Joe Louis Barrow Jr., was introduced to golf as a youngster in the early 1950s by his father, former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis.
“He absolutely loved the game,” Barrow said in a 2004 interview with the Seattle Times. “The private time I eventually had with my dad was on the golf course. It was where I learned about the fights with the German, Max Schmeling, where he asked me about my life.”
Not coincidentally, Barrow’s life these days revolves around golf. As the game was so important for him in building his relationship with his dad — and in so many other respects since — Barrow is now in the business of passing along golf’s values to today’s youngsters.
As chief executive officer of The First Tee, an organization he joined in 2000, Barrow focuses on teaching kids valuable life lessons while they have some fun playing golf.
“The First Tee impacts the lives of young people, allowing them to enjoy the game of golf and use the values the game teaches in their everyday lives,” Barrow said in a phone interview this week.
Barrow, 61, will be in Denver this weekend, further spreading the word about The First Tee. He’ll be the keynote speaker Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Colorado Golf Association’s 2009 Tee-Off Luncheon, held in conjunction with the Denver Golf Expo at the Denver Merchandise Mart.
Barrow is certainly no stranger to Denver, having lived in the area on and off between 1966 and 2000. He graduated from the University of Denver and worked at the United Bank of Denver and Wood Brothers Homes before getting into the golf business. He even served on the CGA’s board for a few years, and he remains a non-resident member of Denver Country Club to this day.
At the 1991 Jerry Ford Invitational in Vail, Barrow met T.J. Izzo, and the next year they joined forces to launch Izzo Systems, which featured a dual strap for golf bags to make carrying clubs more comfortable. Barrow was president of Izzo Systems until 2000, when he moved to Florida to head up The First Tee.
The First Tee teaches kids nine core values associated with the game of golf — honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment. Founded in 1997, the organization now includes 206 independent chapters in the U.S. and four internationally (Canada, Ireland, Singapore and New Zealand), and it’s had 2.9 million kids in the program over the years.
Four First Tee chapters are based in Colorado — Denver, Green Valley Ranch, Eagle County and Pueblo — and they serve seven courses. In October, Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver opened a $400,000, 2,300-square-foot learning center for The First Tee.
“We’re extremely pleased with The First Tee’s accomplishments” both in Colorado and elsewhere, Barrow said. “In 1997, when The First Tee was first announced, it was an idea and a dream and a concept. Now we have 206 chapters in the U.S. and four internationally. We’ve met if not exceeded expectations.”
One of The First Tee’s primary goals these days is building and expanding its National School Program, wherein physical education teachers are trained to teach kids the game of golf and The First Tee’s core values during P.E. classes in the course of the school year.
“Mostly, golf is an after-school program,” Barrow said. “But by teaching it within, all the kids receive exposure to The First Tee. It’s very exciting.”
The National School Program reaches 2,600 elementary schools and hopes to expand to 4,000 by the end of next year. A total of 121 schools in Colorado — in Denver, Douglas County, Colorado Springs and Pueblo — currently participate in the program,
“We’re finally moving golf and the curriculum to where the young people are,” Barrow said.
