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Jim Nantz has a new calling in life.
On Friday, the longtime voice of CBS Sports for the PGA Tour and NFL was named the honorary chair of First Tee.
“I thought it was one of the ultimate ways I could give back to the game of golf,” said Nantz of First Tee, a youth development organization that enables kids to build character through the game of golf. “I say that from my 35,000-foot view. I’ll try to help that process of seeding the program, advancing the program and spreading the message of love and empowerment and building character and all the virtues that the game espouses that are aligned with what the First Tee’s initiative is. It’s not just about trying to create the next Tiger Woods or Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy as a player; it’s about life lessons and introducing the game to people and seeing that it can help them for a lifetime in all walks of life. I’ve been a big believer since 1997.”
That was the year then-PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem helped launch First Tee, which has grown into a network of 150 chapters and serves more than 3.1 million kids annually. The news comes as the youth development organization celebrates First Tee Week nationwide, a campaign to recognize coaches and their impact on participants and their communities.
Nantz, whose distinguished broadcasting career spans more than four decades, becomes the third honorary chair in First Tee’s history, following President George W. Bush (2011-2024) and President George H.W. Bush (1997-2010). As such, Nantz will help promote First Tee’s purpose and expand its reach to empower even more young people. It’s a role that should come as second nature for Nantz, who has spoken to chapters of First Tee across the country for 28 years.
“Never before in any official capacity until now,” he said. “To be asked to carry the legacy forward of the two who have filled this role, both of whom are very special people in my life both of whom served this country at the highest level – President Bush 41, President Bush 43 – so to be the third to walk in their footsteps, to carry it forward, to have their fingerprints on it, I hope I can make a difference as they have.”
Nantz knows first-hand from his own close relationship with the Bush family what being associated with First Tee meant to them. “He took this on and made it really important in his life,” Nantz said of George H.W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States. “When Bush 43 finished his second term, 41 suggested he take on the role. He saw the satisfaction it brought his father and he served the organization with distinction.”
When First Tee leadership discussed who should take the reins from President George W. Bush, No. 43, it didn’t have to think too hard. Bush 43 recommended Nantz for the job. When PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and First Tee Executive Director Greg McLaughlin reached out to Nantz, he said he thought they might ask him to speak at its national meeting. “Lo and behold, they dropped this on me,” Nantz said.
He asked for some time to think about taking on the role because Nantz already is one of the hardest-working men in sports and is devoted to charitable causes, most notably the Nantz National Alzheimer’s Center. He spends time speaking to raise awareness and fundraising to push the various initiatives of the research facility that bears his father’s name. How could he make the two of them work?
It didn’t take long to figure out a plan. When he accepted, he was informed that President Bush, “43,” waited for a phone call.
“I’ll try to find a way to make you proud,” he said.
The former President expressed confidence in his successor: “For the past 13 years, it has been my privilege to support First Tee’s mission to develop young people of character. Jim Nantz brings passion, integrity and a deep love for golf to this role. His voice has narrated historic moments in the sport, and now that same voice will help inspire a new generation. My father would be proud that our friend is following in our footsteps, and I look forward to seeing First Tee’s continued impact under Jim’s leadership.”
Nantz’s CBS colleague Dottie Pepper called his new role “a perfect fit,” and touched on another reason why the timing is right for Nantz to be involved with the youth development program – his son, Jameson.
“I think he’s really fallen back in love with the game through his son’s love of the game and seeing the impact it’s had on him,” Pepper said.
Nantz said he intends to be at First Tee’s national meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif., in September, and that his duties are still being defined, but he knows this: he wants to give back even more than he had been to the game that has given him so much.
“I hope in some fashion that I can help other kids foster and identify their dreams,” he said.
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