nine holes with her. Well, let's do the tip of the cap. The tip of the cap is brought to you by my friends Colin Berndt and the Dean Team Volkswagen of Kirkwood. 314-966-0303 is Colin's number.

If you need to get in touch with him personally, reach out to me, Jay, at jdelsongolf.com. I will make the intro myself. Here's our tip of the cap. We're going techy. And, you know, pro, you and I are about as techy as we're not tech. That's all there is to it. Are you saying ticky tacky?

What are you talking about? We're not techy. We're not that either. We're going to the tech side of the world.

We are saluting. We're tipping our cap to those engineers, those scientists, all of those people that are continuing to improve. They continue to innovate and they continue to break through barriers to try to help make golf better, more fun, better equipment, and they are doing it, bro. They really are doing it. One of the things that we can say about us, we lived through this incredible tech revolution, John, from the way we grew up to where it is now.

It's gone light years, light years. It's amazing. I'm not sure if I lived through it or lived during it. I think that would be more accurate for me. Absolutely.

Absolutely. So that's the tip of the cap, folks. Keep doing that. We appreciate you and we appreciate Colin Burt and his team over at the Dean team, Volkswagen of Kirkwood, 314-966-0303. Thank you so much, Colin. Pearl, that's going to wrap up the On The Range segment, but don't go anywhere. Folks, we will be back for the front nine. This is Golf with Jay Delson. On The Range with Jay Delson is brought to you by TaylorMade. This is Golf with Jay Delson.

The front nine is coming up. Folks, do you need a new car, truck, or SUV? Then the Dean team of Kirkwood is the place for you to go. 314-966-0303 and go see Colin Burt. He just got me into a new SUV and I love it.

Boy, did they make the experience painless and super, super easy. Most dealers don't have any cars in their lots, but at Dean team of Kirkwood, Colin has an entire parking lot full of new and used cars. You don't want a VW?

That's no problem. They have Audis, BMWs, Mercedes, anything you want. Colin and the Dean team of Kirkwood will go get it if they don't have it. Call them at 314-966-0303 or go to DeanTeamVWKirkwood.com. The Dean team for all your car buying needs. Powers Insurance is a family owned agency right here in St. Louis that specializes in providing personalized coverage for the client who has a lot going on. At Powers, they understand that you and your life do not fit in a simple box.

So guess what? Neither should your insurance coverage. Go to PowersInsurance.com or call 314-725-1414 and ask for Tim Davis. That's PowersInsurance.com. You're listening to Golf with Jay Delsing. For golf tips, news on the latest equipment, and everything golf.

Log on to Golf with JayDelsing.com. The front nine is coming up. I want to tell you about my friends and longtime supporters of this show, Marcon. Yes, they are incredible community stewards.

Yes, they are the largest distributors of GE appliance parts in North America. What you don't know, they are spearheading, led by owner Anne St. Louis and Jim Sowers, a new service dog program with and in conjunction with David Farity and the 24-7 Battle Buddy Program. Jim and Marcon are ensuring that a minimum of two service dogs a year will get partnered with a veteran hero in need. These dogs are expertly trained, connected with their veteran master, and then magic starts to happen.

These dogs are retrained to meet the specific needs of their warrior and to help them successfully navigate everyday life. You can learn more on Facebook at Troops First 24-7 Battle Buddies or reach out to me at Jay at JayDelsingGolf.com and I will fill you in on more of this program. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. The front nine is presented by the Ascension Charity Classic, September 5th through the 11th at Norwood Hills Country Club.

For tickets, AscensionCharityClassic.com. Hey, welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host, Jay.

I've got brother with me. We are headed to the front nine. It's brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic, September 5th through 11th, Norwood Hills, North County St. Louis. Come see the best players in the world, the over 50 crowd, and don't forget about the Advocate PGA Tour event that's at Clineco that week.

North County will be where it's at. All right, folks. We are going to my interview with Nick Cragone.

He is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer with Ascension and the pioneer of the Ascension Charity Classic. Let's talk a little bit about your love of the game. I want to shed some light on some of the things that you guys do, your beautiful wife, Tia, and the community things, but let's start. You genuinely love the game. How did you get involved in the game? Take us back to growing up in New York.

Sure. I am a transplant to St. Louis. I've been here now eight years exactly, and so I consider this home.

My wife and kids, we consider this home. Prior to taking this job, I've been a lifelong East Coaster. I grew up in Yonkers, New York, Westchester County, and played high school golf. To me, Jay, some of the best courses on the planet are in Westchester. You've got Wing Foot, Sleepy Hollow, Quaker Ridge, Old Oak, Century, Metropolis.

You've got Shinnecock on the Island, and Ball to Stroll. Being in that environment, playing high school golf and being able to play some of those courses in high school, we had the Westchester Classic, which I know you've played in. The manufacturer's hand over Westchester Classic. Every year, I got to be a standard bearer in that, which was a treat for a kid who plays golf, 10, 11, 12 years old, to be inside the ropes.

