![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/03\/nichols100-150x150.jpg\")
After playing professionally, Nichols took over the Tech men\u2019s golf program in 1979 and was responsible\u00a0for establishing the Golden Eagle women\u2019s team in 1986. During the 1990 season, he guided the men\u2019s squad to the OVC Championship, the first for the program in 35 years. The victory also helped the Tech athletics department clinch its first-ever OVC All-Sports Trophy. Nichols also guided the women\u2019s team to the 2000 and 2001 OVC Championships and was named OVC Coach of the Year in each of those seasons. Later he was named OVC Men\u2019s Coach of the Year following the 2005 season.<\/p>\n
A 32-year veteran with Tech athletics, Nichols was inducted into Tech\u2019s Hall of Fame in 1990. After a battle with cancer, Nichols died at the age of 66 on March 16, 2008. In 2011, he was officially inducted into the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Former Golden Eagle golfer Matt Manzaro has kept Nichol\u2019s legacy of teaching the game of golf alive as a PGA professional. He is the pro at the Golden Eagle Golf Club, which was formerly known as the Cookeville Country Club, where Nichols was a caddie and later the golf pro.<\/p>\n
Manzaro has also continued Nichols\u2019 legacy of promoting junior golf. For years, Nichols hosted clinics, offering a helping hand to any youngster who wanted to play golf. Manzaro also has had clinics for kids while cutting rates for middle- and high school-age golfers to generate more interest in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy love for teaching came from him,\u201d Manzaro said. \u201cBobby would talk to kids and treat them with a smile. He treated every kid like they were the greatest thing. It\u2019s great to be around someone with a constant smile and to help people be the best they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
While junior golf was always a priority for Nichols, so was coaching the golf teams at his alma mater. His legacy has continued with two of his former players coaching the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams.<\/p>\n
Polk Brown, who played for Nichols from 2001- 2006, is in his seventh season as the head coach for both programs. Carla Hazelwood, who played at Tech from 2005-2009, including three years under Nichols, is the assistant coach for both teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe put a lot of faith in us to do what we needed to do. He put a lot of trust in us to take care of our business,\u201d Brown said, about Nichols\u2019 coaching style. \u201cI think his faith in his team and trusting them to do what they need to do is how Carla and I have carried on the program.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave me a chance to play here, and I\u2019m so appreciative for that,\u201d Hazelwood said. \u201cHe believed in me more than I believed in myself. I think that carried over into my coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nichols always encouraged his players to be good sports and that continued with Brown and Hazelwood. The men\u2019s and women\u2019s squads have combined to win six OVC Team Sportsmanship Awards \u2014 three with Nichols as the head coach and three with Polk and Hazelwood at the helm of the programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe always stressed sportsmanship because that\u2019s who he was,\u201d Hazelwood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a game where you are going to lose a lot more than you are going to win, so you have to handle it with grace and humility,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe was very generous. He gave a lot of people opportunities. He had a lot of belief in folks and saw the best in people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As a player, coach, teacher and owner of Ironwood golf course, Tennessee Tech alumnus Bobby Nichols made a profound impact on the golfing community during his lifetime. As the 10th anniversary of his passing closes in, Nichols\u2019 golfing legacy still lives on at Tech and in the community. \u201cHe grew the game of golf in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-16"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/03\/Nichols_Brown_OVC1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1267"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1363,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions\/1363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}