Dean Cassell
Charlotte, NC
Johnny Harris
Charlotte, NC
Cassell, Harris Elected to Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame
“We are honored to celebrate Dean Cassell and John Harris and their entry into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame,“ said Jackson Hughes, president of the Carolinas Golf Association. “Both of these individuals have significantly advanced golf as a sport and an industry throughout our region while giving back to the game and to their communities.”
Cassell and Harris were selected among nearly 20 nominees.
Dean Cassell is a resident of Charlotte.
A former minor league pitcher, Cassell’s tuition for his undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina was paid by the Boston Red Sox.
His signing bonus from the Philadelphia Phillies funded his degree from Harvard Business School in 1955.
In lieu of playing major league baseball, Cassell combined his love of sports and business experience to become president of the golf division of Acushnet Titleist Company of New Bedford, Mass., and president and CEO of British-owned Dunlop Sports in Greenville, S.C.
He was president of the National Golf Foundation and the Golf Ball Manufacturers Association, and the highlight of his extensive resume is the influence he had in the design and marketing of the golf ball as we know it today.
John Harris, also a resident of Charlotte, is perhaps best known in golf circles for developing the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club, one of the great stops on the PGA Tour, while also recruiting the 2017 PGA Championship to North Carolina.
Harris, who is Quail Hollow’s club president and the son of founder James J. Harris, spent two decades recruiting the President’s Cup.
Harris formed The Harris Group in January 1992, and in 1999 formed Lincoln Harris, an affiliate company of Lincoln Property Company. He is responsible for development and management of over 20 million square feet of property throughout the Southeast and was formerly President of The Bissell Companies, Inc., a major commercial real estate and investment management company.