I remember I had Watson one year, had Freddie, had Mark O'Meara. Jack played in 86, had the privilege of seeing Jack up close. Greg Norman, Seve, who won it a couple times. Seeing the game inside the ropes and being up close to it and seeing the community impact. The manufacturer's hand over was a great tournament at historic Westchester Country Club. Seeing the business model up close, even though I was only a teenager then, seeing how the PGA Tour put on an event and the impact it would make every year on hundreds of charities.

That's kind of what always stuck with me. We all grew up going to, especially New York, professional sports games. I was a Mets fan, now I'm a Cards fan, for the record.

Going to Ranger games and Knicks games. Professional sports are great, but the leagues are set up differently. PGA Tour is the most compelling league on the planet, sports league, because their business model is literally transforming communities. I always think of the golf as secondary, and I certainly think that now. Growing up in that and having an appreciation for the way the Tour, one week a year, changes a community for the other 51 weeks, and then seeing Greg golf up close.

For any of us that have been touched by the PGA Tour earlier in our lives, it stays with you forever. Nick, I try to tell people, you could go to Westchester County, you could get a group of buddies, and go up for three solid weeks, 21 days, play a different golf course every day and go, I don't know man, I think that was better than the one I play. I mean, you talk about century old, there's also Canoe Brook, there's the Westchester, the East and West course there, and besides that, it's absolutely stunning.

I mean, it's beautiful. There are old historic courses, some of the oldest in the country. A lot of them were designed before you could move earth, and so they're cut out of the land. Some of the great architects from Tillinghast made an impact there. All the great architects go through Westchester County. And Westchester Country Club, by the way, is one. It could easily have held an open.

Every year, 8-under would win, 9-under, 10-under. But to my thinking, the best concentration of great historic courses are in that area. Obviously, I grew up in that area. And I just think there's something special when golf impacts a community.

And we're seeing it here now in North County, too, what we're trying to do with the Charity Classic. But I always, people say, oh, Florida has the best courses. Florida has the most courses. They don't have the best courses, man.

They don't have the best courses. In my mind, go through the tri-state area. You mentioned Canoe Brook. There's so many great courses in northern Jersey. And then Shinnecock and National right across the street from it. It's really, and then you've got Liberty National now, which Tiana and I lived off the 14th hole at Liberty National for about six years before we moved out here. So I know that area well. And it's just, it's pretty amazing.

So, Nick, take us to a little bit of the life before St. Louis. So, because one of the things that I want the listeners to know about is that folks like you, we probably grew up so similarly and love in sports. And then you become this business person. And you're mixing the business that you know so well with a game that you love. And it's helping others.

I mean, how did that kind of transform? I mean, I know you said the PGA Tour, but this is game-changing stuff for our North County area. Yeah, it really is. You know, I took this job as chief marketing officer eight years ago at Ascension and didn't really know much about St. Louis. You know, Tiana and I were happily living on the East Coast our entire lives. And it's a Catholic health care system. I came out here and visited and Sister Marie McGuire, who's, ironically, she's going to win the Catholic Health Assembly Lifetime Achievement Award in a couple of weeks.

She – I met with the team and I interviewed with her right before I was supposed to go to the airport. And it was supposed to be five minutes. And it turned into 45 minutes. And by the end of it, I knew that, you know, I was called to be a part of Ascension and be in the St. Louis community. And it was really one of those epiphany moments. And moving out here with, you know, at the time, our kids were, I think, in third and fifth grade.

They were young. And they fell in love with the zoo and Grant's Farm and City Museum and all the things that we have to offer here. And I've become a brand ambassador at TN2 for St. Louis because we're lifelong East Coasters. And now this is home. You know, we've settled deep roots here. I think I serve on nine boards.

TN serves on Mary Grove's board. And we're never leaving. Our kids love it here. We love it here. There's something really special, not just about the Midwest, but in particular St. Louis.

I've never seen a community take such pride in being part of a community. And I will tell you, just learning through the Charity Classic, there's two immutable facts about St. Louis. One is we punch over our weight when it comes to being the best sports fans in the world. And we punch over our weight when it comes to charitable giving. I think per capita there's no more charitable community than St. Louis in the country.

And I don't think there's a more engaged sports community. You know, I was watching ESPN the other night when they miked up Harrison Bader. And he said it. And he's a New Yorker, too.

And he said this is the best sports town in the country. And I think those two things, at least for the Charity Classic and our vision, came together in a way to help North St. Louis County in particular. And it was kind of a perfect storm of great things, of charitable giving, of sports enthusiasm, and of giving back to a community that needs it. And I think that's what makes it so special. Oh, my gosh. So, Nick, take us through the process of how the Charity Classic came about.

Because I know that you guys, first of all, how about Ascension? They're headquartered here and are just a pillar of the community in giving and the charitable amounts of money that you guys deliver to folks who can't afford treatments and things like that. It's in the billions of dollars every year. And people don't even know it. And now, through the Charity Classic and through your work and the work of Steve Spratt and the rest of your team, people are starting to take notice. Yeah.

It's interesting. When I started eight years ago and I'd tell people in town I work for Ascension, they would always say, is that BJC or SSM or Mercy? And I would say, no, we're the second largest system in the world, really, the largest Catholic system. We're headquartered here. We have about 1,500 associates, but we don't have any hospitals here.

