DRIVING FOR CHANGE JOHN PARKER TEACHES CHARACTER THROUGH GOLF ASCEO OF FIRST TEE — SAVANNAH
To say John Parker (’06, ’08) has a big heart is an understatement. At seven feet tall — “six-foot-eleven-and-a-half,” he says in correction — he literally has a big heart.
But his heart for kids is even bigger. A Double Eagle graduate of Georgia Southern University, Parker earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education and spent 17 years teaching third grade in Bryan County schools.
After almost two decades in the classroom, Parker left teaching to become the CEO of First Tee — Savannah, a nonprofit organization teaching character education to kids through the sport of golf.
“I looked at it from the big picture,” he said. “I can impact a class full of students or I can have an impact on more than 17,000 kids, which is where we are now.”
Parker didn’t naturally gravitate toward golf. He was a basketball standout in high school. After years of playing, however, the physicality of the sport took its toll, and as he got older, he looked for other sports to fill the gap.
“I happened to move into a golf course community in Savannah and was like, ‘I’m living next to a golf course. I might as well try it,’” he said. “So I went out there and started playing and learned there are all these values associated with the game of golf, and it directly correlated with everything we teach the kids about character in school, like honesty, integrity, perseverance and respect.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to bring it to my classroom.’”
Parker built a raised putting green in the center of his class and taught kids about character as they learned to gently sink a putt. The class transformed into an after-school program, and before long, it was commanding all of his time and attention.
“I tend to push things to the next level,” he said, smiling. First Tee — Savannah found out about the work Parker was doing in his class, and invited him to become a part-time program director in 2021. He was appointed CEO in January 2024 and now runs all program and financial efforts of the organization.
Founded in 1997, First Tee has more than 150 chapters in the U.S. and abroad that bring junior golf programs to underserved communities. Like Parker, the organization is guided by the belief that sports can fill the “character gap” by teaching nine core values: honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment.
Kids come to First Tee — Savannah from as far away as Long and Jasper counties, and Parker has already expanded programs to South Bryan County, Liberty County and Bulloch County, which will begin this summer at the Georgia Southern Golf Course at University Park.
“First Tee as a whole sets [kids]
up with mentors for life.”
— John Parker, CEO of First Tee
The organization operates out of the many local golf courses throughout Chatham and surrounding counties. It also relies on mentors and volunteers to keep a six-to-one ratio of kids to adults, and sponsors to give kids equipment, clothes and shoes.
“The program is designed to set these kids up with a mentor, so our kids that graduate still stay in contact,” he said. “First Tee as a whole sets them up with mentors for life.”
First Tee alumni have become teachers, professionals, and even an aerospace engineer for NASA. Serving thousands of kids on a daily basis is a tough job, but Parker says it doesn’t feel like work. He’s seen firsthand the life-changing effect sports — and the lack of sports — can have on a child.
“[Before coming to Georgia], I grew up in a rougher area of Pittsburgh,” Parker said. “Golf was never something that was available for me. Sports in general weren’t available for me.
“I look at First Tee from the perspective of — anything I can do to give kids an opportunity that I didn’t have, that’s what I want to do.”
—Doy Cave