Marion's Diana Morgan lauded by Women's Ohio State Golf Association
MARION — The self-proclaimed "Scrapbook Lady" will get her own page in next year's edition.
Diana Morgan, an original volunteer for the Ohio Junior Girls Championship who has played a part in helping organize and run all 46 of the golf tournaments held annually at the Marion Country Club, is the 2022 recipient of the Women's Ohio State Golf Association's biggest honor.
Morgan was named the Betty Kerby Peppard Award winner for her distinguished service to female golf in Ohio.
"It really means a lot," she said. "Now I’m really striving to get to 50 years. I just had my 78th birthday. My husband just turned 82. We just cherish each day, so I cherish this."
Morgan had an inkling that the award could be coming after spending a couple hours with WOSGA official Theresa Stotler at last year's event combing through her scrapbooks on display at the country club, detailing the rich history of the event that has always called Marion home.
"She was fascinated with them," Morgan said. "It was the first time ... that somebody had taken an intense interest in what the story was. She knew a lot of the people in the scrapbooks from (tournament founder Kay Wigton's) time. She enlightened me on a lot of those stories in going through them. It was really special."
Morgan and her husband of 52 years Kent spend the winters in Florida, and she received a call telling her of the award awaiting her return to her home in Marion.
"Kay won the Betty Kerby Peppard award in 2006, and I was at her presentation," Morgan added. "I was very touched and moved because this is just scrapbooks. I’ve been talking to the ladies around the tournament and it’s also history."
Her service goes well beyond making yearly scrapbooks to chronicle a tournament history that includes seven LPGA touring professionals, other teaching pros and scores of collegiate golfers while they were teens.
Besides memories and history, Morgan helped preserve the tournament that was founded in 1977 with a partnership between Wigton and LPGA player Andy Fischer.
Wigton's daughter Melinda was an aspiring golfer, but her opportunities to play like her brothers were limited due to her gender. After being denied entry into a boys tournament, Wigton got the idea to start a girls state tournament to be hosted by her home course at the Marion Country Club. With the help of Fischer, it came to be.
And at that first event was Morgan. Forty-six years later, she's still going strong.
"I’ve been on a journey with these wonderful people who made all this happen. I feel privileged," she said.
The tournament was in peril when Kay Wigton died in a car accident in 1998.
If not for Morgan, the help of the Wigton family, many other Wigton friends and the Marion Country Club's support, the event likely would have ended. The group shepherded it through, and in 1999 the WOSGA stepped in to organize and run the state's oldest youth girls golf tournament.
Sticking with it was Morgan. She felt it was her duty.
When Ted Wigton called her asking what he should do with his late wife's scrapbooks, Morgan answered, "What scrapbooks?"
"It wasn’t something that got put out necessarily," she added.
Morgan gladly became the keeper of the scrapbooks and went about capturing the events of every tournament since — even in 2020 when health issues and the coronavirus pandemic limited her involvement. Still, she couldn't stay away from the golf course or the athletes and parents she cherishes seeing annually and made appearances that summer.
That's because she's a Pied Piper for the event that not only impacts the participants, many of them elite golfers, but also the Marion economy as they and their families come from all over Ohio to participate over three days in July. The area's motels, restaurants, gas stations and stores can thank Morgan and her friends for keeping the tournament alive.
Wigton was given the Betty Kerby Peppard Award posthumously in 2006, and her longtime friend now joins her in the club.
"There was a lot of reflection," Morgan said.
Adding to it is the fact that she considered Peppard a friend as well.
"I loved Betty," Morgan said of the late Canton-area golf aficionado who earned the first WOSGA award in her name in 2002. "I met Betty when she came down here and was our rules official. She was a rules official for the U.S. Women’s Open. I have her history and have scrapbooked her. She was a kind educational soul that I really took to. She was older than I was by quite a bit, but I just loved what she had to say and what she knew."
One year, Morgan had Peppard and other tournament organizers over to her house for a meal. Afterward, Peppard wrote her a thank you note.
"I told the girls at dinner (Monday) night that I had a wonderful note from Betty that I want you to read. They were surprised," she said. "It was just a true, heartfelt (message) of what this tournament meant and why she reached out. It’s in the scrapbook. When I reread it, I realized what it meant."
There were times when Morgan wondered why she put all the work into keeping track of the history of the Ohio Junior Girls Championship. Now she realizes why.
"The biggest thing I’m noticing is the last three or four years the kids have really reacted to the scrapbooks. They want to know about them and look through them. They ask me questions," she said.
She's seeing mothers who played in the tournament returning with their daughters. One of the first stops is to find the scrapbook tables and look it all up.
As the event gets closer to its 50th anniversary, grandmothers who played in Marion will be following granddaughters.
That's the value of the scrapbooks. That's the value of the tournament.
