College Golf Writer Balicki Succumbs to Cancer


Ron Balicki, a senior writer for Golfweek, died of cancer Tuesday at his home in Mount Ida, Ark. He would have turned 66 on April 6.

After joining the magazine's early days in 1983, Balicki covered everything from Ryder Cups, Open Championships and U.S. Opens to women's state amateur tournaments. But he made his mark in college and amateur golf. For many of those years he was one of the few, if not the only, reporters who wrote about collegiate golf and its young up-and-coming players.

Among the many budding stars he covered were Davis Love III, Scott Verplank, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Ryan Moore and Rickie Fowler, who all enjoyed considerable college success before moving on to the PGA Tour.

Balicki won several national and state awards, including the Golf Writers Association of America's Best Column in 1998 for a piece on Scottish amateur Barclay Howard.

Jeff Babineau, Balicki's colleague and close friend, wrote in his March 26 article: "Phil Mickelson called (Balicki) from Doral a few weeks ago to thank Ron for his integrity. When amateur Rickie Fowler decided that he was turning pro in 2009, he stopped (in a) mid-practice round and made the one call he knew he needed to make, phoning Balicki."

(For Babineau's full story, visit http://golfweek.com/news/2014/mar/26/ron-balicki-dies-65-tribute-jeff-babineau.)

In recognition of his pioneering work, college coaches, in 2010, inducted Balicki as the first non-coach into the Golf Coaches Association of America's Hall of Fame.

Mike Holder, the men's golf coach who won eight national championships at Oklahoma State, told Babineau he admired the passion Balicki brought to the college game. "He worked hard to tell the world about the great things happening in college golf," said Holder, now the athletic director at OSU, "and he made countless friends in the process. He made all of us look forward to each issue of Golfweek to find out what was happening in our sport."

Balicki was nicknamed "Wrong Ron" for his errant football picks as a newspaper writer and editor in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., in the 1970s and early '80s. The moniker stayed with him in golf as well, and he embraced it.

"I remember at the (2010) U.S. Amateur, I knew they called him 'Wrong Ron,' so I kidded him: I asked Ron to please pick David Chung (in the final)," Peter Uihlein told Babineau. "He laughed. But he did."

Uihlein defeated Chung at Chambers Bay in the 36-hole championship match, 4 and 2. "There will only be one 'Wrong Ron,' Uihlein said Tuesday as he was preparing to play in this week's Valero Texas Open. "He was one of a kind."

Balicki is survived by his wife of 32 years, Debbie; brother, Walter Balicki; and six cats and six dogs.

In lieu of flowers, those wishing to remember Ron Balicki can make a donation to one of the following organizations: the nonprofit Warm Hearts Humane Society, Inc., P.O. Box 535, Mount Ida, AR 71957 (www.warmheartshumanesociety.com); Boys & Girls Clubs of America (www.bgca.org); or The First Tee (www.thefirsttee.org).