When I first began Conversations with Sports Fans in June 2022, I had no preconceived notions of what it would amount to, how long I’d keep having these Conversations, or – beyond my personal Rolodex – where future guests would come from.
Having said that, I’m delighted to have a guest on this episode I never would have imagined having a Conversation with but am beyond delighted to have had the opportunity to do so.
Tim Thrasher was, until last month, the Superintendent of the Cedar Creek Correctional Center in Little Rock, WA, not too far from the state’s capital of Olympia. Subsequent to our recording of this episode, Tim’s started a new position with the Oregon Youth Authority (also in the corrections field).
Tim became a bit of a known commodity last fall when GOLF.com writer Nick Piastowski featured him in this article about a very unique program he instituted at Cedar Creek about the same time this podcast began: Tim started a weekly session that taught the inmates the game of golf (from history to scoring to rules to playing … well, as much play that can occur within the confines of the prison grounds). (Check out the video from GOLF.com about Cedar Creek here.)
There’s currently – and has been – a wait list to get into the group and a few participants have even taken a field trip to a local course to play a few actual holes, but I’ll leave it to Tim to explain the program to you and share why it’s important to provide our incarcerated with as many opportunities to build skills (both work and leisure) for their eventual release to prevent recidivism.
This was truly a remarkable Conversation and one of the many reasons why I’m grateful to continue to have them.