The Bill Dickey Scholarship Association mourns the loss of Dr. Robert Sims, an extraordinary leader, golfer, mentor and longtime friend of the BDSA. Dr. Sims passed away on July 17, 2026, at the age of 97.
For more than a decade, Dr. Sims served on the BDSA Board of Directors, dedicating his time, resources and remarkable passion for golf to helping minority youth develop their game and pursue a college education.
His commitment to the BDSA began through the organization’s major fundraising events, including the East/West Golf Classic, where he played an important role in securing prizes and supporting the success of the tournaments. He later became a passionate supporter of the Bill Dickey Invitational (BDI) Championship Tournaments, helping raise funds and engage donors to sponsor young golfers in these premier national competitions.
For Dr. Sims, supporting young golfers was about much more than a tournament. He understood the opportunities that golf could create and was determined to make those opportunities available to others.
As a BDSA board member and assistant tournament director, Dr. Sims helped provide minority golfers with tournament experience and scholarships. His dedication extended far beyond the events themselves. He traveled to local and national tournaments, as well as PGA professional events across the country, to cheer on young men and women who had come through the BDI program and those who continued on to professional golf.
That personal support was one of the qualities that made Dr. Sims so special. He didn’t simply support young golfers from a distance—he showed up for them.
His passion for helping others was rooted in his own remarkable life. Born in Detroit in 1928, Dr. Sims overcame tremendous challenges from an early age. Athletics became an important part of his life, and he went on to become a standout athlete, educator, physician and community leader. He was the first Black varsity basketball player at what is now Eastern Michigan University and was later inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame.
Throughout his life, Dr. Sims never forgot the mentors, teachers and coaches who had helped him. He dedicated himself to creating opportunities for others, providing athletic physicals to Detroit Public School students, supplying sports uniforms, mentoring young people and encouraging countless students to pursue their dreams.
Golf became another important avenue for that service. A highly accomplished golfer himself, Dr. Sims won numerous awards throughout his decades in the sport, including the 1987 State of Michigan Senior Amateur Golf Tournament. At nearly 91 years old, he was also part of the winning foursome at the 2019 Delta Dental Senior Pro-Am at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
His influence in golf extended well beyond his own accomplishments. He was an inaugural member of the first Tiger Woods Foundation, served as the creator and director of the Detroit Golf Club Caddie Scholarship Foundation, and continued to mentor and advise young golfers and organizations well into his later years.
At BDSA, we will remember Dr. Sims for his extraordinary generosity, his wisdom, his love of golf and, most importantly, his unwavering belief in the potential of young people.
He was a champion for the BDSA mission and for the young golfers whose lives were touched by this organization. His presence at tournaments, his encouragement from the sidelines, his willingness to open doors and his commitment to creating opportunities will remain an important part of the BDSA story.
Dr. Robert Sims leaves behind a remarkable legacy of service, mentorship and opportunity. We are grateful to have had the privilege of working alongside him, and we will carry his example forward.
His legacy will live on in every young golfer who finds opportunity through the Bill Dickey Scholarship Association.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, October 10, 2026, at 1:30 PM at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 13110 Fourteenth Street, Detroit, Michigan. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Doc Sims Legacy Scholarship Fund online at cameronchampfoundation.org/docsims.
Building Hope… One Stroke at a Time.