National Volunteer Week Spotlights: Rita Tallini and George Baker
It takes hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours of support to ensure the success of the TOUR Championship. Since 1998, the TOUR Championship has donated over $29 million to charity, both locally and nationwide. It is with our volunteer support and effort that we are able to give so much back to charity, the heart of the PGA TOUR.
During National Volunteer Week, we would like to take the opportunity to recognize the impact of not only our entire volunteer base, but two individuals who have gone above-and-beyond to make the TOUR Championship a success. On behalf of the entire staff at the TOUR Championship and East Lake Golf Club, we sincerely appreciate all of the time and effort contributed by the those in our great community.
2019 Billy Payne Volunteer of the Yeard Award recipient, Rita Tallini
Q: Give us a little background on who you are and how long you’ve been involved with the event.
I am not an outstanding volunteer. There are countless other volunteers whose contributions far exceed mine, especially the volunteer chairmen with whom I have worked: Virginia Lane, Hoyt Smith, Charlie Bloodworth, Bob Wood, John Vail and Steve Carlin, to name just a few. My only claim to fame is having been at all the tournaments held at East Lake Golf Club, except the first in 1998.
Q: What is your role in the tournament?
I started as a Marshal on hole No. 9 – now No. 18 – a par 5 and the most beautiful hole on the course. What a wonderful introduction to East Lake. It’s easy to understand why it was made the finishing hole in 2016. Once the nines were switched, the new finishing hole designation meant a new hole chairman. And as much as we loved the old No. 9, we appreciated the leadership of our hole chairman more, and every marshal from No. 9 choose to follow our hole captain, Bob Wood, to our new hole, No. 10.
In 2005, my husband began volunteering for the Hospitality Logistics Team and I would join him before and after my marshalling shifts. There were two years that my schedule conflicted with the tournament dates and I could not volunteer as a marshal, but I was able to help Hospitality Logistics because they work not only during the tournament, but also the days leading up to tournament week.
Q: What is your favorite memory from volunteering at the TOUR Championship?
To name a few:
- Virginia Lane being selected as the 2009 PGA TOUR Volunteer of the Year.
- Charlie Bloodworth – as I recall, was the first hole chairman to select women to be marshals.
- Tiger Woods’ out-of-bounds ball landing 3 inches in front of my foot.
- The Volunteer Tent when Darlene’s Team prepared made-to-order breakfasts and lunches; the energy of the volunteers in the tent.
Q: What does it mean to you to be able to give back to the community?
The daughter of a volunteer on the Hospitality Logistics Committee volunteered as a standard bearer. She was also a participant in the First Tee Program. She is now attending college on a golf scholarship. The downstream benefits of our volunteer efforts, beyond the joy and thrills experienced by the tournament spectators, volunteers and players exceed our knowledge and imagination.
Q: What did it mean to you to receive the Billy Payne Volunteer of the Year award last year?
I was shocked to be selected and honored to be associated with Billy Payne, whom I was lucky enough to meet several times during the early tournaments. Many people do not know how important Billy Payne was in bringing the 1996 Olympics and the FedExCup to Atlanta.
The Billy Payne Volunteer of the Year Award was created in 2004 to recognize an outstanding TOUR Championship volunteer each year. The award is named after Billy Payne in recognition for the work he accomplished for the TOUR Championship and the Atlanta community.
Mr. Payne was General Chairman of the TOUR Championship in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. He was also the inaugural recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award which was presented to him during the Greenside Chat in 2004. The award will be given to the volunteer that best displays Mr. Payne's qualities which include leadership, service, hard work, humility, camaraderie, respect for people, love of the game and desire to enhance local community. The Volunteer of the Year winner will be announced at the Volunteer Appreciation party the following year and the winner will receive a replica of the Bobby Jones Calamity Jane Putter.
2019 Tom Cousins Leadership Award recipient, George Baker
Q: Give us a little background on who you are and how long you’ve been involved with the event.
I am a retired construction engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers. I began working the tournament the first year in 1998 and have continued ever since. This will be my 20th year. The first year most of us were recruited from another tournament and many are still here.
Q: What is your role in the tournament?
I began working the tournament as a marshal on what is now hole 14. After a few years I took over as the hole captain and a few years after that was promoted to the back nine chairman. I was very fortunate to have basically the same crew coming back year after year. It made my jobs as a hole captain and back nine chairman relatively easy.
Q: What is your favorite memory from volunteering at the TOUR Championship?
I have a couple of favorite memories. The first is the stampede after Tiger won the tournament [in 2018]. I doubt we’ll ever see another like that. The second is Notah Begay’s parents making it a special point of stopping me to tell me how much their son and other golfers appreciated the work done by the volunteers. They said they, and Notah, wanted to let us know, that they didn’t always get a chance to tell us.
Q: What does it mean to you to be able to give back to the community?
It amazes me every time I see the changes in the surrounding area that has occurred over the last 20 years and that I was a small part of it. It was nothing like you see it today.
Q: What did it mean to you to receive the Tom Cousins Leadership Award last year?
When I look at what Mr. Cousins has accomplished and the opportunities he has provided for the neighborhood it makes me proud to be the recipient of the Tom Cousins Leadership Award.
The Tom Cousins Award was created in 2005 to recognize the outstanding leaders within the volunteer hierarchy. The award is named after Tom Cousins in recognition of the leadership he has demonstrated with the East Lake Foundation and in the Atlanta community.
Mr. Cousins is the visionary of the revitalization of the East Lake community through the East Lake Foundation and East Lake Golf Club. He was the inaugural recipient of the Leadership Award which was presented to him during the Greenside Chat in 2005.
The Tom Cousins Leadership Award was established to recognize an outstanding Committee Chairman each year who exemplifies the ideal team leader in terms of service to the tournament, an energetic spirit, perseverance, flexibility, hard work and who shows exceptional dedication to the tournament. The Leadership Award winner will be announced at the Volunteer Appreciation Party the following year and the winner will receive a special plaque which includes a replica of a headdress feather from a Native American sculpture which was presented to Mr. Cousins in 2005 and is on display in the clubhouse.