And I'd get that kind of quizzical look, like, okay, why are you headquartered here if you don't have hospitals here? So I started eight years ago rebranding our whole system. We were kind of a confederation of hospital systems across the country that carried different names, like St. Vincent, St. Thomas, and Seton. And so we started the process of calling them Ascension Seat and Ascension St. Thomas.

And it was a long process. It's been hugely successful, the largest ever rebranding in the healthcare space. And I'm really proud of the way it's gone, and it's kind of elevated our brand to a national level. And as we started finishing that work, I said to my team, we need to now find signature brand moments that help for a national audience really express the Ascension brand. And then I started thinking about kind of putting some type of live event in North County to show the rest of the country how special we are and doing it with a partner that gives back and doing it in a way that really expresses the Ascension brand nationally. You know, Steve Spratt and I, my colleague, had an epiphany after the PGA at Bell Reeve.

It was so successful that, you know, we know the PGA tour. We work with them in other markets of ours through Korn Ferry and some of their events. Their model is all about giving back and transforming communities. We don't have any care sites, as you mentioned, in St. Louis. But our mission, capital M, literally says to serve underserved communities.

So while we don't have care sites here, we can invest in the community. And it was one of those lightbulb moments where it was like, let's create a long-term special event in North St. Louis County that grows and grows and grows and gives back all the proceeds to charities in North St. Louis County that focus on at-risk youth, in this case the Mary Grove Boys and Girls Club and Urban League. And it's one of those ideas, Jay, rarely in life do you have something that's sort of in your head and it plays out even better than the way you imagined it, but that's the way the Charity Classic has evolved. Oh my gosh, it's so fun to be a small part of it. When I think about the pandemic, Nick, and I think about having the meetings and how excited I personally was because it was almost like there's no way you could check more personal boxes for me than what you have done here with North County, with Norwood, with St. Louis and golf. But the very first year, something extraordinary happened. I've said this before on the show, we're going to say it again. The pandemic happened. We sat in meetings. I remember being disappointed with you. We could not get the thing off the ground in 2020.

But what does Ascension do? You guys give $75,000 to each one of our charitable associates, our charitable organizations, without even hitting a shot. Never happened in the history of the PGA Tour. Yeah, you know, it was disappointing that we couldn't play in 2020, but it was the right call. This is pre-vaccine and we just felt like it was the right call. But we stayed true to our commitment.

I'll tell you, you're right. We gave $225,000 back to the Urban League, Boys and Girls Club, and Mary Grove. And that wouldn't be possible but for Emerson and worldwide. I will say this area is so blessed to have some of the most engaged corporate citizens in the world, really. You look at Worldwide, you look at Emerson, you look at Ameren and Centene and Edward Jones, all the amazing companies that are headquartered here that giving back is in their DNA. And so during the height of COVID, Emerson came on as our presenting sponsor, which is a huge commitment, as you know, to have the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson. It's sort of indicated to the community this was real, this was long-term, this was serious, we want all of you involved, and then immediately Worldwide coming on board. And so having those two anchor tenants as partners with us allowed us to give back money before a shot was hit in the history of the tournament.

I know you checked with the tour. That's never been done before. So I'm really proud that one of the things we've done is give back before the tournament even started. And it also, I think it gave us momentum going into last year when we actually got to play, having Emerson and Worldwide on board and then being able to reach out more of the corporate partners. And the community seeing that we were serious about our commitment of giving back, even without playing a tournament, giving back to those charities, I think it gave us momentum into last year. And the story I always use is the first two years of selling this, as you know, you were part of the core team from the beginning, it was like pushing a boulder uphill, really trying to explain the vision of, we're putting professional golf in North St. Louis County at Norwood, we're creating an annual event, we expect the best players in the world to come out, the corporate citizens to come out and create something special.

You got a lot of kind of knowing nods, but are you really able to do this? And then after the event, it's like pushing that same boulder, but downhill. Everybody sees it and the momentum, and now they want to be a part of it, and we're thrilled by that. And I think it's all about St. Louis coming and rallying behind great things for St. Louis. Nick, I mean, so as we've recapped the first year, you think about, you guys had the great Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson play with Ozzy Smith and Craig Brube. I mean, I don't know if you could have picked four more popular people to play. And just in my personal view, I don't know how we could have done better the first year. I could have played a hell of a lot better, but we're not going to talk about that. The fact that David Toms won the championship, the fact that so many people turned out, you had to be so proud. I personally was so proud of what we did in year one. You know, it was amazing.

The week was a blur. We couldn't have done anything better. I mean, even the weather cooperated. The parking was amazing, just getting in and out.

I heard from so many people it was so convenient. The record attendance for an inaugural event, I mean, it was packed. It felt like you played in 600 plus PGA Tour events. You know what it's like to be in a PGA Tour event. To a person, they all said this felt more like a PGA Tour event. In fact, David Toms said that through his tears on the Golf Channel doing his interview, overwhelmed with emotion, said this felt like a PGA Tour event.

So there's literally the only thing we could continue to prove on is just making it bigger and better. But the week to me was pretty much a blur. I was doing a lot of things. The only thing I remember, and I've told you and others the story, was you hitting that first shot. I made a point of coming out. It was early on Friday.

