Hawaii’s Mark and Debi Rolfing give back with their Angel Babies program

When Mark and Debi Rolfing were named the first co-recipients of the PGA Distinguished Service Award at last month’s 101st PGA of America annual meeting, it had a little to do with golf and a lot to do with saving tiny lives.

In this century, while Mark has become the focal point of nearly all things golf in Hawaii, he and his wife have been licensed foster parents. They have willed into being a Cradle Care Ministry that, in the past 18 years, has welcomed 28 newborns into their lives. Most have been medically — sometimes critically — fragile.

They have provided love and care in their homes on Maui and in Montana while adoption attorneys and case managers decide if the infant should be reunited with birth parents or placed with adoptive families.

This under-the-radar and over-the-rainbow act has been going on long enough that their first “Angel Baby” now has a child of her own.

It is why the Rolfings take their place in an elite Distinguished Service club that dates back to 1988. It includes golfers such as Gene Sarazen, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, along with assorted commissioners, dignitaries, celebrities and three U.S. Presidents (Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton). Debi is only the second woman to be honored, after Patty Berg.

“I can’t think of another couple that is more deserving for what they’ve done,” said Peter Jacobsen — like Rolfing, more known as a golf broadcaster than a golfer — during the award ceremony last month. “What they’ve done is immeasurable.”

Because, really, how do you measure a compassion that nurtures the young and innocent lives of strangers, who now are part of the Rolfings’ lives forever?

“When the phone rings and I pick up a baby at a hospital everything else in my world stops,” Debi says. “It’s what fills my heart.”

She calls it her “life’s ministry” and “purpose” and Mark is much more than just along for the ride.

He is more devoted to his Angel Babies than he is even to golf, where his prominence as a broadcaster has allowed him to become one of the game’s most passionate, articulate and active supporters.

Even more devoted than he is to Hawaii golf, which has become his passion since moving to Kapalua 40 years ago.

Officially, the PGA of America’s most prestigious award “honors outstanding individuals who display leadership and humanitarian qualities including integrity, sportsmanship and a passion for the game of golf. By their endeavors, they have given back to others and helped grow the game of a lifetime.”

The Mark and Debi Rolfing Charitable Foundation began in 1990, focused on “bettering the lives of high-risk, underserved children.” Mark and Debi heard about “cradle care” at a dinner party conversation. She immediately became immersed.

After caring for their first Angel Baby, Mark recalls, “We realized there was a gigantic void in the foster care system that really didn’t take these newborns and put them in a program that allowed them to be successful in life.”

Their foundation took on the challenge. Their 28 “children” spent as few as three days with them initially, and as much as three months. The Rolfings are still part of their lives — “Like a patchwork quilt,” one of the adoptive mothers says, “many pieces make the whole.”

Pro golfer Kirk Triplett and his wife adopted a child. The scope and success of Cradle Care has the Rolfings contemplating ways to expand.

“If people think it’s a good cause it makes sense to try and grow it and get more people interested,” says Mark, whose foundation has funded the program completely. “It’s a very valuable program that is totally missing from the system. What we do is unique.”

While they ponder that future, he also remains focused on his health — he is a survivor of Stage 4 salivary gland cancer — and the Chicago Parks Golf Alliance he is deeply involved with to bring golf to the next generation in the state where he was born.

And, always, Rolfing is closely involved with golf’s future here. The PGA Tour begins the New Year here, again, with the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Plantation (Jan. 4-7). That agreement goes through 2022. The 20th Sony Open in Hawaii is Jan. 11-14 at Waialae Country Club. Its new agreement also takes it through 2022.

“I think it shows the value of having major events here in Hawaii,” Rolfing says. “The fact we’re going into our 20th year with Sony says a lot about Hawaii in general and Waialae specifically, but more importantly Friends of Hawaii Charities. How much has it meant to Hawaii? Twenty years is an extremely long life for title sponsorships in the world of golf these days. It is tremendous news.”

Justin Thomas, the 2017 player of the year, won both last January and plans to be back.

“I think the game at its highest level is in really good shape now,” Rolfing says. “You look at the core players coming to Hawaii in three weeks — Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka … Hawaii tournaments are in a great position because that group of players loves Hawaii and they are at the top of their games now.”