Heritage Series: Noel Jablonski

Throughout the months of April and May, BGSUFalcons.com will be highlighting some of the men and women who have impacted the University, the community and the athletics department. From pioneers to more recent members of the campus community, Matt Markey will be providing the stories of our history. In our second installment, Noel Jablonski talks about her career in women's golf.

The month of April is open nomination month for the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame. To nominate an individual or team for inclusion, please CLICK HERE.

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There were those long road trips, with four or five young women and all of their golf clubs, bags and other gear crammed into the car, and the coach driving them to tournaments in Illinois or Indiana.

There was school work that had to be completed while en route, or in between the practice time or rounds of golf at each stop. There were stays in motels, and meals whenever and wherever they could grab them. And once, in order for Noel Jablonski and a teammate to play in a tournament in Minnesota, their coach had to finagle the funds for that trip out of a connection in the English Department.

Tough times? Difficult circumstances?

Not hardly, as Jablonski remembers it.

"It was great fun and we were having the time of our lives," the 1972 BGSU graduate said. "We would just pile into that big old car that our coach, Dolores Black, had and away we would go."

Jablonski, now a teaching professional in Virginia, said it was a very different time, before Title IX began to level the playing field for women in college athletics, but the women who played for BGSU did not let that diminish their experience.

"There wasn't any recruiting or scholarships or anything like that – it was just us girls and our coach, and those road trips were a hoot," she said. "We had to manage our schoolwork and our time, cooperate with each other, and really encourage each other along the way. We developed great friendships, and we just figured it all out."

Jablonski came to Bowling Green from the Cleveland suburb of Parma. Her older sister had attended BGSU, so Jablonski had developed a familiarity with the campus that made her college decision pretty simple.

"I felt comfortable there, so I knew I was going to BG early in my senior year in high school," she said. "It was only two hours from home, I knew some people who went to school there, and some of them were playing on the women's golf team."

The next step was connecting Jablonski with Coach Black, who led the Falcon women's team from 1969-76.

"I could play golf pretty well before I got there, so one of the women on the team made sure I got hooked up with Dolores Black," said Jablonski, who remains in touch with her former college coach more than four decades later.

"She did everything – she was the coach, the trainer, advisor, and big sister -- and she went to great lengths to make it work for us," Jablonski said. "If you needed something, she would be there for you. She was much more than just a golf coach."

Jablonski majored in English and secondary education, and after receiving her BGSU degree she went to work teaching at a business school in Columbus. She soon moved out of the classroom and into a management position and before long was running a number of schools, and based in the Washington, D.C. area.

Jablonski eventually began work on a Master's degree at George Mason University, and while attending there she started teaching golf lessons at the invitation of a friend. While Jablonski was working at a public course in Fairfax County, she and a business partner formed a company that contracted with the county to give lessons at its courses.

"I guess I grew from being an English teacher, to teaching golf," she said. "I've been doing this for more than 20 years now, so I guess it has worked out ok."

Jablonski is co-owner of Every Body Golf School, the head professional at Oak Marr Golf Complex, a member of the LPGA, and she has twice been named the top golf teacher in Virginia.

"I work with all ages and all skill levels," Jablonski said. "The philosophy I follow is that everybody can play golf, but not everybody does it the same way. There is no strict format you have to follow with this game -- they just have to figure out how to make the club meet the ball."

Jablonski works a lot with people with disabilities and seated golfers, and said she gets real joy from helping them get introduced to the game she loves. She also volunteers with Special Olympics, coaching golf, of course.

"I still get excited to teach. It's a game that you enjoy so much, and you just want to share that with others," said Jablonski, who will give 50 lessons a week during the busy summer season. "Everybody is different, so what works for one, won't necessarily work for the next person, so the challenge of figuring that out is fun for me."

After two recent hip replacements, Jablonski said her playing time has been limited, but she expects to get in more rounds this season. In the meantime, the teaching has never stopped.

"The most rewarding part of it for me is I really enjoy seeing a person when the light bulb goes on," she said. "The first time they hit it in the center of the club and the ball goes the right way -- that is fun. Then they want to do it again.

"Getting a person started in the game and seeing them succeed -- that is still a joy for me."

Her busy instruction schedule does not allow her to get back to Bowling Green very often, but she marvels at the changes that have taken place at her alma mater.

"What a difference between then and now, in terms of the BG I knew when I was in college," she said.

"My niece graduated from Bowling Green, and while she was there she worked in the food court. When I was in school, we didn't have a food court! But the campus environment was fun when I was there, and I don't think that aspect has changed. I'm sure it's still a welcoming place."
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