Notah Begay III Gives Back

Notah Begay III

Gives BACK

By Emmaly Wiederholt

PHOTO BY Don James

“I wanted to serve as a role model in that regard. In the spotlight playing professional sports, so many people judge my community based on my actions.

I always wanted to reflect the best possible light on the American Indian people.”

N

otah Begay III has a long list of credits to his name: four-time PGA Tour winner, third player in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59, full-time member of the NBC Sports/Golf Channel broadcasting team and Golf Magazine Top Innovators of the Year in 2009. Beyond these accolades, he is a native New Mexican and the only full-blooded Native American to have been on the PGA Tour.

“Being from New Mexico is one of the things I’m most proud of,” says Begay. “It’s a state that doesn’t always get a lot of attention.

I’m proud of the people, the culture, the landscape and the attractions. Whenever I get the chance, I make sure people know I’m from this beautiful state, and when I joined the tour I always made sure I was announced as playing out of Albuquerque. I knew it would make the people of New Mexico proud.”

As a prominent Native American figure, Begay understands the importance of positively representing his community. “I’ve basically tried to serve as a role model, both in how I approach my sport and how I live my life. It was important to me that I graduated from Stanford because I knew that education is something much needed on our Indian reservations. I wanted to serve as a role model in that regard. In the spotlight playing professional sports, so many people judge my community based on my actions. I always wanted to reflect the best possible light on the American Indian people.”

This is some of the impetus behind the Notah Begay III Foundation.

Starting with a golf program headed by Begay’s father, Notah Begay Jr., Native American youth from the greater Albuquerque area were introduced to golf, a sport often out of reach for both rural and urban Native American youth. This program grew to

a tremendous amount of its resources toward research development, to discern the impact of sports-related programs from a physical, emotional and mental standpoint. Also a grant-making agency, the Notah Begay III Foundation allocated close to a million dollars in grants in the past two years, benefitting over 40 communities across the United States.

On June 26-27, the second annual Rio Grande Charity Slam will take place at the Pueblo of Santa Ana, just north of Albuquerque. The Rio Grande Charity Slam brings together two highlyrespected New Mexico nonprofit organizations — the Notah Begay III Foundation and the Jewish Community Center of Albuquerque — to promote physical activity, health and wellness, combat childhood obesity, and serve needy families and children. “We try to bring together some of the strongest businesses in New Mexico to collaborate how to best allocate resources to support our work,” notes Begay.

become a national Native-led nonprofit raising awareness and resources to combat childhood obesity among the American Indian population “It’s important to know the significance of childhood obesity prevention,” Begay explains. “Early childhood obesity predisposes kids to chronic illness later in life. We’re talking type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease. For a community that already has the shortest life span in America, we need to improve the health

of our children while encouraging and educating them to understand what’s at stake. The other thing is, from a cultural standpoint, so many of our traditions are passed down orally, but we’re losing many of our spiritual leaders early due to poor health. That prevents them from passing on the important cultural traditions that provide certain aspects of our identity in our Native community.”

Reflecting on his career and philanthropy, Begay relates a moment that stands out to him: “We built a state-of-the-art soccer field at San Felipe Pueblo, and it was the first recreational facility in the community. We raised over $750,000 for the field. It’s like an oasis in the middle of the desert, lush and green. We built it with artificial turf used in a lot of the major stadiums across the country. We built a walking path around the field, and many of the community members use it on a regular basis, either before or after work, and especially in the summer. People walk with their families, with the elderly, even pushing toddlers in strollers. It just goes to show if you build these types of spaces, people will respond in a positive fashion. I’m a big believer in providing our communities with opportunities to exercise.”

Those are two big reasons why the Notah Begay III Foundation dedicates

For more information, visit NB3Foundation.org