GCBAA to honor original membrer

The Golf Course Builders Association of America (GCBAA) is pleased to announce Jim Kirchdorfer, Sr., as its recipient of the prestigious Don A. Rossi Award.

One of the most distinguished leaders in the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe industry, Kirchdorfer is founder and chairman of Louisville, Ky.-based ISCO Industries, LLC, a pipe supplier and manufacturer of HDPE piping products.
 
“We are especially pleased to recognize Jim Kirchdorfer this year, being one of the association founding members and a major contributor to the golf construction industry,” said Justin Apel, GCBAA executive director.  “This award recognizes the level of his dedication to the industry and the sport, placing him along side prior Rossi Award recipients including Dr. James Beard, Robert Trent Jones, Gary Player, Brent Wadsworth and Doyle Jacklin.”
 
The Rossi award is given by the GCBAA to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the game of golf and its growth and who have inspired others by example. It is named for Don A. Rossi, who served as executive director of the National Golf Foundation from 1970 to 1983, was instrumental in forming the National Golf Course Owner’s Association and served as executive director of the GCBAA from 1984 to 1990.
 
Kirchdorfer has contributed to the golf industry for nearly 50 years. He founded Irrigation Supply Company (today known as ISCO Industries) and Kirchdorfer Irrigation Company in 1962. The companies teamed to install the first multi-row fairway automatic system at the Louisville (Ky.) Country Club in 1963 and Kirchdorfer was the first to install the multi-row irrigation using HDPE pipe throughout the entire system at Quail Chase Golf Club in Louisville in 1988. The practice is now an industry standard.
 
Kirchdorfer has received numerous industry awards during his career, including the Winfrey P. Bunton, II, Kentucky Turfgrass Man of the Year in 1998 from the Kentucky Turfgrass Council and the Perry Dye Service Award from the GCBAA in 2006. Also, while serving as vice president of Golf Development Construction, the company was named one of two Golf Course Builders of the Year by Golf Course News Magazine in 1999.
 
As one of the original and founding members of the GCBAA, Kirchdorfer served as president from 1994-1996 and was instrumental in developing and establishing a professional certification program for golf course builders, a program that has gained industry credibility and prestige. Kirchdorfer also served on the first board of directors of the GCBAA Foundation, the charitable arm of the GCBAA, and was a founding member and supporter of Sticks for Kids, which provides junior golf clubs and teaching materials to golf courses, municipalities and youth organizations to enable kids from all socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds the opportunity to play golf.
 
The award will be presented at the GCBAA’s winter meeting annual awards dinner being held Feb. 28, 2012, in Las Vegas, during the Golf Industry Show. Those interested in attending the presentation dinner for the Don A. Rossi Award can visit www.gcbaa.org and follow the “Winter Meeting” link, or contact the GCBAA executive office at 402-476-4444.