I think it was 8 a.m. or right around then. We did a ceremonial first tee shot with a couple of our partners from the Boys and Girls Club, a couple of the kids. And I stayed around and I couldn't make eye contact with you because I didn't want to freak you out.

I was already freaked out. You were paired with two of your college buddies, Pater and Corey Pavin, which was special. The tour is an amazing partner. We may have whispered to the tour, we'd love it if you hit the first shot, and they complied with that and they're great partners.

They paired you with two of your friends. It was a special moment. The first shot in the history tournament hit by you. I was so nervous. I couldn't look you in the eye, but you piped it. It was flushed down the middle and I thought, this is going to be a good week.

That's literally the only thing I remember from the week. It's a good one. Nick, I've been nervous on the golf course before, but never to that level. I literally had my eyes welling and getting to play in front of my family and my daughters.

Oh my gosh, it was just fantastic. Let's move on to year two. I know how special year two is going to be with this advocate PGA, Doherty Business Solutions, great corporate citizen.

Let's talk about that a little bit. Year one, you said it right though. It played out better in reality than it did in my dreams, and that's saying a lot. Year two, after the event, we celebrated that evening. I said to the team, let's take a couple weeks off and then let's come back at it.

10 a.m. the next morning, I'm texting Steve Spratt and Tim Heitman and Alonzo Bird with 20 ideas, so I gave two hours off. I said, let's think about year two, but we have to lean into it in a way that it's not just we got more fans in year two. We gave back more.

We had more hospitality. It's like, that'll happen, and it's already happened. We've exceeded our numbers from last year already and we're four months out, so that's happened. I said, but that's not enough. We need to lean into the piece that really caught the imagination of the Golf Channel, which gave us eight hours of live coverage.

It was a love note to St. Louis for eight hours. And many of the corporate partners was the idea that we were putting this tournament with intentionality in North St. Louis County to help make golf more diverse and inclusive and to help our community. And so we started thinking about how can we lean into that? Because it's one thing to say you want golf to be more diverse and inclusive. But the reality is, right now on the PGA Tour, I think there's three African-American golfers with status. Cameron Champ, Harold Varner, and I think Tiger are the only three. In the 70s, a little bit before your time, and even into the 80s, there were more African-American golfers on tour because there was way more caddy programs and there was actually more developmental opportunities through that.

And something happened along the way. Even with Tiger winning the Masters in 97, it hasn't really improved anything at the professional elite level. And so I think the APGA has been around for about ten years, struggling to really gain traction. And in the last 18 months, they've gotten farmers and some other big partners that are coming on board. So we looked at that and said, you know what? We can't just say we want to improve the game and make it more diverse and inclusive.

We have to invest in it. We quickly realized let's put an event at Glen Echo, the APGA Advocates Professional Golf Association, and make it a marquee event for those players. It's really a developmental tour at this point. So that week, under the Charity Classic umbrella, we're celebrating the Charity Classic and the now Ascension APGA Classic presented by Doherty, and Ron Doherty is a great partner, and they're really investing in a program called Access Point North County to give more opportunity to the community. And we had a press conference, which you were at in February announcing the Ascension APGA Classic. And I'll never forget, we had Ken Bentley, who's the commissioner of the tour, out there. And we had a packed room on a rainy, snowy Friday, 150 people, all the media. And I think it was Ben Frederickson of the Post was interviewing Ken, and I overheard him. He said, so you must do a lot of these press conferences when you announce tournaments.

And he goes, in 13 years, we've never done one. And I was thinking to myself, welcome to St. Louis, Ken. You don't know what you're in for because it was a packed – I mean, it was bigger than our announcement on October 8th of 2020 when we announced – or 2019 when we announced the tournament which you were at.

So that shows you how much energy we've created. And I really think that this event, the APGA event, paired with the Charity Classic is going to help. My goal is, in a couple years, for the APGA to be a truly developmental tour. And I will break some exciting news, but we worldwide, as a partner of ours, they also obviously have a PGA Tour event at Mayakoba, which is one of the great events. And I announced the other day with Jim Cavanaugh, the CEO of Worldwide, that our winner at our APGA event Classic, which will be held at Glen Echo the week of the Charity Classic, will get a sponsor's exemption into their tournament, into the PGA Tour worldwide, which is – you know this. Getting starts on the PGA Tour is a game changer for somebody who's aspiring to be on the tour. And Worldwide is a leader when it comes to sports and diversity. If you look at what they're doing, they're sponsoring Harold Varner now. We look at NASCAR and some of the other things. And for them to step up and do that, it made what was already going to be a great event, now a truly special event.

Because that winner is going to get a chance to tee up against the best in the world. And you know this, you catch lightning in a bottle. That's a life-changing moment for somebody. And so we're just beyond thrilled that Worldwide is going to partner with us in this way. And we want this to be – you know, the way the Charity Classic has quickly become an elite event on the Champions Tour, we want the APGA Classic to be the same. Nick, it speaks so much about – not that Worldwide wouldn't have come up with some of this stuff on their own, but every once – you know, someone needs to be the first guy down the path. You know what I mean?

The fact that you guys were the first guy down the path and then Emerson comes along, as you said, right in the middle of a pandemic and then right behind him, Jim Cavanagh, Worldwide. And now they do this. I mean, these doors need to be open. They need – they have been open, as you said, more so than they are now. But they need to get open.

