After having his second round was delayed until Saturday due to rain and rallying to make the cut by a single stroke, Bramlett turned in two of the best performances of the final rounds. Joseph’s bogey-free third round and his 66 in the final round helped him climb up the leader board. His final tournament score of 15-under is his lowest score to par thus far. He finished seven strokes behind fellow rookie Chris Kirk, who won his first PGA Tour tournament.

Joseph encouraged the young players in attendance to embrace the core values of The First Tee organization: Honesty, Integrity, Sportsmanship, Respect, Confidence, Responsibility, Perseverance, Courtesy, and Judgment.  He gave specific examples about from his life. “The two that stand out in my mind are honesty and perseverance. My parents really stressed honesty when I was a little kid. … Perseverance is really important. All of us face difficult challenges in our life. When you are about to face challenges in your life, I would tell you, ‘Don’t let anybody tell your dreams are dumb, aren’t right. I love golf. I was true to myself. I followed my dreams.’’’

Team Services is proud to represent Joseph, who was a leader on an NCAA national championship team at Stanford and became the first African-American golf in 25 to advance through the PGA Qualifying Tournament.  Joseph was pleased to have the opportunity to support The First Tee program, which provides young people of all backgrounds an opportunity to develop life-enhancing values such as confidence, perseverance and judgment through golf and character education.

From the time he was crawling around the house with a little plastic club, Joseph Bramlett loved golf. So much so that as a kindergartner he told the class he wanted to grow up and one day play on the PGA Tour.

His hope never wavered despite odd stares he saw when his parents followed him and the unkind words he sometimes heard as he played in junior golf events. And he never lost sight of his goal during a 20-month period in college when he couldn’t hit a golf ball because of a severe injury to his right wrist, a time during which he often watched an inspirational tape to perk up his spirits.

“I remember thinking,” Bramlett said in a phone interview, “that if someone can climb Mount Everest, I can get through a wrist injury.”

Now Bramlett, 22, hopes to inspire. When he hits his first tee shot Thursday in the Sony Open in Hawaii, Bramlett will join Tiger Woods as the only players of black descent who have Tour cards. Bramlett, whose father is black and mother white, became the first golfer of African-American heritage to graduate from Q-School since Adrian Stills did so 25 years ago, using a final-round, 4-under-par 68 at Orange County National in Orlando last month to finish in a tie for 16th in the six-round final stage.

“It truly is an honor for me, and I hope this can start to change things,” the long-hitting, 6-4 Bramlett said. “I’m not always the most common looking person on the golf course, so hopefully if I can play well this year, I can inspire kids to know that if I can do it, they can do it.

“Hopefully we can change the demographic out there.”

That was the hope back in 1997 when Woods won the Masters. But while diversity changed among fans, Woods remained the lone black on Tour. Bramlett thinks enough time hasn’t passed for that to have changed.

“Tiger inspired a lot of young kids to play golf, but just because you inspire people to play, that doesn’t mean that within five or 10 years they’re going to be out on the PGA Tour,” he said. “It takes time.

“It’s a process. There are several black players that are up and coming. I think in the next two or three years you’ll see more African-American players out here on the PGA Tour.”

Still, Woods inspired Bramlett, who plastered posters of Woods on his bedroom walls after the ’97 Masters. Later, Bramlett competed in the Junior World Championship in San Diego with a team sponsored by the Tiger Woods Foundation. And when Woods attended Stanford, Bramlett and his father drove 20 miles from their home in San Jose to watch Woods play.

Now, Woods and Bramlett are products of Stanford (Bramlett earned his degree in Communications in 31/2 years) and both are sponsored by Nike.

“It meant a lot to me to see somebody I kind of identified with,” said Bramlett, who at 14 became the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Amateur in 2002 and as a freshman was an All-America and helped lead the Cardinal to an NCAA title. “At first I really didn’t understand the significance of his background. It was more about seeing him compete, how he set high goals, and how he gave it everything he had.”

But it was his father, Marlo, an executive with a sheet-metal company, and mother, Debbie, who provided the most inspiration, starting at age 2 when Bramlett would emulate his father as he swung a golf club in front of a full-length mirror. Then Debbie started toting her son, the oldest of three children, to and from the driving range and golf courses when he turned 6, often a journey of four hours roundtrip that started at 4:30 a.m.

“I can’t say enough about them,” Bramlett said. “They’ve always been there for me and always will be. There were definitely things I had to deal with that a lot of young golfers probably don’t. That’s the way it was. But it brought the three of us closer together.

“They always made me feel comfortable in who I am.”

Marlo Bramlett thinks his son will be just as comfortable on the PGA Tour.

“Hopefully, one day, we can get past the color of a player’s skin,” he said. “Hopefully, the talk will be just about 156 players and it won’t be about 154 players and two players of black descent. The more players that come out and get on Tour who are African-American, the faster a lot of this will go away. But there are issues out there that some people have ansd that won’t change. But we’ve never allowed Joseph or any of our kids to use it as an excuse not to do something. They know they have to go out and perform.

