Mary Mozingo grew up on the golf course. Her family owns and still operates Turkeyfoot Lake Golf Links, the first public course in Akron. Turkeyfoot was founded by her grandfather in 1925. Mary began playing golf as soon as she could hold a club, and by age six, was playing in Bantam junior tournaments.
Mary graduated from Baldwin Wallace College in 1972 majoring in health and physical education. While at school, she played on the volleyball team; serving as captain her senior year. In golf, she represented BW as an individual at the 1971 DGWS National Intercollegiate Championship at the University of Georgia. In 1972, she again represented BW at the Midwest Intercollegiate Association for Women’s Golf at Ohio State. In 2010, she was inducted into the Baldwin Wallace Hall of Fame for her participation in golf and volleyball.
Mary taught health and physical education in the Cuyahoga Falls City School District for 31 years. While teaching, Mary held a variety of coaching jobs including cheerleading, volleyball and basketball. In 1990 Mary was asked to coach the boys’ golf team. Mary coached the boys for seven years and in 1995 was named Metro Coach of the Year. Mary had an exceptional girl on her first team named Alison Czetli. In 1992, instead of playing with the boys’ team during the postseason, Alison opted to participate as an individual in the girls’ tournament that was run by the Golf Coaches Association. Alison won the Girls’ State Championship that year. After Alison graduated, another girl came out for the team. Mary knew that other girls wanted to play golf, but did not have the talent to make the boys’ teams. Having been at the state tournaments with Alison, she knew that there were girls’ teams elsewhere in Ohio but not in the Akron-Canton-Cleveland area. So, in 1995, while coaching the boys, Mary started a girls’ team. At the same time, she began a summer league program for girls at Turkeyfoot. Girl’s golf began to grow in northeast Ohio; Mary was an integral part of that growth.
Mary retired from teaching in 2005 and retired from coaching golf in 2010. She continues to stay involved with girls’ golf by working with the Turkeyfoot summer league, and, with her husband’s help, they run the Turkeyfoot Invitational and a sectional tournament at Turkeyfoot. Mary is most proud that all of the girls on Green High School’s golf team participate in the Turkeyfoot summer program. Green was the Division I runner up at the OHSAA State Tournament in 2015.
Mary’s passion for passing on the game she loves has never left her and she takes great pride in being one of the individuals who helped springboard girls’ golf into the public eye and to the attention of the OHSAA. Thanks to her dedication and devotion to golf, the OHSAA now has two divisions for girls as the game continues to grow across the state. In 2009, the Ohio High School Golf Coaches Association honored Mary for her work with induction into their Hall of Fame.
Mary has always been active in all the golf associations in which she has played, whether it
was the Tri-County Women’s Golf Association, the Turkeyfoot Tuesday Night league, the Penn Ohio League or the WOSGA. She has held, or presently holds, offices in all of them. Mary won the Tri-County overall title once, the Turkeyfoot Club Championship numerous times, and she qualified for the USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship four times, participating in two.
Mary has served on the WOSGA Board since 1994 in the capacity of Public Links Liaison, Board Secretary, Senior Championship Assistant Director (2007-2009) and Senior Championship Director (2010-2012). She has participated in WOSGA Amateurs and Senior Amateurs since 1987.
Not only has Mary passed her passion for the game to countless students, but also to her children, Michael and Cari. Mike currently teaches in the Medina City School District and serves as the assistant boys’ golf coach. Cari, a teacher in the Lake Local District, is an accomplished player in her own right. Cari, who played for Ohio University, is a frequent participant in WOSGA amateur events and has reached the semifinals three times. Mary’s husband Charlie, also an avid golfer, is the golf course superintendent at Turkeyfoot. Mary and Charlie are the proud grandparents of five grandsons aged, one to six. Mary will soon be teaching juniors again.