We need everybody involved. That's the way the game of golf grows. You know, people just assumed following Tiger's win in 97 that the game would explode and become more diverse and inclusive.

But that hasn't really been the case because there's still a lot of barriers to entry. And, you know, one of the things that the charity classes are doing is investing in the redevelopment in Normandy. And, you know, all credit to Tom O'Toole and Beyond Housing and their leadership team for taking that land and saying, we've got to keep this as a golf course.

We've got to keep it in the community. And most importantly, we've got to keep it affordable, right? You know, golf is an expensive sport. It has a lot of barriers to entry and having access to great public courses like Normandy, historic courses where it stays in the community and it stays affordable where you can go and play 18 holes for a reasonable price is really, really critical. And if you think about now North County, we have Normandy, which is, you know, Jack Nicklaus is redesigning it so that it's going to be an elite course.

Norwood, which has held majors. Ben Hogan won there in 48 at the PGA. It had a PGA Tour event in the 70s.

And Glen Echo, which held the Olympics. You have three historic courses within a couple of miles of each other. And now you have an elite PGA Tour champions event, an elite APG event. And we're hoping at Normandy we have our qualifying rounds for the charity classic, the Monday qualifier.

You know a lot about qualifiers. And we hold our APG event there in a couple of years as well. And so just think about how in a couple of short years the narrative around North County through sports, through golf, which isn't known as the most accessible sport, has really taken hold and changed. And I think now it's a model for the country. If you look at what Eastlake is doing with urban revitalization and the tour, I think we're doing that, too. But I think we're taking it to the next level by really focusing on two events and now investing in Normandy.

And I think the community appreciates it. Oh, and one thing that you said, Nick, that's critical is that golf course needs to be handy. It needs to be community bound. It needs to be in walking distance because whether or not, first of all, getting these boys and girls, young kids the opportunity is one thing. Making it accessible where they can throw a set of clubs on their back and ride their bike like I did when I was a kid, that's a really big deal. It is. And, you know, there's not enough opportunity to be able to do that in a really cost-effective way.

And I think a lot of good, well-intentioned organizations now are focused and leaning in on that. Like I said, I think and having Jack Nicklaus's name attached to it makes it special. You know, Jack, you mentioned earlier Jack was kicked off our inaugural event and having Jack and Tom Watson, but the greatest of all time, he came to our Legends launch last summer and then he played and he doesn't play much anymore.

You know, he didn't play in the par three tournament at the Masters this year. St. Louis and saw maybe one of the last public competitive rounds for Jack. And it was special. You know, I was following that group. I know you were busy playing, but I was following Jack and Tom and Ozzie Berube.

We had, conservatively speaking, 8,000 people following that group, which, you know, that's amazing to think that many people came out. And they, you know, obviously they love Berube and Ozzie, but to be able to see one of the last, you know, public competitive rounds by Jack. And by the way, this year we're working on our Legends piece. And I can tell you we have Lee Trevino and Nancy Lopez lined up who are two of the greatest ambassadors in the history of golf. And, you know, Lee Trevino personally, he is one of the great ambassadors and entertainers.

And so he's going to be a lot of fun. And Nancy, to me, you know, I grew up when she was becoming a dominant player and she was the face of golf along with Watson and Seve. I always thought of her in that pantheon of, you know, not just great women's player on the LPGA Tour, but one of the great brand ambassadors in the history of the game.

I don't know that, you know, anybody has represented our sport better in the last 50 years than Nancy. And I'll tell you something really cool. When we reached out to both of them about joining us in year two, A, they knew what we were doing and were thrilled. And B, they both mentioned, you know, I want to be engaged on your APGA tournament.

I thought that was really cool for them to say, we want we we see they're following us and we see what you're doing and we want to lean into that piece, too. And then, you know, one of our legends will be Hale Irwin. And then we have Ozzie and Berube coming back. So last year we had two on two. This year it's going to be three on three. And then we have one legend, TBD. I can't say who it is yet, but we're pretty close to securing a big time athlete outside of golf, which I think will be very cool.

And so we're just really, really blessed that that among the buzz, I know you hear this from your friends on tour getting texts and email. Even this year, you know, the commitment's already for the field. Justin Leonard is already committed. He's going to be one of our brand ambassadors, our rookie class, David Duvall be out there.

And so we're just excited that all this momentum is going to lead to something special again in year two. This is Golf with Jay Delsing, and I'm visiting with Nick Ragon, who's a chief marketing and communications officer at Ascension. Nick, talk as we wrap this up, talk a little bit about you kind of mentioned just off the cuff about what you and Tien are doing for the community. But when the Ragon's get their teeth into something, they go deep and you guys are your fingerprints are all across this city.

And from starting a chess program to the first tee, you said Tien, I think, was with Mary Grove on the board of Mary Grove. And the list goes on and on. I mean, talk a little bit about how important because all this stuff is great. But I mean, it's it's community means so much to you guys. It really does. And what makes St. Louis special is when we moved out here eight years ago, we were both, you know, Tien is she's from Malaysia, but she's been in New York her whole life, really, since 20.

