Bruce Novozinsky hits a community hole-in-one
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer

Bruce Novozinsky (l), who was selected as one of this year's People Who Make a Difference, with the members of the Allentown High School golf team. Novozinsky started the golf team's Parent Golf Association, which helps raise funds and awareness for the team and its community endeavors.

ALLENTOWN - In the past couple of years, it's gotten hard not to notice the boost in enthusiasm for golf in the local community.

The Allentown High School golf team has grown in membership and its commitment to the community, raising money for cultural and educational endeavors at its sold-out outings and initiating a free golf camp for area youths.

All of the new hoopla around the sport of trying to get a hole-in-one can be traced back to one man, Bruce Novozinsky, who is one of this year's People Who Make a Difference in the community.

When the Novozinskys firstmoved into town seven years ago, Bruce tried to find a cause to dedicate himself to. He attended municipal and Board of Education meetings and as a result, had quite a different realization than the expected means to community service.

"I'm the type of person who could absolutely care less about bypasses, how you decide what land to build your home on, or where to build a middle school," Novozinsky said. "Because what I really found over the course of three to four years is that these are issues that pit neighbor against neighbor and make enemies out of friends, and that's not what I wanted to become."

Bruce said that about two years ago he found himself 50 pounds heavier and sitting on the coach listening to his loving wife,Maureen, complain that he would die one day and leave behind a legacy of crumbs in the couch.

Maureen dedicates her spare time to St John's Church in Allentown, where she volunteers with the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) religious education program and the choir, and Bruce helped out. But he didn't find his true calling until one day in March 2006 when he was having a discussion with his son, Matt, who plays golf on the Allentown High School's golf team.

"I was talking to my son and I asked him, 'Don't you get uniforms when you're on the high school golf team?' "

To his chagrin, Bruce found out that no, the golf team members did not have uniforms.

With a self-proclaimed passion for golf, Bruce said he started playing the game 20 years ago, the week after he got married.

"I'm not any good and I never will be, but I have been going out with the same six guys every weekend for the past seven years," he said. "We play at the Cream Ridge Golf Course - that's our home - and we absolutely love each other's company. They are my true friends."

Knowing the game of golf and its benefits intrinsically, Bruce's wheels started turning, and soon, with the help of Bob Korn, who also has a son on the school's golf team, and Doug Hunt, the golf team's coach, he founded the Allentown High School Parent GolfAssociation (AHSPGA).

"My passion is golf, and I love kids because in dealing with them you don't have to deal with red tape or bureaucracy," he said. "I found that when you start getting into other issues, resolutions take years, but when it comes to these kids, you have instant gratification."

Speaking of instant gratification, Bruce said that the first thing the AHSPGA did was run a golf outing.

"We raised $6,000 for the team to get shirts and a few other things," he said. "Then, it just took off from there."

Bruce said he realized early on in the endeavor that Main Street businesses in Allentown are great for having sustained the local schools for years, so he shifted the fundraising focus on to corporate sponsors. He garnered support for the golf teamfrom sponsors like Nike and Taylor Made Golf.

The newAHSPGAwas so successful in helping the golf team that AHS Athletic Director Brian Irwin asked Bruce if the association could help other school sports teams as well.

"So, we ran a couple of golf outings and got corporate sponsors, and to date we have brought in over $1 million in goods and services for Allentown," he said, adding that the association grew so fast that it has elected a parent board to oversee it.

The AHSPGA started raising so much money that upon agreement with Hunt, it decided to give 10 percent of all that it raised back to the community.

"We gave to the library, Ivan Olinsky's Give Back Foundation, Little League, and the Upper Freehold SoccerAssociation.We gave them all money and we were glad to do it, because the community has been so good to the golf teamand we feel as though we should give back to them, too."

To further give back to the community and to help expand local youths' interest in the game of golf, the AHSPGA ran a free golf camp in the summer of 2007.

"We lost money on it, but it didn't matter," Bruce said, adding that the new Red Birdie Golf Team and Club evolved out of the experience.

The new team and club is composed of children of middle-school age, he said.

"It's great because it gives the opportunity for kids to start playing golf before they get on the high school team," he said.

Bruce does not want to take full credit for the AHSPGA's establishment and said that Korn, Hunt, Irwin, Joe Monticello, and the administration at the high school have all worked hard to support the endeavor from the get-go.

He further explained that theAHSPGA would not be what it is today without the dedication of the community and his wife.

"There are a lot of great people out there that just want to help, and all you have to do is ask them," he said of the community.

Regarding Maureen, he said, "She steers everything I do, and when I can't afford something for the organization - I might have the big idea, but she writes the check."

He continued, "Every ounce of energy I have had for what I've been doing for the past two to three years, I absolutely owe to her. She not only inspires me but she prodded me."

Novozinsky and his wife have four children: Matt, 18, Emily, 12, Jack, 9, and Ryan, 8.

When asked how he balances family life along with commuting to New York City for work and his involvement with the AHSPGA, Bruce said, "I'm an insomniac and I overcommunicate with people. I send e-mails out at 1 a.m., go on four to five hours of sleep at night and catch up on weekends."

His son, Matt, said, "He puts a lot of time into hisAHSPGAwork, so much that it's like he has two jobs. He's great at getting stuff done and pulling it off really well. He's diligent at the AHSPGA, and if he does leave, he will leave it in good hands."

Bruce and his family will see Matt off next fall toMethodist University in North Carolina, where he will study professional golf management.

"My wife and I have already become involved with Methodist University and the girls basketball team there," Bruce said. "We're campaigning for 'Hoops for Hope,' which is a program for breast can- cer awareness. We are already active boosters atMethodist University and have raised $4,000 for the school without getting Matt through the door yet."

If and when Bruce extracts himself from AHSPGA duties next year, he has confidence that people like Korn, Liz Polvere, Ben Ripa and Val Fernandez, who serve on the parent board, will carry the organization's legacy on.

"It's going to go on," he said. "I think it is rooted in the community now."

In his study, which is plastered with wallpaper sporting golf balls and tees, golf trophies, memorabilia, a collection of golf balls, and his prized possession, an AHS golf team flag signed by all of the team's members, Bruce said, "This upcoming season I'm looking forward to sending the golf team to South Carolina for a high school golf tournament, as well as watching the kids grow from last year's golf camp to this year's golf team."

He continued, "It's such a good feeling when you get an e-mail, card, or note from a parent that simply says 'thank you.' "