“He’s in his element. He’s living his dream. He loves golf. He knows the PGA Tour is where he belongs and he will do everything to stay out there.”

Fred Fried will represent Joseph Bramlett, the first golfer of African-American heritage to graduate from the PGA Tour’s qualifying school in 25 years.

Bramlett’s potential impact on golf, as the only PGA Tour member of black descent other than Tiger Woods, is clear. But he might be making an impact on Fried’s agency, Team Services LLC, as well.

Fried, the former ProServ and SFX executive, co-founded Team Services in 2002 and the firm primarily has been known for selling naming rights to buildings like the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, 3Com Park in San Francisco and the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland, Fried’s alma mater.

One thing Team Services has not done until now is represent athletes, although it’s something with which Fried has extensive experience from his previous stops. Over the years, Fried has directed the marketing activities of Michael Jordan, Steve Young, Boomer Esiason and Dan Jansen, among others.

GETTY IMAGES 

Joseph Bramlett has drawn comparisons to
Tiger Woods on several levels.

 

Now Bramlett is the first athlete client at Team Services and Fried is not discounting the possibility of more work in the golf space.

“We would consider expanding in golf,” said Fried, who co-founded Team Services with his partner, E.J. Narcise. “It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. If you’re doing things the right way, a natural question for companies to ask is whether or not you have other golf clients. … We’re not a player rep business. In fact, we made a conscious decision not to be a player rep business, but this time we made an exception.”

For now, Fried’s complete attention is on Bramlett, 22, a long-hitting 6-foot-4 graduate of Stanford. Fried signed Bramlett without any competition from traditional player rep agencies.

A mutual friend introduced Fried to Bramlett’s father, Marlo, two years ago and they struck up a relationship that led to talks about representation. The Bramletts never interviewed other agents.

“We found similar value points and connections on several fronts,” Fried said. “Joseph has some unique opportunities in front of him.”

Bramlett already is drawing comparisons to Woods. Both went to Stanford, come from racially mixed families and wear the Nike swoosh, but Fried is quick to point out that Bramlett and Woods traveled significantly different paths to the tour.

Woods left Stanford after two years, won on tour during his first season and never had to go to qualifying school. Part of Bramlett’s charm is that he overcame a serious wrist injury in college, and doggedly advanced through all three stages of Q school to earn his tour card.

Bramlett played Nike equipment and wore its apparel as part of the school’s all-sports deal with the brand, and that association will likely continue into Bramlett’s professional career. Fried is deep into talks to have Nike on Bramlett’s bag, joining other Nike golfers like Woods, Stewart Cink, Lucas Glover, Justin Leonard, Paul Casey and Anthony Kim.

Fried envisions two or three more sponsors — endemic and non-endemic — coming on board in 2011 during Bramlett’s rookie season.

“There will probably be fewer corporate relationships in the first few years than what Tiger had,” Fried said. “Tiger came out, won twice and was exempt, and then won the Masters. He’s a totally different case than a guy who is thinking about top 125 on the money list.”

Fried also will seek relationships that will help Bramlett promote the game to the African-American audience.

“There is an underlying importance culturally to him succeeding,” Fried said.

Bramlett will be featured in NBC’s coming golf show “Ticket to the Tour,” which looks at newcomers on the PGA Tour. While the PGA Tour will be promoting its young stars in 2011, Bramlett is not expected to be among them, said a tour spokesman, because he has not yet hit a shot as a tour member.

Food Distribution to Families

Manna’s regular food distribution program feeds approximately 3,300 families each month. Every client is referred to Manna through one of our partnerships with 360 different organizations. Clients may pick up food every 30 days at one of Manna’s distribution sites located all across Montgomery County. They receive a 3-5 day supply of perishable and shelf-stable food. We also deliver food directly to several low-income apartment complexes and community centers across the county.

Smart Sacks

In 2005, Manna founded Smart Sacks which partners Manna, local businesses and organizations with elementary schools. Together we provide the children with backpacks full of kid-friendly food every Friday so they have food on the weekends when there are no school meals to sustain them.

Food Distribution to Agencies

Manna also provides food to dozens of Montgomery County agencies including soup kitchens, food pantries, group homes, and emergency shelters throughout Montgomery County. These agencies have limited funds to address the root causes of poverty and hunger. 

From all of us at Team Services, we wish you a healthy holiday and a prosperous New Year!

 Joseph finished top-10 in both the first and second PGA Qualifying Tournament stages, and used a dramatic push on the last day of final stage qualifying to earn his tour card.  Joseph’s final round at Orange County National in Florida was televised on the Golf Channel, and drew a national viewing audience including a fellow ground-breaking golfer and Stanford alum.  Moments after Joseph completed his round, Tiger Woods tweeted “Congrats to Joe Bramlett for making it through Q School…Can’t wait to play with him next season.”