I'm a New Yorker when I when we said we're moving out here, people said it's a great town, but it's a little bit insular. And you have to really sort of crack the code to become part of the fabric of the community. And and I think what they meant by that is you have to give yourself to the community and it'll give back. And and we quickly got involved. You know, most of the organizations that serve youth, Tien with Mary Grove, which does you know, if you go up there, they truly do the Lord's work, taking care of abused and disadvantaged children. And I got involved with a bunch of organizations, including the chess club. And they do an amazing job of creating something special here, creating a program called Your Move Chess, which really funds after school chess in Ferguson, Florissant and other school districts in the in the community.

And since then, you know, we've grown in our engagement first tea and I'm on the board of the Boys and Girls Club. But it's really about, you know, giving making yourself available and giving back and not just with your your resources, but with your time and your heart, your energy and your soul. And at the end of the day, that's what makes St. Louis St. Louis.

Right. People love it and they come back to it. And it's so special because the idea of giving back is woven into the fabric, the DNA of the community. And it's it's a really special place. And sometimes it takes an outsider like myself or Tien. You know, I talk about it all the time to third and fourth generation St. Louisans, and they sort of lose sight of that a little bit because they've been here so long.

And sometimes they see some of the the fissures and cracks, but I see the opportunity and I see the specialness. And I've lived in New York and we lived in D.C. for a couple of years. And there's no better place in the country to raise a family and to call home than St. Louis. And and we're not leaving. Man, we are glad for it.

We appreciate all you did. And this is kind of off off the cuff here. But I watched you give some of these presentation speeches and everything. You got any sort of political aspirations? I like I like talking about the community. I like I like giving back. I like being engaged. I like making difference. I love St. Louis.

It's so funny. My whole family is still in New York. Some are migrating to Florida.

Tien's family is in New York and some are migrating to Florida. And they always ask us. And I said, we're not we're not leaving St. Louis. We love it here.

Our roots are deep. In fact, my son, he's just graduated at my CDS and he's off to University of Chicago in the fall. And he said he apropos nothing is kind of 17 year olds or want. He said, are you going to sell our house someday? And I said, well, I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead.

And he goes, well, don't. I'm coming back here after I graduate. I want to work here and live here in St. Louis. And I want to stay in our house. I thought, well, you're gonna have to buy it from me.

I'm not giving it to you. But B, I thought it was just really interesting that and my daughter feels the same way. After they go to college, they want to come back to St. Louis and settle down roots. And they both went to community school and now they go to my CDS and they want their kids to do the same. And I thought, man, there's no greater affirmation to a community than when teenagers have already decided they're coming back. Nick, thanks so much, my friend. Thanks for joining me today. Please keep doing what you're doing for the community, for golf and for all of the folks in need. Thank you, Jay. Keep hitting them straight, buddy. All right. That's going to wrap up the front nine.

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Hey, welcome back. This is the Golf with Jay Delsing show. I'm your host, Jay Delsing. I've got John Prilas with me.

And guys, we are headed to the Back Nine. It's brought to you by Pro-Am Golf. 314-647-8054.

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Ask for the Delsing discount. It's going to help you so much. John, we are going right now to Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney and the Folds of Honor program. We're going to give a little shout out to those guys. I am sitting down this morning with Neil and Chad Rackers. Guys, good morning and thanks for joining me. Good morning, Jay. Thanks for having us. Good morning, Jay. Yeah, guys, so the Wounded Blue, we've got the North County boys here.

We've got this great charity that we want to talk about. Neil, this phenomenal 12-year career in the NFL, Pro Bowl selection, first team All-Pro. First of all, Neil, I've got to say congratulations for representing the North County, the St. Louis area, the state of Missouri. You went to University of Illinois, played all sorts of sports. But, man, what a great career you had. Oh, Jay, I appreciate that. I'll just tell you that nobody had more fun than I did.

And at this point, I cared so much and nobody misses it less than I do either. I loved it and it ran its course and it was an honor to get to represent all the guys I grew up playing sports with. Yeah, what a great athlete, too. Two-time state soccer title at Aquinas and getting drafted in the 16th. You've got to just tell us, Neil, what was it like to get drafted in the NFL, something that none of us are ever going to experience? What was great for me is I didn't think it was even a possibility, even at the end of my senior year. I wasn't one of those guys that was highly touted and had all these great numbers going in.

But I kind of hit my stride right at the end of my senior year. So it was nice to have Pat Leahy work with me on a consistent basis. And I'll tell you how the world works. When you treat someone well and you listen to them and you respect them, Pat's last special teams coach with the Jets was the guy that drafted me. And his last head coach with the Jets was Bruce Coslet, who was the head coach that drafted me. So that'll tell you how when you treat people well, how things can work out. And so I was pretty lucky in that sense. And that's given my start. So in answer to your question, getting drafted was really excited and exciting and unexpected. So it was kind of fun to take it from there and end up with a good career.

Gosh, congratulations on that. Chad, let's talk a little bit about the Wounded Blue. This is really a cool charity and a foundation that you guys are involved in that we need to tell the folks about in St. Louis here. The Wounded Blue was, it originated out of Las Vegas with a guy by the name of Randy Sutton. Randy was a lieutenant with the Las Vegas PD. He had a stroke on duty and lost his career pretty much overnight.

