Women's Golf
- Title:
- Director of Golf/Head Men's Golf Coach
- Email:
- hpage@kent.edu
- Phone:
- 330-672-4629
A fixture on the Kent State University campus since arriving as an undergraduate three-sport student-athlete in 1970, Director of Golf Herb Page has grown to become one of the most respected golf coaches in the country.
For over 40 years now Page has been a tireless worker with his players, on the recruiting trail, as a fundraiser and as an ambassador for the game of golf. But even after decades of monumental accomplishments under his direction, the Golden Flashes golf program continues to reach new heights every season.
Page has built a dynasty in the Mid-American Conference and the legacy only seems to grow stronger with each passing year. He has led the Golden Flashes to 21 MAC titles on his watch and along the way has garnered 24 MAC Coach of the Year awards.
However, the highlights haven’t been limited to just play in the MAC — far from it actually. On top of the 28 NCAA regional appearances Kent State, has advanced to the NCAA Championship 18 times during that span.
In recent years, Kent State has been a staple on the national scene and has been a contender at Nationals multiple times. The Flashes have made an appearance at Nationals in five of eight seasons from 2010 to 2017. The shining moment during that run came in 2012, when the program reached its best finish in history in fifth place at the NCAA National Championship.
However, the 2017 season goes down among the greatest in program history, with several records shattered. Kent State used a consistent lineup for most of the season and produced unprecedented results. Kent State set a new program record for scoring average at 285.56, passing the 1999-2000 team by almost three strokes. The Flashes averaged nearly a stroke under par on the season, a first in program history. The Flashes recorded 687 birdies and 29 eagles, both far and away the best numbers ever at Kent State. The Flashes led all of NCAA Division I in eagles and were tied for fifth in total birdies.
before traveling to the British Open
Those accomplishments come in just the most recent era of Page's time at Kent State. Almost a decade ago, Page celebrated his 30th anniversary as the head coach of the Golden Flashes in style and in a manner that could not have more perfectly summed up his career.
Take the following into account:
• Early in the fall of 2007, the Ferrara & Page Golf Training Center was officially dedicated. Bearing his name, the facility — which had been a dream of Page’s for many years — officially became a reality with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 15, 2007. It immediately gained acclaim as one of the top facilities of its kind in the country.
• Calling it “one of the highest honors of his career,” Page was presented with the 2008 Golf Coaches Association of America Labron Harris Sr. Award in January. Named after the late Labron Harris Sr., former head coach at Oklahoma State University, the award is presented to the college or high school coach and PGA Professional whose support of the game through teaching, coaching and involvement in the community has helped ensure the continued growth of the golf.
• Kent State then capped off the 2007-08 season in stunning fashion, finishing in sixth place at the NCAA Championships in May — the best showing in the storied history of the program. After four grueling rounds at Purdue’s Kampen Course, the Golden Flashes finished a mere 10 shots behind eventual champion UCLA.
• Just a few short months later, Page was in Louisville, Ky. to watch former three-time All-American Ben Curtis help the United States reclaim a Ryder Cup trophy that it hadn’t held since 1999. Curtis defeated Lee Westwood 2 & 1 in singles play to cap off a solid 1-1-1 performance in his first appearance on one of golf’s biggest stages.
• Kent State finished fifth in the nation at the 2011 NCAA Championships when the event was held at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Cal.
In 1993, the Golden Flashes captured their first-ever NCAA Regional title before tying for the title in 2001. In between, at the 2000 NCAA Championship, Page led the Golden Flashes to their highest-ever finish at the time — ninth. All told, in more than 40 years of coaching, Page has led his alma mater to an astounding 80 tournament titles, claiming NCAA District IV Coach of the Year honors seven times.
