When it comes to putting the needs of others ahead of your own, some just speak it, while others embrace it, and it becomes part of who they are.
If the turnout at a memorial service two years after his unexpected death is any indication, Jerry Coldiron made a real and lasting impact on the lives of many. On a raw Nov. 16 morning, about 200 people showed up for a memorial service at Lassing Pointe Golf Course, a county-owned facility in Union, Kentucky where Coldiron worked for 15 years.
"My dad would have loved this dedication; not because of what it honors, but because everyone is together," Coldiron's son Josh told the crowd.
"We couldn't have had a more fitting memorial. My guess is most of you have stories of a time when my dad opened his heart to you, talked you through a difficult time, lent you a helping hand, made you laugh. . . . As a family, we want to challenge everybody here in honor of my dad to do something nice for somebody today."
Jack Jump remembers just how much Coldiron meant to him. Way back in 1993, Jump had just given his two-week notice at an auto-repair shop where he worked as a mechanic to become the first equipment technician at Lassing Pointe when he suffered a back injury that required surgery followed by three months of recovery.
At the time, Jump remembers thinking he had talked his way out of not one job, but two. Jump, who retired from the Boone County Parks and Recreation Department three years ago, was wrong.
"I gave the guy I was working for my notice. I was always an engine guy, and I blew out a disc putting a motor back in a van," Jump said. "Jerry held my job for me for three months until I had surgery and could come back. You don't meet many guys who just hire you and hold your job because you have to take three months off, but he did that for me. He was a good man."
A superintendent in his native Kentucky for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2007, Coldiron died Nov. 22, 2017, at age 60.
Born in nearby Fort Thomas, Kentucky, Coldiron spent his whole life in Boone County where he and Susan, his wife of 36 years, raised three sons, Josh, Jake and Jared.
He graduated in 1979 from Eastern Kentucky University where he earned a bachelor's degree in horticulture and turfgrass management. He spent his entire greenkeeping career with Boone County Parks and Recreation, where he was a superintendent at Boone Links and Lassing Pointe.
After retirement, the couple relocated to Boca Raton, Florida, where he started a second career in sales for Hector Turf, a Toro distributor in Deerfield Beach.
The Nov. 16 celebration including unveiling a bench inscribed with an original Jerry Coldiron quote: "Every day is an opportunity to enjoy life, reflect, think, love and to pay it forward."
The crowd included family members, friends, former colleagues, other superintendents and even a local celebrity.
Jim Scott was a radio personality in nearby Cincinnati from 1968 until his retirement in 2015, first at WSAI, and later WLW, a 50,000-watt powerhouse that can be heard in 38 states - before the advent of iHeartRadio. Scott often played Boone Links and he and Coldiron became fast friends. They shared a common interest - a love for Jimmy Buffet - and often attended concerts together. Their friendship lasted long past retirement.
"He heard me on the radio, and we became fast friends," Scott said. "We went to Jimmy Buffet concerts together. I've known the whole family for years, and when he went to Florida we stayed in touch. I loved him."
Coldiron's widow, Susan, was touched by the turnout, but not shocked that so many wanted to pay respects to her husband two years after his death.
"Jerry was special," she said. "He somehow managed to stay in touch with everyone here through his social media. I don't know how he did it."
Among his colleagues who showed up was Mark Wilson, the former superintendent at Valhalla, in Louisville, site of the PGA Championship in 1996, 2000 and 2014 and the 2008 Ryder Cup Matches.
Wilson credits Coldiron for helping form his management style.
"Jerry was ahead of the curve on people management and motivation," Wilson said. "He was the first one who sold me on the idea of going to Dale Carnegie training, and he was always telling me about books to read on management.
"Jerry just had a way of communicating and staying in touch with people. Even when he retired, I always got a call from him, usually on a Saturday morning while he was sitting on the beach."
A longtime TurfNet member, Coldiron embodied the true TurfNet spirit of sharing, caring, compassion and camaraderie. After Coldiron's death, TurfNet established the Coldiron Positivity Awards that recognize individuals within the golf turf industry who live lives of positivity, caring, sharing and compassion for others... or who are experiencing personal hardship due to illness, natural events or job loss... or who do something special for the natural world.
Inaugural recipients named at the 2018 Golf Industry Show in San Antonio were: Mike Morales of the Buccaneer Golf Club in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands; John and Peggy Colo, Jupiter Hills Golf Club, Tequesta, Florida; Adam and Erin Engle, Lake Shore Yacht and Golf Club, Cicero, New York; and John and Nick Paquette, Indian Hills Country Club, Northport, New York.
The 2019 awards were presented recently to Tenia Workman, executive director of the Georgia GCSA, and posthumously to Tom Morris, CGCS, 20-year member of the TurfNet hockey team who passed away at age 61 shortly in February 2018.
