Several golfing greats have been honored with induction into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame – John Ward and Jim Roy, Ginnie Allen and Billy Gerber, Mike Bello, Augie Nordone and Emmett Kelly.  All of them dedicated their lives to the great game, but no golfer has given back to the game and the community the way Joe Tesori has.  As a matter of fact, Joe has won the Kelly Masters, the Nordone Masters, and the Bello Masters.

 

Long before he became a popular and busy teaching and club pro, Joe had a pretty good mentor himself – his wonderful father, Charlie.  Joe kept learning and honing his skills while attending Union Endicott High School in the southern tier, and then at LeMoyne College, followed by a Masters Program in Recreational Education at Cortland State.  He received his PGA status in 1974. 

 

He was a PGA Pro of the Year in both 1995 and 2004.  He co-founded the Young Linksters as well as our local Golf Expo.  He has competed in PGA Tour events in both the United States and abroad, was named Central New York PGA Teacher of the Year in 1986, and has been a Post Standard columnist and a popular radio talk show guest.

 

As a teaching pro, Joe figures that he has taught about 30 thousand lessons.

 

And his contributions to the community are also numerous:  coaching LeMoyne College golf, Jamesville DeWitt girls varsity golf, and JD football; officiating high school basketball and working with Big East basketball officials as an observer.  He has been a volunteer at Francis House and was named CNY Catholic Charities Man of the Year in 2010.

 

Joe’s club professional career was launched in Marathon, New York and has taken him to Ponte Vedra, Florida, to IBM in Johnson City, to Onondaga in Fayetteville, then on to Drumlins where he was the head pro for 26 years, followed by two years at Lafayette as the head pro, and now to his present stop at The Pompey Club.

 

So there you have it…a lot of life, a lot of living, a lot of giving.