UCM Dedicates New Blaine Whitworth Disc Golf Course

From left, Courtney Goddard, vice president for Advancement and executive director of the UCM Alumni Foundation;
Barry and Diane Whitworth; Beth Rutt, director of Student Activities; President Roger Best; and Jeff Rehm,
assistant director for Outdoor Education, pose for a photo on the Blaine Whitworth Disc Golf Course.

 

The University of Central Missouri (UCM) and the Warrensburg community have a new outdoor recreation space, thanks to the generosity of donors and alumni.

UCM dedicated the Blaine Whitworth Disc Golf Course, 820 S. Holden St., during a ceremony on Saturday, April 12. After remarks, UCM President Roger Best, Ph.D., Assistant Director for Outdoor Education Jeff Rehm, Director of Student Activities Beth Rutt and donors Barry and Diane Whitworth were the first to officially throw a disc on the new course.

Playing disc golf has been a lifelong hobby for Rehm, and he used that passion to help establish the new 18-hole course at UCM on the site of the former Fraternity Complex.

 

“I’ve made some of my fondest memories (at the Warrensburg disc golf course) since moving here, my closest friends have been met on that course, and I’m beyond excited to give this opportunity for our students, our community and UCM,” Rehm said. “It will be a wonderful venue for us.”

 

The new disc golf course is the latest show of support for the university by Barry, ’84, and Diane, ’77, Whitworth and the . They have established scholarship endowments and given gifts to multiple UCM programs. Barry and Diane are members of the ’s Founder’s Society and were awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award for Service in 2022.

“Barry and Diane have such a heart for service,” Rutt said. “Not only does UCM benefit from this, but I want you to know that they have such a heart. They contribute to their local community in Garden City, Missouri. They have brand-new pickleball courts, they've helped the softball field programs – Barry even umpires now – and they've also been instrumental in the Warrensburg community in helping develop the pickleball courts in Grover Park. So this is a family that knows what it means to give.”

The course is named in memory of Barry and Diane’s son, Blaine Whitworth, a UCM alumnus who earned a Bachelor of Science in Safety Management in 2009. 

While on campus, Blaine served as a Student Ambassador for the Office of Admissions and participated in intramural sports. After graduation, he worked as a safety advisor on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and Singapore. Blaine’s love for Warrensburg brought him home in 2011 to pursue his lifelong dream of being a business owner. He owned two establishments in downtown Warrensburg when he died in 2012 at the age of 25.

 

After his death, the Whitworth family established the Blaine Whitworth Foundation, which champions community causes that Blaine loved in Warrensburg and Garden City. The Foundation’s mission is to provide educational resources for aspiring entrepreneurs; activities that involve parks and recreation and benefit youth, adults and communities; and assistance to those who need a hand-up to get their lives back on track.

There are aspirations to eventually add shelter houses with tables and grills to the course, and Diane said she hopes to see families and students use the new space. 

“My vision is to see people coming here with their families, have a birthday party,” Diane said. “I would assume some of the fraternities and sororities will come and enjoy it, have time to be out in the fresh air, which is where we all need to be and that’s what Blaine would love because he loved the parks and being outside with sports. 

 

“So today is an exciting day for all of us as we dedicate this 18-hole disc golf course to Blaine. He had a big heart and big dreams – today, one comes true.”

In addition to financial support from the Whitworths, countless volunteers helped prepare the grounds for the disc golf course. For months, Rehm worked with student organizations, including every sorority and fraternity on campus, to pick up trash, trim trees and remove brush and rocks. 

In just two weeks, donors from all over the country made gifts to sponsor each of the 18 course holes: the UCM chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity; Alex Sullivan; UCM Marketing; Boswell Concrete & Asphalt; the Beth and Charlie Rutt Family; All American Sleeper, Truck & Trailer Repair of Tampa, Florida; the Province Family; the UCM chapter of Delta Chi Fraternity; Steve and Andrea Luebbert; the McMillin Family; UCM Alumni Foundation; Stacy Piontek, XJEN; Western Missouri Medical Center; PCMR; Steve's Comic Cleaning & Pressing; Harris, Sommer & Peppard LLC; Dan Ream and Family; and Barry and Diane Whitworth. The UCM Farms and Mike and Vicki Bird also donated gifts of support.

For more information, contact the UCM Office of Student Activities at 660-543-4007.

 

With a crowd of supporters behind them, from left, UCM President Roger Best, Ph.D., Assistant Director for Outdoor
Education Jeff Rehm, Barry Whitworth, Diane Whitworth and Director of Student Activities Beth Rutt are the first to
officially throw a disc on the new course.