Warren J. Rebholz Distinguished Service Award Winners

Warren J. Rebholz Distinguished Service Award Winners

The Warren J. Rebholz Distinguished Service Award was created in 1994 to honor individuals who through their actions have exemplified the spirit of the game at its highest level. Recipients have made a substantial contribution to the game either in Minnesota or on a national or international level, and may come from any golf-related area or discipline.

Affectionately Known as “Rebbie”, Warren Rebholz was arguably the most influential person in amateur golf in Minnesota for more than 40 years, working tirelessly to “promote the game” well before this became the mission of the golf community at large.

He established the reputation of the MGA as one of the premier state golf associations in the country with the strongest membership, the finest tournaments and the best people, and was influential locally and nationally in many areas of the game as both an administrator and a volunteer.

Rebbie was president of the MGA in 1970-71, MGA Executive Director from 1972-92, served on four USGA Committees during that time including the Rules of Golf, and volunteered the MGA to pilot the adoption of the USGA Course Rating System in 1984. 

And while he was inducted into the MN Golf Hall of Fame in 1991, arguably his signature achievement was returning to the MGA in 1996 and successfully launching the MGA Senior Tour. Today, that program is the largest of its kind in the country. 

Cheryl B. Schneider

Neither the numerous caddie-scholar graduates of the University of Minnesota Evans Scholars chapter house, nor the members, guests and tournament spectators who have tread the grounds of Hazeltine National Golf Club (HNGC) would be surprised by the MGA bestowing her with its highest service honor, the MGA Warren J. Rebholz Distinguished Service Award.  

As chair of HNGC’s Equal Access committee in the mid 1980s, Cheryl was instrumental in enabling women equal membership “rights” with their male counterparts. This not only expanded equity access for women at HNGC, but also equitable access for women at many golf clubs in the Twin Cities and beyond. Cheryl would become the first female chair of HNGC’s golf committee and eventually the first woman elected president of the club in 1992-1993. 

Since 1991 when her time on the MGA Board of Directors came to an end, she has remained an active alumni director serving on the Centennial Gala Committee, on the Evans Scholar Committee, on the MGA Merger Committee (with the MWGA and MWPGA), and she has been a steadfast tournament volunteer to the present day. 

In 2003, Cheryl was elected a director of the Western Golf Association whose Evans Scholars Program has been the beneficiary of her prodigious energy and can-do spirit. She has participated on the Evans Caddie Committee, served as general chair of the annual Chick Evans 7 Club Fundraiser, from 2004 to present, and served on the 1916-2016 Chick Evans Century Gala Committee. 

In the words of one of Cheryl’s nominating recommendations, “she has been a volunteer for the game of golf” for nearly four decades, and truly embodies the spirit of the Warren J. Rebholz Distinguished Service Award

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