Jan. 7, 2009
LAS VEGAS - UNLV men's golf head coach Dwaine Knight and women's golf assistant coach Amy Bush were both recognized as award winners at the Southern Nevada Chapter's PGA Annual Dinner, which was held Tuesday night at TPC Summerlin. Knight earned the PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award, while Bush was honored with the Bill Strausbaugh Award.
The Pro of the Year Award is one of the highest honors the Association can bestow on a working club professional whose total contributions to the game best exemplify the complete PGA Professional. The Strausbaugh Award is designed to recognize PGA Professionals who by their day-to-day efforts have distinguished themselves by mentoring their fellow PGA Professionals in improving their employment situations and through service to the community.
To be nominated for the Pro of the Year Award, candidates must have demonstrated outstanding qualities of leadership, demonstrated strong moral character, maintained a substantial record of service to the Association and the game of golf, as well as have been well-regarded as a model PGA Golf Professional. For the Strausbaugh Award, candidates must have demonstrated a record of service to the Section and the Association, demonstrated proven leadership ability, been involved in civic activities and local charitable causes within the community and have been recognized as someone of outstanding character.
Knight is in his 22nd year as head coach of the Rebel men's golf team. He has taken the Rebels to an unprecedented 16 trips to the NCAA finals and has tutored 37 All-Americans at UNLV, a national player of the year, a national freshman of the Year, a U.S. Amateur Champion, three U.S. Public Links Champions, three Walker Cup participants and five Palmer Cup representatives.
Knight has captured three national titles (one team championship and two individuals), has won six conference championships and has developed 58 all-conference players. He is the only two-time winner in the `90s of the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) National Coach of the Year Award (1991 and 1998) and was proclaimed Golfweek National Coach of the Year in 1998. He has earned Coach of the Year honors at the conference level four times and also four times at the district tier. He has been elected to three Hall of Fames and this past year, his 1998 national champion squad was inducted into the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame.
Bush is in her second season as an assistant coach with the UNLV women's golf program, and she handles the day-to-day running of the program. Prior to joining UNLV, she was the Chapter Coordinator for the Southwest Section PGA and Bush was named the 2006 Las Vegas Chapter Professional of the Year.