And he founded the Wounded Blue. I was in an accident off duty on my way home from work. And it ended my career pretty much that day. And the feeling of being abandoned and being alone and losing your identity without nothing that you can control was horrible. And when he and I met, both of us, it took to a very, very dark place.

And it's a very abandoned, very alone feeling. Randy wanted to start an organization that where no officer has to be abandoned or alone, regardless of how they got hurt, what happened, whether they were assaulted, whatever it may be. We really wanted to take a proactive approach to officers' mental and physical health and just do everything we can to lessen our suicide rates to a lot of the different things that police officers are experiencing right now.

I just can't even imagine having life without you guys, the sacrifices, the things that you do. I love the SEAL strategy that you guys employ. It's support, education, assistance, and then legislation.

And that is such a thorough kind of motto, isn't it, Chad? We want to be kind of like almost a one-stop shop. If an officer is struggling, all they have to do is make a phone call, send us an email, and we will tailor our responses individually to exactly what that officer needs. We're big believers in peer support. This isn't a situation where we're trying to make money for certain therapists or anything like that. It's we train other officers how to help their own, how to kind of bridge that gap. Because when we get hurt and the career goes, sometimes there's a huge lapse in the workman's comp or insurance or whatever.

And it can be scary when you think you're going to lose your house, you're going to lose the ability to support your family. We just try to be a one-stop shop where if you call our number, we will have the resources to make sure that everything we can do to make the situation more manageable can be done. Some of the partners that you guys have, Camp Heroes, Serve and Protect, Mutts with Missions, Warriors Rest Foundation, the Hero Hunt, there's a lot of ways for people to help and get involved. Not only this golf tournament, folks, June 3rd is the fundraising golf event at Bear Creek Golf Club.

It's a 1 p.m. shotgun. You've got to sign up. Go to woundedblue.org. But Chad, how about some of the partners that you guys have? It's just a really great organization. There's great people all over the country.

I got a phone call from a gentleman. He lost his career. He lived up in the Northeast. He's disabled now, but he builds the wooden flags, the custom-made wooden flags with the Thin Blue Line and such.

He donated some things for the golf tournament. We've got Code 3 Spices out of, I believe, Belleville is where they're primarily at. They're just great organizations all over the place. We're not designed to be a stand-alone.

We don't want to be the end-all, be-all. We want to partner with anybody who wants to work with law enforcement, be helpful to law enforcement. There's virtually nobody that, if they've got good intent and they want to be involved, we will find a way to get them involved. So, it's woundedblue.org.

We've got Chad and Neil Rackert on the line here today. Neil, it's awesome that you're getting involved in this and also trying to bring some recognition to our fallen that really need our help. Absolutely. One of the reasons I really wanted to get involved is Rachel, my wife and I, during our playing days, we always did a lot, mostly around the holidays, with the kids of fallen police officers. When I heard about the Wounded Blue, we do a lot for the families of fallen police officers, but we don't necessarily look out for the families and the officers that go through disabilities.

I've seen it firsthand with my brother, with some of his co-workers. So, it's just something I'm pretty passionate about and always supported law enforcement my whole career and will always continue to do so. And we will, too. We'll talk it up on the show. Guys, thank you so much for joining us. Chad, best of luck as you continue to push this and I'm just delighted to have you on the show. And, Neil, we've got to get out and whack it around somewhere along the line.

It would be a lot of fun. Jay, always great talking to you. We appreciate you having us on. Yeah, we appreciate you, brother. Alright, that's Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney Pearl. I love that guy.

Hold your comments. I know you're jumping at the bit to talk about American Dunes and the Patriot Golf Day. We're going to catch that on the Michelob Ultra 19th hole.

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The 19th hole is presented by Michelob Ultra. Hey, folks. Golf with Jay Delsing is back. I'm Jay Pearl. He's with me. We're headed to the Michelob Ultra 19th hole.

Pearl, go ahead, open one. So we have Nick Rigone and Lieutenant Dan Rooney. First of all, Nick Rigone. This guy, his vision for the tournament, along with Steve Spratt. These guys are just incredible. They continue to develop the event.

They continue to bring great names and associations with the event, with North County, raising money for these charities. I know I'm honking it, but I love it. I just can't get enough. He's special, and I know you're going to mention a little bit about what you're looking forward to this year and the field. What do we know about the field to this point, Jay? And what's the one thing that's going to be a little different this year? Well, we're going to have David Duvall. I think we're going to get Steve Stricker, and I know we're going to get Justin Leonard. So it's just nice, Pearl, to get some of the younger blood as the guys turn 50 and then come to St. Louis. And you're going to get Ernie Els. You're going to get Jim Furyk.

You're going to get those guys again. Who the hell knows what Phil will be doing? Nobody knows what Phil will be doing. But it'd be something if Phil was here in St. Louis playing at the Ascension Charity Classic in September.

That would be awesome. As I'm biased, obviously, because of the opportunities that I've had to play Norwood Hills with you, I just like that golf course. It's just such a solid, Midwest, straightforward test. I just think it's great. And I've got to believe through the years the guys are just going to appreciate it more and more and more. It's like a lot of things. You've got to get to have a little bit of comfort with it.

