Jerry Haas, Belleville West HS class of 1981 is a former Wake Forest All-American and is in his 20th season as head coach of his alma mater. He began playing St. Clair Country Club at the age of 2 years old.

The nephew of former Masters champion Bob Goalby and the younger brother of current Champions Tour star Jay Haas, golf has been a part of Jerry Haas' life as long as he can remember. He began playing golf as soon as he could pick up a club and under the tutelage of his uncle and brother, Haas quickly developed into one of the premier junior players in the nation, winning the Illinois state high school title as a senior and earning All-America honors.

Haas arrived at Wake Forest in the fall of 1981, almost seven years after his brother helped lead the Deacons to back-to-back NCAA titles. Haas enjoyed a stellar collegiate career that included winning his first collegiate tournament, the East Tennessee State Invitational, in the fall of 1981 and placed second at two consecutive ACC Championships (1983, `84). He was chosen to the All-ACC squad three straight years (1983-85) and earned All-America honors in each of his four seasons. As a senior in 1985 he finished 18th at the NCAA Championships and was named a second-team All-American.

While at WFU, Haas continued to make his mark in the world of amateur golf, winning the Illinois Amateur title in 1982 and 1984 and advancing to the semifinals of the 1984 U.S. Amateur Championship. He qualified to play in the 1985 Masters, where he finished an impressive 31st. Haas was also selected as a member of the 1985 U.S. Walker Cup Team.

Haas graduated from Wake Forest in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication and set out to join the "family business." He spent nine years playing professional golf, including two years on the European Tour, three years on the Nike Tour, and four years on the PGA Tour. He played in over 115 PGA events between 1990 and 1995, earning several top 25 finishes and taking home over $319,000 in prize money. He also posted an outstanding season on the Nike Tour in 1994, winning three tournament titles and placing ninth on the tour money list to earn his PGA exemption.

Haas has coached a number of players who are enjoying the life of professional golf. Bill Haas and Webb Simpson are currently two of the hottest golfers on the PGA Tour. They were joined in 2011 by Kyle Reifers, who played for the Deacons from 2003-06. In addition, Brendan Gielow, Travis Wadkins and Lee Bedford have played on the Web.com Tour.

Over the last 12 years, the Deacons have won 17 tournaments, including three out of the last 12 NCAA Regionals. During Haas' tenure as head coach, WFU has produced 18 All-ACC selections and 18 individual tournament champions. In addition, Bill Haas was a three-time first-team All-America, the 2003 and 2004 ACC Player of the Year as well as the winner of the 2004 Ben Hogan Award.

Haas has continued to play, as time allows, during his coaching tenure. He advanced through qualifying rounds to participate in the 2002 U.S Open at Bethpage Black and the 2006 PGA Championship at Medinah, where he was paired with his brother, Jay Haas, for the first two rounds. He won the 2012 South Carolina Open, shooting 67-69-69, carding a 69.18 scoring average for the year and was runner-up for the 2012 Sectional Player of the Year. In September, 2013, a week after his 50th birthday, Haas played in the PGA Champions Tour Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, shooting rounds of 68-79-72 and finishing tied for 35th. In December of 2013, he won the Carolinas Section Pro-Pro at 25-under par. Most recently, Haas qualified for the 2014 U.S. Senior Open, his first senior major and was the 2015 Carolina section PGA Player of the Year, the oldest player to ever win that title. 

Haas and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Winston-Salem with their daughter, Shannon, and son, Kyle.

Rob Strano, Belleville East HS class of 1982, is a Golf Channel Academy Lead Instructor and is based out of Destin, Florida. He began playing St. Clair Country Club at the age of 6 years old.

Rob began learning the game of golf close to home thanks to a putting green his father installed in his backyard. During his junior career, he won many tournaments in the metro east area, but the highlight was winning the title as best junior player in the St. Louis District with the individual low stroke average trophy and individual total points champion trophy in 1981. He was three time all Southwestern Conference and two time all area in high school. Rob went on to play four years of collegiate golf at Centenary College in Louisiana following in the footsteps of PGA Tour player Hal Sutton at the Shreveport school.

After graduation, he played professional golf for 15 years. Rob played tournaments on the three major US Tours (PGA, Web.com, NGA/Hooters). As a player, he won 5 times with his last at the Energizer Invitational. He also posted 2 course records in competition and finished in the top 10 at PGA Tour School first stage. Rob earned the reputation as one of the "nicest players on tour" by donating a significant amount of his time at numerous charity events and outings.

His early professional instruction career includes instructor/Lead Instructor with the golf schools at Pine Needles Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Director of Instruction at Clinton CC and his current position at Kelly Plantation in Destin, Florida as Director of the Strano Golf Academy and Lead Coach for Golf Channel Academy. Rob has appeared several times on Golf Channel Morning Drive and as a guest segment coach on School of Golf with Martin Hall. In 2016 Rob’s segments during Thanksgiving week on Golf Channel were shot at various locations in Europe. The “Where in the World is Rob” series of lessons was widely watched and brought players top coaching from places like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on a gondola in Venice and from the Roman Coliseum.

At the Florida academy Rob’s players have won Player of the Year in the panhandle numerous times and have included a state championship runner up in 2015. His high school players have gone on to compete at such colleges as: Florida State, Florida, Southern Mississippi, Troy, Gardner Webb and Loyola to name a few.
In 2003 Rob developed a national deaf youth instruction program and he currently travels the country teaching deaf children how to play golf in sign language at PGA/LPGA Tour events. He is the only professional in the world actively teaching Deaf kids in the United States. Rob coaches players of all levels including several Touring Professionals from the PGA Tour, Ladies European Tour, and mini-tours as well as the top boys and girls high school players in the panhandle of Florida. Coach Strano is a four-time honorable mention Top 50 Youth Golf Instructor by US Kids Golf. Rob is part of the prestigious advisory board for FlightScope and a featured instruction writer for GolfWRX online. 

The Strano Academy has a motto and saying that the players hear all the time. The motto of "Leave Your Mark" is something that Rob's players hear at the end of every lesson and pertains to the amount of work necessary to be a top-level player as well as a top-level person. The academy saying is, “Be the warrior and bring the storm” and comes from Rob’s appearance with Michael Breed on Morning Drive.

Coach Strano resides in Niceville, Florida with his wife Naomi and has two children, a son Steve and daughter Tennyson.

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