Where Are They Now? is an occasional Times-News sports series on the current status of former Erie-area athletes, coaches, officials or administrators of interest.
These days, former Cathedral Prep golfer Tim Dunlavey is more concerned with reducing the daily burdens of others than his score per round.
Dunlavey, 56, helps residents in and around Spartanburg, South Carolina. That’s where the 1986 Prep graduate lives and serves as an elder for Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Dunlavey also is a board member for Total Ministries, which operates a food bank and provides financial assistance for those deemed in need.
“We just try to help people who are in tight spots,” he said. “Try to give them a hand up when things are rough. I know we were a lifesaver during the pandemic.”
Dunlavey spoke with the Erie Times-News via a Sept. 26 Zoom call at Whispering Woods Golf Course. That was several days before Hurricane Helene’s destructive and deadly path began to ravage the western Carolinas.
On a lighter note, Dunlavey’s call was arranged by Erie District Golf Association officials. The 1985 PIAA boys golf champion spoke exactly one month before his official induction for its hall of fame.
Dunlavey is one four golfers who comprise the hall’s 2024 class. Current EDGA president Dave Hewett, Bob Paris and the late Norm Gaylord are others who will be enshrined during an Oct. 26 ceremony at Lake Shore Country Club.
Also honored that night will be Judy Saurer, Judy Meister and Steph Urban. They’ll enter the Erie District Women’s Golf Association Hall of Fame.
More: EDGA president Dave Hewett, former pro Tim Dunlavey highlight its 2024 hall of fame class
‘Always felt like home’
This will be the third hall of fame induction ceremony for Dunlavey, who also excelled on the links for the University of Virginia. He was voted to two Atlantic Coast Conference all-star teams and then experienced a professional career highlighted by six starts in PGA Tour events.
Dunlavey, through qualifying tournaments, also competed in the 2018 and 2019 U.S. Senior Opens. Those appearances occurred more than a decade after he was enshrined in the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame’s Metropolitan Erie chapter (2004) and Cathedral Prep’s athletic hall of fame (2006).
“This (month’s induction) is the one I’m most excited about,” Dunlavey said, “because of all my (experiences) learning golf while I was growing up in Erie. All the guys I grew up with were the other good players in town. I tried to get as good as them and learn things from them.”
“Even though I’ve been away for a long time, Erie’s always felt like home.”
More: Evan Rowane wins EDGA Amateur ahead of Mercyhurst University’s Division I golf debut
A lifetime sport
Dunlavey is attuned to golf’s warp-speed evolution since his successful days as a Rambler 40 years ago. He was reminded of that during a trip back to Erie, which included a round at the Kahkwa Club.
Dunlavey’s tee shot on the course’s 10th hole, its first when he was a Prep student, easily reached the top of the fairway’s first hill.
And then some.
“I always thought it was a good shot when I could (reach) the top of that hill,” Dunlavey said. “Now, you can hit it 80 yards past it. These balls now, they go farther and the (clubs) make them go straighter and higher with less spin.”
Dunlavey, despite living in such a region ripe with golf courses, said he currently only plays two or three rounds per month. Maybe an occasional tournament at The Country Club of Spartanburg, where he’s been a member since 1999.
The round count, though, is almost irrelevant to Dunlavey.
That he continues to competently drive, chip and putt is what’s important.
“It’s neat to still be able to play a sport I grew up with and be able to get out and meet more people,” Dunlavey said. “I’m fortunate and blessed to have the timing and the hands to do this.
“I’m lucky I found something that fit.”
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Former PIAA golf champ, PGA Tour pro Tim Dunlavey gets EDGA Hall call
