About

The Beginning

The Des Moines Valley Golf Club, (DMVGC) originated in the 1940’s to promote comradery among golfers of color in response to the limited opportunities to play on courses in the Des Moines area. Over 70 male and female golfers were members and traveled to regional tournaments in Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, and other locations. The Club disbanded in the 1970’s as golfing opportunities at public and private courses expanded and membership dwindled.

Today’s Club

In 2014, Jimmy McCown had the vision to revive the DMVGC and solicited the help of his wife, Val, along with five other individuals, Jim Ballard, Victor Colemon, Brian Griffin, Carline and Thomas Phillips. The “Magnificent Seven” unanimously endorsed going forth with restarting the Club to promote golfing comradery and to establish a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity to raise monies to fund student educational scholarships and to support selected local community groups. It was agreed that an annual Labor Day golf tournament would be the primary vehicle to market and solicit corporate, community, and individual contributions to help achieve our goals.

The group unanimously committed to the Annual Labor Day Weekend Tournament and endorsed going forth with restarting the Club for golfing camaraderie and establishing a 501(c)(3) entity. One of the club’s goal is to provide educational scholarships to deserving  minority students.