The measure of a man is how he treats others and the impact he has on his community. Adrian Stills has tried to live up to the standard his father Roy Sr. set for his children, and he has done the memory of his father proud. He is 58 years old, father of two successful sons, and married to his high school sweetheart Maria for 34 years. He carved out a career in professional golf, something not many African Americans have been able to do and now he is giving back to the youth of his hometown of Pensacola. Currently if he is not working with the youth of the First Tee Program, he is helping former Surgeon-General Regina Benjamin fundraise for her nonprofit primary clinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Adrian is paying forward the sacrifices his parents made for their children to have a better life.
Adrian has been the General Manager and Head Pro at Osceola Golf Club in Pensacola since 2003 when he moved back to care for his ailing mother. The story of his journey begins much earlier when his father had to leave Tuskegee Institute after only one semester to return home to care for his brother and sisters when his father, Adrian’s grandfather, died suddenly at only 38 years old. Roy Sr. would shortly marry his wife Lelia who helped him raise the younger children. Not long after Roy Sr. would enlist in the US Navy where he would learn the brick mason trade. Once he was discharged he returned home to Pensacola, where he began his construction business. He and Lelia would bring five children into this world, and youngest of the family would be Adrian.
Having 3 older sisters and an older brother, Adrian says he was truly the baby of the family. There were not a lot of luxuries in the Stills house but they had a roof over their head and food on the table. Once Adrian and older brother Roy Jr. were old enough, they were helping their father mix mortar when they weren’t in school at St. Joseph’s Catholic School. It was during these early years that Roy Sr. would make the decision that would influence Adrian for the rest of his life. Roy Jr. had started running with a rougher crowd and this concerned his father. So to keep Roy Jr. and younger Adrian out of trouble he introduced them to the sport of golf. Adrian contributes his father’s decision to Roy Sr.’s friendship with US Air Force General Daniel “Chappie” James, a Pensacola native and his father’s roommate at Tuskegee. Osceola Golf Club is where young Adrian would begin to excel in the sport that charted his life.
There is not a lot of trouble a young man can get into on the golf course, so when he was not in school or helping his father, he was swinging the clubs. Roy Jr. was one of the first to recognize the talent in Adrian and convinced his father to let Adrian play golf instead of mixing mortar. So, on the same course he goes to work at each day is where he began to make a name for himself. Osceola Golf Club was one of the first golf clubs to integrate in 1959. The game came quickly to Adrian and he would quickly dominate the youth leagues and all but one of the tournaments in this area. He won the Divot Derby but never got the opportunity to play in the Future Masters held in Dothan, Alabama. The reason – Dothan Country Club was still a white “only” club in the early 1970’s. Today the tournament is open to all who qualify, and interestingly both of Adrian’s sons would compete in this event.
Adrian would catch the eye of the golf coach from South Carolina State when he was only 12 years old. His older brother Roy Jr. was being recruited and Adrian played a round with his brother and the coach and the coach offered him a scholarship following that round. Well six years later after graduating from Pensacola Catholic High School Adrian would follow in his brother’s step and go to school and play golf at South Carolina State University. One fixture of his prep years Adrian still recalls is the Sunday 9:46 AM tee time with his father and brother. The family would go to 8 AM Mass at St. Joseph’s and head to the course. Reminiscing, he remembers going through family papers following his mother’s passing and he found the family’s original membership card to Osceola Golf Club. Fifty years ago it cost the family $21.00 a month to belong, but Roy Sr. felt even at such an expense for the time, it was a great investment in his family.
As a collegiate golfer for the Bulldogs, Adrian would earn All American status three times. But Adrian’s senior season was not meant to be. Social inequality would cancel most of those years’ events with the state of South Carolina banning public schools from playing at segregated golf clubs. This decision would leave a sour taste in most people’s mouths, but Adrian smiles and tells of his trip with the golf team his junior year to St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf in Scotland. He says the weather was awful the first 8 days but on the day before they departed it improved and while playing he looked up and saw the Blue Angels in formation overhead. In some odd way he states this confirmed to him he was on the right track. He would graduate from South Carolina State in 1979 with a degree in Health and Physical Education.
Adrian would accept a job at Grand Cypress Academy of Golf in Orlando, Florida as an instructor and to pursue his professional playing career. The next 5 years saw him competing on the mini-tour and trying to qualify for the PGA at the Tour “Q” School. He would earn his players card in 1985. Although he lost his card several years later he would end up playing in 26 PGA Tour Events, making the cut 11 times. Adrian explains this was pre Tiger Woods PGA and the prize money was nowhere close to what it is today. By the late 1990’s Adrian and Maria were still in Orlando but he wanted to get closer to home for his mother.
Adrian’s next stop was the Robert Trent Jones course in Prattville, Alabama. The next year saw him move to the San Destin Golf and Country Club as the Head Pro for the Raven course. It was while there he helped start the Northwest Florida First Tee Program and become the Executive Director for the first 5 years of the organization. Not long after this would see his return to Pensacola and Osceola Golf Club. These last 13 years have seen Adrian immerse himself into the community and continue to give back.
Throughout his experiences and challenges in the world of professional golf, Adrian expresses it has shaped the man he is today. Inheriting a work ethic from his father but coupled with the lessons of sportsmanship, honesty, and self-discipline honed by the game of golf allowed him to excel in this exclusive sport. These are some of the life lessons he has passed on to his sons Justin, former collegiate golfer at Florida A&M, and Joey, a sophomore on the UWF golf team. Adrian continues to teach these lessons to the First Tee youth also.
Marty Stanovich , Executive Director of First Tee Northwest Florida and Steve Fell, UWF Head Men’s Golf Coach, both say Adrian was a “Legend” when they were growing up in Pensacola. Every young golfer in the 1970’s and 1980’s wanted to play like Adrian Stills. Anyone who goes out to play a round at Osceola Golf Club is warmly greeted by Adrian who is omnipresent at the course. What most of them don’t know due to his humble nature is the talented golfer with a lifetime of accomplishments smiling at them. Roy Sr.’s decision to expose his sons to the game of golf is still changing lives of the next generation through Adrian.
June 2016
Emerald Coast
Written and Photo by: Arnold Gamber
Legend of the Game