That's the value of Diana Morgan.
That's why she is the latest Betty Kerby Peppard Award winner.
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46th Ohio Junior Girls Championship
Site: Marion Country Club
Par: 72
1. Sydney Deal, Perrysburg, 70-72-142
2. Audrey Ryu, Dublin, 69-74-143
3. Angelina Gong, Dublin, 71-75-146
4. Morgan Rodgers, Springboro, 73-74-147
T5. Kristina Ma, Columbus, 72-76-148
T5. Jodie Han, Lewis Center, 77-71-148
T5. Gracie James, Pataskala, 73-75-148
8. McKenzie Miller, Hilliard, 72-77-149
T9. Claire Liu, Elyria, 79-71-150
T9. Isabella Goyette, Medina, 74-76-150
11. Caroline Thompson, Montgomery, 77-74-151
T12. Cammy Reed, Fairview Park, 78-74-152
T12. Meadow Tian, Delaware, 76-76-152
T12. Skylar Dean, Lewis Center, 75-77-152
T15. Nicole Jones, Shelby, 81-72-153
T15. Kaitlin Kormuth, Solon, 79-74-153
T15. Ella Wong, Pepper Pike, 77-76-153
T15. Kenna Jenkinson, Greenville, 77-76-153
T19. Alexa Prettyman, Plain City, 80-75-155
T19. Brigid Nickell, Centerville, 79-76-155
T19. Grace Strickland, Xenia, 78-77-155
T19. Eva Lim, Columbus, 76-79-155
T19. Erin Strouse, Louisville, 73-82-155
T24. Addi Yarbrough, Dublin, 78-78-156
T24. Payton Donnelly, Curtice, 75-81-156
T26. Lorna Zhang, Gahanna, 81-76-157
T26. Ally Turner, Miamisburg, 80-77-157
T26. Bella Anderson, Columbus, 80-77-157
T26. Dixon Hill, Waite Hill, 78-79-157
T26. Marisa Alfes, Bellbrook, 78-79-157
T31. Sammi Miller, Sugarcreek, 82-76-158
T31. Eleanor Lim, Dublin, 81-77-158
T31. Elizabeth Ryu, Dublin, 80-78-158
T31. Kristen Belden, Canton, 80-78-158
35. Bridget Mulcahy, Lima, 77-82-159
T36. Anna Coccia, New Albany, 83-77-160
T36. Brynna Mardis, Xenia, 82-78-160
T38. Emma Myers, Toledo, 84-77-161
T38. Olivia Drankwalter, Powell, 83-78-161
T38. Kaylee Gong, Dublin, 79-82-161
T41. Abigail Retherford, Ravenna, 83-80-163
T41. Audrey Keplar, Orient, 83-80-163
T41. Bella Saur, Grove City, 82-81-163
T44. Siena Maschke, Cleveland, 86-78-164
T44. Ava Pulley, Uniontown, 85-79-164
46. Hannah Chung, Sylvania, 78-87-165
47. Ashlee Garner, Carrollton, 82-84- 166
48. Elle Furrow, New Albany, 86-82-168
49. Madolyn Kost, Kent, 81-89-170
T50. Emma Kim, Columbus, 84-87-171
T50. Madi Kim, Columbus, 84-87-171
T50. Mary Murray, Upper Arlington, 84-87-171
T50. Samantha Spach, Pataskala, 84-87-171
T50. Alessandra Goyette, Medina, 82-89-171
T50. Maureen O'Leary, Rocky River, 81-90-171
T56. Lainey Kathrein, Mansfield, 85-87-172
T56. Dina Shah, Marion, 84-88-172
T58. Mia Ringger, Dublin, 86-87-173
T58. Trina So, Columbus, 85-88-173
60. Hannah Smith, Mansfield, 83-91-174
61. Olivia Baker, St. Clairsville, 91-84-175
62. Angela Hu, Dublin, 89-87-176
63. Kaylyn Henson, Grove City, 87-91-178
64. Ceci Coccia, New Albany, 97-84-181
T65. Eliza Freytag, Blacklick, 91-91-182
T65. Elizabeth Jackson, Haskins, 92-90-182
T65. Makayla Hutchison, Dresden, 88-94-182
68. Lucy Myers, Galion, 87-97-184
69. Olivia Gier, Upper Sandusky, 94-91-185
70. Danielle Maynard, Galena, 100-91-191
71. Sarah Hoak, Shelby, 98-102-200
72. Elizabeth Wang, Lewis Center, 110-96-206
73. Elle Nolan, Columbus, 104-111-215
74. Katie Reynolds, Crestline, 130-120-250
75. Khushi Swarup, Powell, 153-128-281
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Marion's Diana Morgan lauded by Women's Ohio State Golf Association
