Green Coat Club Bylaw Motion Passed by a 72 to 7 Vote

(This is a repeat of a post from back in May. At the time I didn't feel that I should speculate on why the Green Coat Club suddenly felt like it needed to form bylaws, but with Thursday's annoucement of the creation of the new foundation-one in which the Green Coat Club has a seat-it's fun to look back and connect the dots together.)

On May 10, 2005 the Green Coat Club had an informal meeting immediately following the dinner held at the Forest Oaks Country Club for the Green Coat Club/Old Timers Golf Challenge.

"It's hard to get this group (Green Coat Club) together. It's like herding cats", Randy Cobb said at one point during the meeting. He was explaining just how hard it was to get the Green Coaters together to vote on the new bylaws.

The main question on the minds of many was "why the hell do we need bylaws?" This questions was never completely answered and the group was just told that it would be important to the group's future to have these bylaws in place. "This is not a new concept. It has been talked about for years," Cobb told the group.

"We know we do not have a perfect document," Randy Cobb said refering to the newly crafted bylaws. He said that he had received many comments from Green Coat Club members and that he would pass all of those comments on to the bylaw committee for review.

The committee is co-chaired by Dick Forman and Hal Greeson. Others on the committee are Larry Heath, Dave Williams, Wade Peoples, Bill Brady, Jim Fogleman and Randy Cobb. With that said he and the 20 or so Green Coaters in attendance seemed willing to move forward and approve the flawed work.

Cobb sent a letter, dated April 13, 2005, to members of the Green Coat Club and ask them to review the proposed bylaws and then "vote once by either mailing the enclosed Proxy" to him or by email.

Under Article II: Members-Section 4 Honorary Membership, the Green Coat Club has given itself the power to award Green Coats to "deserving individuals in limited and very special cases". When asked about this section, no one at the meeting could name a "deserving individual" that they thought had been over looked. The general feeling was that this special power would never be used. When asked "why have it then?" the group was reminded of the flawed nature of the document and that the bylaw committee, at some as yet to be determined time, would consider the need for this power.

It important to understand that until May 10th of this year the Greensboro Jaycees awarded Green Coats to its members that had been elected president, or appointed general chairman or Honorary general chaiman. With these new bylaws in place, the Green Coat Club can "award" a Green Coat Club member ship to anyone. They are also able to do it without the advice of the current jaycee leadership.

It should be pointed out that, with the exception of Randy Cobb, Bill Brady and Jim Fogleman, all three of whom receive their membership into the Green Coat Club in the early '80's, everyone on the bylaw committee got their coats in the '60's and '70's.

One has to wonder what is on the horizon for our beloved tournament as it heads into its tenth year of sponsorship from Chrysler. Both the Green Coat Club and the Greensboro Jaycees have recently undergone major changes to their bylaws. Changes that seem to be streamlining the leadership positions.

I believe there is one missing piece and I feel sure it will reveal itself soon.

Randy Harris
2002 Greensboro Jaycee President