Jack Nance served the Carolinas Golf Association for more than four decades, including 33 years as Executive Director, establishing the CGA as one of the most respected and largest golf associations in the United States.
Nance grew up in Clinton, N.C., alongside his twin brother and three sisters. His parents, John and Dot Nance, built a house just off the first fairway at Coharie Country Club in 1960, and golf became a constant in the family’s life. Jack went on to play for legendary coach Jesse Haddock at Wake Forest University, helping the Demon Deacons finish 10th at the 1982 NCAA Championships at Pinehurst No. 2. He also qualified for the 1980 U.S. Amateur as a player.
After graduating in 1982, Nance spent a year as an assistant coach under Haddock before joining the Carolinas Golf Association in January 1984. He worked in communications, course rating, rules and competitions before being named Executive Director in January 1992.
Under his leadership, the CGA grew from a small regional office with a handful of staff into a 21-employee organization with a $9.1 million budget, more than 700 member clubs and over 200,000 golfers across the Carolinas. Nance’s vision was instrumental in constructing the Carolinas Golf House in Southern Pines, which opened in 2014 and gave the association a permanent, centrally located home in the region it serves.
Beyond his work at the CGA, Nance officiated at more than 30 USGA championships, served on many USGA committees, and served as President of the International Association of Golf Administrators. He supported numerous initiatives to advance women’s, junior and adaptive golf throughout his career.
Colleagues and peers consistently point to Nance’s steady, even-keeled leadership as his defining trait. He is widely regarded as a mentor and ambassador who elevated everyone and everything he touched, building lasting relationships throughout the golf community and mentoring the staff who now carry the CGA forward, including his successor, Andy Priest.
Nance officially retired from the CGA in April 2025, upon his 65th birthday, leaving as his legacy one of the nation’s most visible and healthy regional golf associations. He remains involved with the CGA as a volunteer and consultant on select competitions and projects.
Nance lives in Pinehurst with his wife of 36 years, DeAnn. They have two daughters and four grandchildren. He remains active in his church, assists with the local high school golf team and continues to find ways to give back to the community and the game that has been both his career and lifelong passion.
For more than three decades, Jay N. Fox has made an enduring impact on golf in Arkansas and beyond through a career distinguished by leadership, service, and an accomplished playing record.
Fox served as Executive Director of the Arkansas State Golf Association (ASGA) from 1990 until his retirement in 2024. During his tenure, the association’s championship schedule grew from six events to 30, membership reached an all-time high of nearly 20,000, and its scholarship program expanded from four annual recipients to as many as 20. He was also instrumental in developing the ASGA’s partnership with Simmons Bank and establishing the Simmons Bank Cup.
Fox joined the International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA) in 1991 and was elected to its Board of Directors in 2007, serving as Secretary, Treasurer and Vice President before becoming IAGA President in 2014. His service extended to the USGA, where he earned expert status in the Rules of Golf in 1993 and served on rules committees for more than 25 national championships. In 2014, he received the USGA’s Ike Grainger Award in recognition of 25 years of volunteer service.
His accomplishments as a player are equally distinguished. Fox won two Arkansas high school individual state championships and, in 1977, was named the Arkansas Gazette’s Outstanding Male High School Golfer. That same year, he earned National High School All-American honors after finishing 13th in the national championship. Fox went on to earn ASGA Player of the Year honors twice and was runner-up for the honor two additional times. Over his amateur career, he won more than 50 individual tournaments in Arkansas and participated in seven USGA National Championships. He also qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship twice.
Among his IAGA peers, Fox won the IAGA Championship nine times and finished runner-up four times over a 20-year period. Internationally, he earned both team and individual runner-up honors at the 1998 International Amateur Team Championship in Lima, Peru.
Fox earned both his BSE and MSE degrees from the University of Central Arkansas and was the first golfer inducted into the UCA Sports Hall of Fame. An endowed scholarship established by his family awards the Jay N. Fox Golf Scholarship to one UCA golfer each year. Fox was also inducted into the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame and Arkansas Officials Association Hall of Fame.
Throughout his career, Fox’s commitment has extended beyond his own accomplishments to the future of the game. In a 2002 newspaper interview, he reflected that he hoped his legacy would not simply be his success as an amateur player, but the difference he made in the lives of those who play the game, especially junior golfers.
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