Wake Forest Athletics
Former Deacon Golfer Earns Rolex Achievement Award
6/9/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
June 9, 2000
PRINCETON, N.J. - The College Golf Foundation and Rolex Watch U.S.A. will present Wake Forest alumnus William B. Greene, Jr. and Michigan State alumna Joan Garety with the fifth annual Rolex Achievement Awards on Monday, June 12, 2000. The presentation will take place during the Rolex Reception & Dinner, in honor of Arnold Palmer and the U.S. Open Participants, at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California.
Former Deacon Arnold Palmer, who serves as an Honorary Chairman of the College Golf Foundation, will present the awards.
The Rolex Achievement Awards honor former varsity collegiate golfers who, after graduation, have achieved excellence in their chosen career (outside of golf) and in doing so, have made a special contribution to society. Each Rolex Achievement Award winner will receive a distinctive engraved Rolex timepiece and a framed, calligraphied certificate. In addition, the winners' alma mater's collegiate golf programs will each receive a $2,500 donation from Rolex and the College Golf Foundation.
William B. Greene, Jr. graduated from Wake Forest in 1959 with a degree in history and philosophy. He attended WFU on a basketball and golf scholarship, playing varsity golf his sophomore, junior and senior years. He completed post-graduate work at Wake Forest, Northwestern and Harvard Business School and graduated from Rutgers' Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He served in the U.S. Army as an Infantry Officer, retiring as a captain.
Banking has been Greene's primary career. At the age of 26, he was the youngest bank president and CEO in the United States. As a former director of Northwestern Financial Corporation, Greene was a part of the first major banking merger in the U.S. with First Union Corporation, which has since grown to become the sixth largest bank in America. Greene co-founded the Bank of Tennessee and is currently Chairman of BancTenn Corporation - owning 100 percent of the Bank of Tennessee - and the Carter County Bank and Carter County BanCorp. In 1999, Greene also co-founded the Paragon Bank in Raleigh, N.C.
Greene recently donated $5 million to Wake Forest, for which The Psychology and Foreign Language building was named in his honor. A member of the Board of Trustees, Greene has chaired the Trustee Investment Policy Committee, overseeing the university's $1 billion endowment, for the past eight years and is currently co-chair of WFU's $400 million capital campaign. In 1990, Greene received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Wake Forest, the highest award the university can bestow to alumni. He has also received an Honorary Doctor of Economics from Milligan College, and an Honorary Alumni Award from East Tennessee State University.
Greene, a licensed airline transport pilot, was the founder of the Elizabethton Municipal Airport and has been its Chairman for 37 years. Greene was also Chairman of the Tennessee Bureau of Aeronautics under two different governors.
Still an active competitive golfer, Greene has represented Tennessee five times on the Mid-South Cup Team, serving as captain once. He was also a member of the Tennessee Amateur Cup seven times, where he also served twice as captain. He won the Tennessee State Senior Four Ball in 1998 and has had four top-ten finishes in the Tennessee State Amateur Championship.
As Chairman of the Tennessee Golf Foundation, Greene has been a driving force behind the First Tee Project and the Vinny Links for Kids - country music star Vince Gill's pro-celebrity golf event which has raised more than $1.7 million for junior golf.
Past winners of the Rolex Achievement Awards include: 1999 - Eric Gleacher (Northwestern '62) & Elizabeth Daniels (Wake Forest '75), 1998 - Dan Quayle (DePauw '69) & Leslie Greis (Harvard '80), 1997 - Mark McCormack (William & Mary '51) & Paula Zahn (Stephens College '78) and 1996 - Captain David Leestma (Navy '71) & Leslee Subak, M.D. (Dartmouth ' 83).
More information on the Rolex Achievement Awards, and all College Golf Foundation programs, can be found on the CGF's web site, located on the Internet at www.cgfgolf.org.