That success has not gone unnoticed in the national golf press, as Page’s
THE HERB PAGE FILE |
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Birthdate: March 16, 1951 |
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Coaching Highlights |
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Playing Experience |
linksters have been ranked consistently among the nation’s top 25 teams over last 15 years. The 1995 squad garnered the highest-ever national standing of any Kent State team with a seventh-place ranking in late May, a feat which would be duplicated again in the fall of 1999. In his tenure with the Kent State program, Page has coached 82 All-MAC golfers, 26 All-Americans and 29 golfers who have been selected as All-America Scholar-Athletes. In 2011, John Hahn captured his third consecutive All-American accolade and then joined former Golden Flash Brian Bridges (1990, 1991) as the only two MAC players in league history to be named to both the All-America team and an All-America Scholar in the same season in consecutive years. In 2013, Corey Conners became the third to join that group.
Page’s tutors have gone on to excel once they’ve left the friendly confines of Kent for the rigors of professional golf. He has mentored Curtis, who can also lay claim to the 2003 British Open title and a runner-up finish at the 2008 PGA Championship, and Kent State’s first first-team All-American and current Kent State assistant coach in Jon Mills. In addition, KSU also boasts roughly a half-dozen other alums who are currently playing professional golf right now. In the summer of 2008, he proudly followed former four Flashes as Curtis, Mills joined Bryan DeCorso and David Morland IV who were all competing at the PGA Tour’s 2008 RBC Canadian Open. Ian Holt and Chase Johnson have since joined the Canadian Tour along with Taylor Pendrith, Corey Conners and J.D Hughes.
Never in the job for personal gain, the Labron Harris Award was nonetheless the most recent honor in a long line of awards for Page. In 2005, he was inducted into the Northern Ohio PGA Hall of Fame. The previous year, Page joined Larry Penley of Clemson University and East Tennessee State University’s Fred Warren as the 2004 inductee class into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame. In the summer of 2004, he joined Tom Weiskopf and two others who were inducted into the Ohio Golf Hall of Fame.
In 1998, Page received the honor of coaching the U.S. team in the World Junior Championships held in Japan. The year before, he was given a Special Achievement Award by Kent State University as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Northern Ohio PGA. In 2018, Page received the honor of being one of the head coaches for the International team in the Arnold Palmer Cup in France. Page was also honored by the Dapper Dan Association of Akron with the William Falor Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Portage County Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
The ever-active Page served as chairman of the NCAA District IV Advisory Committee for five years in the late 1980s and served on the committee again for the 2000-01 season. His first stint was from 1988-92, during which he served as the chairman in 1992. His second term was from 1998-2001 and he served as the chairman in 2001.
Page also spearheads the main Kent State fundraiser — the Rango Invitational, which is held every August at Windmill Lakes Golf Course. This tournament, along with other gifts, has earned over $1.4 million for the Kent State University golf endowments and the new facility.
As an undergraduate at KSU, he earned eight varsity letters — four in golf and two each in football and ice hockey. He was the golf team’s captain his senior year and the placekicker for two of the most successful grid teams in school history — the 1972 MAC champions and the 1973 team that set a school record with nine victories. In 1974, Page was named the MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was drafted in the fifth round by the British Columbia Lions as a placekicker, although he never played in the Canadian Football League.
For all of his accomplishments at Kent State, Page was inducted into the Varsity “K” Alumni Association’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985.
The Markham, Ontario, native also made a name for himself as a top player and teacher with the Northern Ohio PGA. In his first professional tournament victory more than a decade ago, he shot a one-under-par 71 on the renowned Firestone Country Club North Course. Page’s participation in Pro-Am tournaments include a number of impressive performances. At the 1987 Trumbull County Pro-Am, he registered a 67 (three under par), and at that year’s Ohio Open Pro-Am he earned runner-up honors with a six-under-par 66.
Despite all the honors and accolades, Page has never wavered from his grand plan for the Kent State golf program. In August of 2005, Page, along with numerous contributors to the Kent State golf programs, broke ground on the new Kent State Golf Training & Learning Center. Just a little over two years later, the sparkling $2.2 million facility was formally dedicated. A long-time vision of Page’s for the golf programs, the state-of-the-art practice facility will ensure Kent State Golf’s continued success at the highest national level.
In November of 2007, the KSU Board of Trustees formally approved the name of the building as the Ferrara & Page Golf Training & Learning Center in honor of the family of Dr. Emilio Ferrara, who was responsible for the lead gift, and Page.
Page is married to Dr. Paula Treckel, and resides in Kent.