You've got to get used to a couple of the greens. But I think it's going to be a place that they enjoy coming for a long time and that they really pump up so that it encourages other guys to come because of the way they had the experience they had. Oh, absolutely.

I mean, Pearl, Ascension did so many of the little things so well last year. The food, the food for the caddies. We've got this really cool... One of the sponsors of our show is Marcon, and Jim Sowers is a great friend.

First of all, Jim Sowers is a great guy, but he is a patriot. And, Pearl, what Marcon is doing at the Ascension Charity Classic is providing a seating area for our military, our first responders, and our backstoppers. A dedicated area for those men and women who have served our country that have been first responders. That's the sort of stuff you're going to see that's new at the Ascension Charity Classic. We're going to have more skyboxes and more cabanas and more people involved. Each year it will get better and better, and I just can't wait. Well, that stuff brings the next level of energy to the facility, and it's fun going in there. I got to watch through the years TPC Scottsdale grow up and blow up, and it just brought so much energy.

There was so much energy last year at Ascension Classic. This year, if they're going to do more of that, it's going to even be better, so I'm looking forward to it. I just want to make sure I'm caddying. I don't mind if I'm sitting under a tree watching it, having a few ultras either, but I wouldn't mind caddying.

So hopefully you can get that done, for crying out loud. So what Ascension's doing this year, guys, is they're going to give one of us an exemption. So both of us go over to the qualifier on the Monday prior.

Whoever shoots the lowest score gets in, and I think it's an incredibly fair way to do it. I said, I mean, I haven't beaten anybody in 10, 12 years, Jen. And I called Jay Williamson and I said, what do you think? And he goes, I don't know.

I go, here's what I think. I'm not afraid of you. I said, you haven't beaten anybody in five years. And I said, you sure as hell shouldn't be afraid of me, because I haven't beaten anybody in 10. Well, whose idea was this?

I think this is a great idea. Oh, yeah, I think it was Nick. It was Nick and Steve's. I mean, all the great ideas for Ascension are coming out of those two desks over there. You'd think that these two guys don't have other top executive jobs and things to do, man.

It's amazing, and they just keep coming up and they keep, you know, they support it down at such a good level. First of all, having Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, I mean, what needs to be said about that? But who are the two guys from the community they get? Ozzie and Craig Berube.

You know, Coach Berube is so beloved up here, taking the worst team in the NHL all the way to the Stanley Cup and winning the Stanley Cup in 2019. But that's just the kind, that's just the way that Ascension rolls. That's what they're doing. And I mean, you could say what you want.

You could say, Delsing, you're honking this. You're part of this. But I'm not making up the money that they give to the North County area. I'm not making up the fact that they're now part of the Advocate PGA Tour and they're kicking off this special series. I'm not making up the fact that Dougherty Business Solutions is going to be coming on our show and also supporting this effort as a presenting sponsor. They did all that stuff.

So you can say, yeah, why are you talking? This is real stuff. I'm not making it up. I'm going to keep honking it. I think it's great. Well, it's a big impact to the community and it's an awful lot of fun for sure. So Dan Rooney, Patriot Golf Day is coming up.

I think it's May 30th this year. They do a great job raising money all across the country for education for our fallen heroes families. And Dan's just a great guy. Pearl, you went up to American Dunes. I played at Jay and it was a lot of fun.

It was a little early as far as it growing in. I said to the guys I was playing with, I said, this is great. It's fun. It's enjoyable. It's an experience. But I said, guys, we've got to come back every year or at least if we come back in two or three years, we're going to have even a completely even more so experience. I actually got to listen to Mr. Nicholas not too long ago talk about building that golf course.

And Jay, they talk about renovating. They turned a wooded tight golf course into a dunes with some trees experience. It's just a completely different feel and things you wouldn't you wouldn't expect. They also did it at a time when COVID was rampant and other things. So it was a tough time to get some of the things completed. They wanted to get completed. I think if you go up there with the understanding that it's going to be a different experience that you've ever had, if you get some understanding of what it took to build this facility and what it takes for it to grow in, the pride of the people around the golf course and how it's changed that community. It's just kind of a win on top of a win on top of a win. And it definitely should be a bucket list.

And again, a great example. It's not that far away to go up there. Folks, support the Patriot Golf Day. There'll be buckets on first tees. There'll be containers. There'll be opportunities for you to to go ahead and and support this thing. So please be generous.

I love the statement to freedom isn't free. So many men and women have fought sacrifice so so much. You and I are doing a damn radio show because of some of the stuff they've done. Pearl is just fantastic.

Just really appreciate that. I'm looking forward to getting up there. And playing the Patriot Dunes.

Pearl, that's going to wrap up another show. Love it, Jay. It's a lot of fun. Thank you.

And great stuff about American Dunes. And Noonan, Colonel Dan Rooney, keep doing what you do. We're going to support you on the show as much as we can. We love it. Folks, we will talk to you next week.

This is Golf with Jay Delson. Hit it straight, St. Louis. Hey, do you like wine? Have you heard about the hottest new wine bar in St. Louis? It's called Wild Crush Wine Bar and it's located in town and country on Clayton Road just behind the strops. Have you ever experienced self-dispensing wine machines?

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