TSU coach, a St. Ann parishioner, is inspiration for new movie

Theresa Laurence, Tennessee Register

 The new feature film “From the Rough” describes its characters as “worlds apart” with “nothing in common.” The only thing that kept them together, proclaims the movie trailer, was a game. The game of golf, and their coach, Catana Starks.

Starks, the first female head coach of an NCAA Division I men’s golf team, no longer coaches, but continues to teach and mentor students at Tennessee State University. She is also an active parishioner at St. Ann Church in Nashville.

“It’s an honor and a humbling experience” to have her story portrayed on the big screen, Starks said. The movie “From the Rough,” which tells the story of how Starks took an unruly group of mismatched kids from around the world and guided them to victory at the PGA National Collegiate Minority Championship, is scheduled for wide release on Feb. 3.

Starks has already seen the movie several times, including a screening last fall that was part of Nashville’s International Black Film Festival, which she attended with several St. Ann parishioners. “It was really wonderful,” she said.

Starks was interviewed by the movie’s producers several times during the script writing process. She was also invited to be on set for scenes filmed at Dillard University in New Orleans, standing in for Tennessee State University.

She sees the movie not so much as a “black/white thing,” but as “an inspiration for young girls to do things like coach a boys team,” she said. Racial issues are prominently addressed in the film, but there’s more to it than that. It’s a story to empower women, and it’s a story about just how wide a great teacher’s influence can reach.

When Starks was tasked with building Tennessee State’s first golf team in the 1980s, she had been the swim coach; she had played and coached fast pitch softball, but she had never played golf competitively or coached the sport. “I always liked a challenge,” she said with a laugh.

She recruited golfers from around Europe to play at the historically black university. Many were talented players, but lacked discipline, in some instances because their parents had been too lenient on them. “Parents need to be the parent, not the child’s best friend,” she said.

When the players got to Starks, they often found a new mother figure, one who was tough, wise and always emphasized education over sports. “I pushed them to graduate. I told them, ‘Your parents didn’t let you come here to be an athlete. You study first.’”

During her 17 years as head of TSU’s golf program, Starks coached such notable players as Sam Puryear, now director of golf at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina; Sean Foley, a swing coach for Tiger Woods; and Robert Dinwiddie, an All-American at TSU, now a member of the European Tour.

Since word of the movie has spread, “I’ve gotten so many e-mails from the guys who played for me,” she said. “It’s wonderful to have touched their lives and they’ve gone on to do great things,” she said.

Raised in a Protestant family in Mobile, Ala., Starks converted to the Catholic faith after moving to Nashville and attending St. Vincent de Paul Church with a friend. She was baptized there and active in the parish choir for years. Since moving over to St. Ann, she has served as a Eucharistic minister, parish council member and other volunteer positions as called upon by pastor Father Philip Breen. “I love him to death,” she said.

Starks’ faith is important to her and her commitment to following Jesus’ teachings has shaped her life’s work of teaching and coaching. Reflecting on the racism and sexism she faced down during her years as the golf coach, she wonders when the prejudice will stop. “I don’t know why we hate,” she said. “The Lord Jesus loved everybody. He didn’t care what ethnicity you were.”

Traveling with her team to golf tournaments around the Southeast, Starks was often mistaken as merely the bus driver on trips. People just couldn’t believe this black woman was coaching a multi-racial men’s team.

When ugly instances occurred in front of her players, Starks took the opportunity to discuss the issues with them. “Every occasion was a teachable moment for me,” she said from her office at TSU, where she serves as the chair of the human performance and sports science department.

The international players that made up the bulk of her golf team roster did not have a full understanding of the roots of American racial prejudices, so she would lead the discussion, she said. Prejudices “stem from not understanding or respecting one another,” Starks said, and it should be the parents who teach their children not to hate. If they don’t do it, Catana Starks will.

“From the Rough” is scheduled for a Feb. 3 release and stars Taraji P. Henson, an Oscar nominee for the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” playing a fictionalized version of Starks. It also stars Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movie series and Michael Clarke Duncan, an Oscar nominee for the film “The Green Mile.” It is directed by Pierre Bagley. More information is available at www.fromtheroughmovie.com.