King Oehmig
The Baylor School golf program is coached by a King and has also become the statewide king of the sport.
Since the Rev. Dr. King Oehmig took over the program in 1997, the school has won 17 team state championships - 10 straight girls' championships and 7 boys' championships.
Although former coach and 1977 alumnus Ron Cofer took the team to new heights with state championships, Coach Oehmig has given the program respect on even a national level.
As evidence, the National High School Coaches Association out of Easton, Pa., recently named the 1969 Baylor graduate as a national high school coach of the year for 2006-2007.
Reflecting on his career recently, Coach Oehmig said that when he was hired by former athletic director Austin Clark to be the coach, he wanted to make Baylor the Wake Forest of high school golf. For years, the North Carolina college was one of the dominant men's college programs and produced such notable golfers as Arnold Palmer and Curtis Strange, among others.
"If I am going to do something, I want to take it to the top," said Coach Oehmig, who added that he developed his competitive drive from his late father, noted amateur golfer Lew Oehmig.
Since taking over the program, he has coached several individual state champions. They have included Elizabeth Hallman, Brooke Pancake and May Wood among the girls, and Luke List, Seth Brandon and Harris English among the boys.
But many of the other players have also contributed just as much to winning team championships, he said. "Individuals don't win team state championships," he said "While there have been stars, there have been kids who have less native ability and have worked very hard."
He said he has also enjoyed coaching both boys and girls, despite the demands, adding that they encourage and motivate each other.
He has tried to motivate them himself by maintaining a positive relationship.
"For me you need to connect emotionally with your kids," he said, adding that the youngsters have bought into his lofty goals. "You respect them and really appreciate them and you encourage them."
As one who himself is an outstanding golfer, Coach Oehmig said he is also able to relate to the ups and downs they feel.
"Golf is a really difficult game on an emotional level and it is so public that anybody who has played the game has experienced the feeling of aloneness and failure as well as success."
Besides the mental part, he also places much emphasis on the physical aspect of golf. He has been able to secure the challenging Black Creek Club as a home course for Baylor and has also helped set up reasonable student memberships for the boarding students to use when the team is not in golf season.
Another big plus to the golf program in recent years, he said, was the help of assistant Thad Lepcio, the current Baylor athletic director.
“He played golf at Amherst and started the women’s team at Wofford,” he said. “He was a huge, huge factor in widening and bettering the program. He knew competitive golf and is a very smart guy.”
Although the Baylor program has traveled far in its recent success, its success has also brought a few boarding golfers from far away. This year’s team will have golfers from Germany, Taiwan and Finland.
The school has also produced several golfers who have scored well enough to play No. 1 at their respective colleges – even as freshmen -- as well as get into medical school or go through a college business program. The girls’ golf team, for example, had a 3.75 grade point average last year, he said.
“We are trying to prepare them for college, golf and life,” he said.
Coach Oehmig is also involved in preparing others for life and even beyond, as he also has two pastoral-related jobs.
He is the vicar, or priest, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Trion, Ga., and is editor in chief of Synthesis. The latter is a weekly publication designed to offer preaching and worship aid in the Episcopal tradition through reflections of the weekly lectionary texts in the Bible.
As part of the latter work, he also recently published the Read Mark Press book, Understanding the Sunday Scriptures.
“I am known in Chattanooga as a golf coach, in Trion as an Episcopal priest and nationally as a writer,” he said with a laugh of his often-busy life.
And with his recent honor, he is also known as a success.
John Shearer
Jcshearer2@comcast.net