While his extraordinary run through Q-School has captured national media attention and landed him in outlets ranging from ESPN to the New York Times to USA Today, the golf community has known about Joseph for quite some time.  He was the youngest player to ever qualify for the US Amateur Open (14 years old), was part of an NCAA National Championship team at Stanford, qualified for the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach and won the prestigious Northeast Amateur (an amateur “Major”).  A recent graduate of Stanford University, Joseph will compete full-time on the PGA Tour next year.  Team Services sends our congratulations to Joseph on his historic achievement.

The LAA retained Team Services as its exclusive representative for the naming rights sales process when construction began on the 22,000 seat waterfront arena. Despite the nearly unprecedented, turbulent economic climate, Team Services demonstrated the immense value of the partnership to Fortune 500 member Yum! Brands. Our firm worked very closely with both Yum and the LAA over the course of multiple months to develop a naming rights program intended to accomplish an array of company and arena objectives.

“Our goal from the onset was to create the optimal naming rights program for the arena – not just from a financial standpoint, but also from a community activation, brand heritage, and corporate citizenship standpoint.  We had to remain disciplined in a trying economic climate, but we persisted with our strategy and secured an ideal partner in Yum! Brands,” said Team Services Principal EJ Narcise. “Together with Yum! Brands we have crafted a ‘partnership platform’ that will allow the community to be the true benefactor of this relationship.”

As part of the naming rights partnership, Yum! Brands will receive prominent exterior signage, including positions overlooking the Ohio River as well as placements visible from major roadways. Yum! will also vend branded food items from KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut in multiple concessions locations. Additional partnerships rights include a center court luxury suite, digital messaging rights, an interior signage package and the opportunity to utilize the arena for select corporate and community functions.

“Yum! Brands is extremely proud that Louisville’s newest and most spectacular venue will be named the KFC Yum! Center,” said David Novak, Chairman and CEO, Yum! Brands, Inc. “As the world’s largest restaurant company based in Louisville, with 1,400 local employees, we have always been committed to investing in our own hometown…The KFC Yum! Center is another great way for us to give back to the community and make it a great place for our employees and their families,” said Novak.

Along with our sister organization, Louisville Arena Sports and Entertainment Properties (LASEP), we have secured over $37.5 Million in sponsorship and naming rights revenue for the LAA. Arena Authority Chairman Jim Host took time to recognize Team Services’ accomplishment during the announcement ceremony. “(The LAA) is absolutely thrilled to unveil our new arena name, KFC Yum! Center. And we are deeply appreciative of Team Services’ efforts in culminating the naming rights transaction with Yum! Brands.”

Louisville’s new 22,000 seat downtown arena is currently being constructed on a riverfront site, which has been selected for its esthetics and central location. The NBA-caliber facility will be home of the nationally-ranked University of Louisville men’s and women’s basketball teams, and will host premier concerts and entertainment events. Featuring more than 100 luxury and junior suites, 10 lounge and restaurant areas, interactive technology, wireless integrations and eco-friendly design elements, the state of the art structure will rival any modern arena.

Despite the challenging economic climate, Team Services created a unique partnership that will deliver valuable marketing solutions and quantifiable return on investment (ROI) for Norton. The Cornerstone agreement will provide community exposure, the opportunity to educate the public about critical health care issues, and the ability to drive incremental revenue. As part of the $10 million partnership, Norton will receive naming rights to the outdoor plaza at the arena entrance, extensive signage in both the Arena and the University of Louisville football stadium, and perhaps most significantly, a retail location for a Norton Immediate Care Center in the arena.

“This is an unprecedented partnership, no where else are partners integrating health care services and education into a mixed-use facility at this significant of a level,” said Team Services Principal E.J. Narcise. “It is truly a “win-win” relationship on many levels, Norton will receive a tremendous platform to market its services and promote health care education, while also supporting the community and this pivotal civic project. Additionally, the surrounding areas will benefit from superior health care availability and Norton will have the opportunity to directly increase revenue.”

The 1,607 sq ft Immediate Care Center will enable Norton to provide convenient access to medical care for tens of thousands of downtown workers. By integrating an Immediate Care Center into the heart of downtown Louisville, prominently placed in front of an estimated one million annual arena patrons, Norton will not only enhance its ability to provide top-quality care to the public, but also create new revenue streams in these challenging times.

Just as significant as the revenue-generating aspect of the partnership was an essential provision Team Services included, which would allow Norton to continue its mission of public health education. Team Services and the LAA have created exclusive access and facility usage allotments, which Norton expects to utilize for Childhood Fitness and Nutrition education or Early Detection and Disease Prevention events.

“An important part of Norton Healthcare’s not-for-profit mission is to expand our services to meet important community health care needs in underserved areas,” said Stephen A. Williams, president & CEO of Norton Healthcare. “We will provide convenient access to urgent care services for people who live downtown and for those visiting our community for conventions, games and shows&We view this as a $10 million investment in our community.”

The Norton Healthcare agreement has set the bar well beyond what skeptics felt arena partnerships could be sold for in this environment. Team Services and LASEP expect to announce additional Cornerstone Partners, at a comparable level, in the coming weeks. In total, LASEP plans to have four to eight Cornerstone Partners in place for the Arena’s scheduled opening in 2010.