With the retirement of Donald Coleman, Virginia Union wasted little time filling the position of head golf coach. Virginia Union has hired E. Lee Coble, immediate past president of the Virginia State Golf Association (VSGA), as VUU’s new head golf coach.
Coble is a native of Mebane, NC and while living there as a child, was introduced to the game at the age of nine years old. During the not so long ago days of segregation, the young African American boy was permitted to caddy but not permitted to play. However, the young Coble refused to be denied his love for golf. He worked on his game in the late evening on his way home from the local golf course.
Coble shared this upon being hired, “I am honored to have been selected as the next Head Golf Coach for Virginia Union University. Frankly, I am still coming to grips with all of this. There was no way I could have envisioned this day. Especially at the age of 9 when I began to learn the game of golf while caddying and playing golf under the cover of darkness in segregated golf courses in North Carolina.
Despite being a top-notch young adult golfer, Coble went to college on a track and field scholarship at Johnson C Smith University in Charlotte North Carolina. Coble began working at International Business Machines (IBM) and Coble built a 32 year career at IBM before he retired in 2004.
As a golf administrator, Coble currently serves on the United States Golf Association Regional Affairs Committee. Since 1999, he has volunteered on the United States Golf Association Rules TV Escort Committee.
For several years, Coble has been active in leading junior golf initiatives in Central Virginia, serving as the summer league golf coach for youth. Coble has taken part in Hook-A- Kid On Golf, Challenge Golf League and the Richmond First Tee programs, as well as assisting the Virginia State Golf Association Foundation’s Robins Junior Programs at Independence Golf Club. He also serves on the VSGA VIP Scholarship committee that annually awards over a $100,000 in college scholarships to Virginia public and private high school students who play golf and/or have an interest in golf and attend a college or university in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
As a Virginia amateur golfer, Coble competed in many local qualifiers and events conducted by the United States Golf Association, the Virginia State Golf Association, and the Richmond Golf Association. In 1997, Coble walked away as champion of the Richmond Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship.
In 2004, Coble began serving on the VSGA Board of Directors and, in the span of a decade of board service; he was elected the 34th President of the VSGA in December 2011. Coble’s election to the VSGA president was a historic first for amateur golf in Virginia.
As VSGA President, Coble provided leadership to the VSGA’s professional staff, committees and volunteers. The VSGA serves nearly 80,000 golfers in Virginia and more than 300 VSGA member clubs in the Commonwealth. Coble was also named as one of the recipients of the 2013 Outstanding Leaders in Golf from the African American Golfer’s Digest.
