Drexel’s golf program has taken building diversity within its roster very seriously

According to the NCAA’s coach and student-athlete demographics database, which is updated through 2023, just 2% of male Division I golfers are Black.

At non-historically Black colleges and universities, there were just 11 Black golfers in Division I in 2023.

Diversity in golf has long been a work in progress. At Drexel, head coach Ben Feld is working to establish a program that can feel like home to golfers of all backgrounds.

When Feld took over the Drexel men’s golf program in 2016, he was just three years removed from completing his collegiate career as a Dragon. In his first official recruiting class, Feld brought in two golfers, Angelo Giantsopolous and Ethan Mangum. In his recruitment of Mangum, Feld was led to West Palm Beach, Fla., where he met Jeff Cunningham.

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When Feld went to Florida to watch Cunningham play in person, he was convinced that the young golfer had a place on his team. However, it was Cunningham’s visit to campus that made the Floridian believe that Drexel could, in fact, be home to his college career.

“I struggled to find the coach that was going to give me a chance and that was going to not only develop my game but myself from a boy to a man,” Cunningham said. “The recruiting process for me was very difficult because I felt as if people did not understand me in comparison to my other competitors and my counterparts.

“I came up to Drexel and met the team, and there was already a Black golfer [Yoseph Dance] on the team. Outside of maybe HBCUs, it was very rare to see another Black golfer on the team. But in addition to Yoseph Dance, in my class going into Drexel, there was a Black golfer on the team [in Mangum]. That is a great example of what representation does because I was able to see that if somebody like Yoseph was able to do it, I most likely am going to be able to do it. And if I have a fellow Black golfer who’s going into the university, it’s making me a lot more comfortable to see that I can succeed here.”

In recalling their early days as players and coaches at Drexel, Feld and Cunningham spoke of the individual growth they had to achieve to find success.

[Diversity within the program] accelerates growth.

“It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. … [Cunningham] had some growing pains to go through, and we had some tough times getting on the same page, especially early on,” Feld said. “I was a new, young, brash head coach trying to do things my way, and it took a minute for us to get our footing. But once things really clicked and we started to trust each other, it really became unlike any relationship that I’ve had with a student-athlete in my time.”

Of course, adjusting to playing and coaching golf in Division I involved improving on the golf course. Feld and Cunningham’s relationship was most impactful off the course.

“I [became] very close with [Feld] through personal life experiences,” Cunningham said. “Just the adversity that I had gone through at Drexel, and we were able to have the open conversations of what it means to be a Black golfer and a minority in this game, and even though my coach maybe wasn’t able to understand at first, he did everything in his power to open his ear to me to understand where I was coming from. I have to give my utmost credit to [Feld] because he has always been there to feel and understand what I’m feeling.”

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These conversations between player and coach have made a long-lasting impression on Feld, who applies what he learned from Cunningham to improve his program’s standing as a place of inclusion and opportunity.

“The philosophy that I wanted to bring to Drexel was to bring together a collection of young men from different parts of the country, different parts of the world, different ethnic backgrounds, different racial backgrounds, because I think there’s so much to be learned from one another,” Feld said. “When we take the time to get to know people [who] might not look like ourselves and when you bring a common purpose and a common goal to that, I think that has the ability to make the collective that much stronger and the upside that much higher.

“What I didn’t appreciate when we were trying to recruit these young men to come to Drexel was, first, the life experience that they had already had in their lives as Black golfers in a very predominantly white, more affluent kind of sport. Secondly, the kind of impact that AJ DiGennaro, my assistant coach, and I could actually have on these guys as individuals and as part of their growth. I [initially] thought of it more from the collective side of things, and as I look back on a lot of these experiences, it was so much about helping the individual.”

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Since 2013-14, Drexel golf has featured at least one Black golfer each season. Feld credits Dance and Cunningham for being ambassadors and making the program a home for golfers of various backgrounds.

“Really, [Dance] and [Cunningham] came kind of blazing the trail, and it’s almost like it starts to paint a picture of what a program is and stands for,” Feld said. “They made the conversation a lot more disarming … knowing that other young Black kids have come and had great success. Just for being themselves [Dance and Cunnigham] redefined the culture of a program.”

For Feld, building a program that includes diversity is imperative in accomplishing the ultimate goal of attending college: becoming a more well-rounded citizen and community member.

“[Diversity within the program] accelerates growth,” Feld said. “It promotes questions being asked. It promotes communication. With the demographic that we’ve had from different parts of the world, our guys, I’m proud to say, come out ready to contribute to the world, whether it’s through golf or through work. … Their eyes are open to much more of the world as opposed to their small little bubbles.

“So our job really is to give the opportunity to all of our kids no matter who they are or where they’re from, to see the world through somebody else’s lens and to prompt dialogue. Golf is what brings us together, for sure. But what we’re attempting to do is so beyond that.”

Three years after Cunningham graduated from Drexel, his legacy as a Dragon still echoes in the program’s culture and the life of the coach who runs it.

“I know that the time we got to spend together at Drexel was meaningful, and we experienced a lot of growth during that time,” Feld said. “Jeff changed the game for us in a lot of ways, and he was an exceptional leader and carrier of the culture that we were trying to build.”

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