Forty years later, Rick McVey is still playing golf.
Â
The 1981 Miami University graduate and former co-captain of the Miami golf team still enjoys every moment he gets to spend on the course.
Â
"It continues to be one of my passions," McVey said. "Golf is such a unique game, because it challenges every part of you. It's a complex game, with a lot of mental aspects to it, but what I enjoy about golf to this day is the same as what I valued at Miami, which is the camaraderie that comes with being out on the course with people that you enjoy spending time with…you get four hours to be with people and be outdoors doing something that you love, but also having quality conversation and getting perspective on life outside your work environment.
Â
"I very much enjoy that to this day."
Â
McVey, the founder, CEO and chairman of MarketAxess, has remained involved with both his alma mater and its golf program in the four decades since he graduated with a finance degree. He has endowed multiple scholarships for the RedHawks' golf team, underwritten a Farmer School of Business scholarship and served on the Miami University Foundation Board of Directors.
McVey (center) at the groundbreaking of the
Richard M. McVey Data Science Building
Â
Most recently, he donated $20 million to help Miami begin construction on the Richard M. McVey Data Science Building, which is scheduled to open on campus in January 2024. He is also the parent of a Miami graduate, as oldest daughter Taylor followed in her father's footsteps as a finance major, graduating in 2011. The university named McVey its Philanthropist of the Year in 2020.
Â
"It's been important for me to be able to stay connected to Miami and to give back to hopefully create experiences for other varsity student-athletes that are similar to the one that I had while I was there," said McVey.
Â
"I enjoyed being part of the golf team. The group was close. It wasn't necessarily fun on Saturday and Sunday mornings in March to be teeing off at Hueston Woods at 7:30 in the morning, but it built a close bond with all the team members at Miami.
Â
"I just enjoyed that part of my experience."
Â
The perseverance and determination that characterized McVey's career as a student-athlete in Oxford has obviously served him well in the business world since then, and he has a great deal of appreciation for the lessons he learned through his stint as a Miami golfer.
Â
"I didn't make the team my freshman year," McVey said. "But I didn't lose sight of that goal, kept working on my game, and had a pretty good summer…I was able to make it through qualifying as a walk-on my sophomore year…
Â
"We had a strong team. Typically five or six team members would travel to the tournaments on the weekends, and we would have 11 or 12 of us on the team. So I was clawing my way into the travel team during sophomore year…I started to play a little bit more regularly junior year.
Â
"It really wasn't until senior year that I was traveling with the travel team regularly. That was the year that we won the MAC championship, so I always felt that the hard work paid off. It was great to see the progression of the team and also work my way into traveling and ultimately playing in the MAC championship to finish my career at Miami."
Â
McVey (second from left) and the 1981 Miami golf team
That 1981 Miami team finished the MAC championship event in Muncie, Ind. with a score of 1466, seven strokes ahead of runner-up Eastern Michigan. After carding rounds of 367 and 375 to begin the event, the Red and White finished with a 360 and a 364 to close the weekend and bring a trophy home to Oxford.
Â
"That was certainly the culmination of my Miami golf career, because I'd gone from a walk-on to making the team to getting a few tournaments to being co-captain my senior year, and then having that end in a championship was just incredibly gratifying," said McVey. "I was part of something special and we felt really good about what we were able to accomplish together. So the whole thing was an important part of my Miami experience."
Â
Brian Fogt, now the director of instruction at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Mo., served as Miami's co-captain in 1981 along with McVey. "We had a scrappy group of guys that knew how to battle and never gave up," Fogt said of the title-winning group, which included three players who would earn All-American honors during their Miami careers (Fogt, Mark Chapleski and Bob Lohr) and two who went on to post top-10 finishes in PGA Tour events (Fogt and Lohr).
Â
"It was definitely a team effort."
Â
Fogt saw McVey's leadership skills and work ethic on display even back then. "He was a super hard worker and super dedicated, not just academically, but to the golf team," Fogt remembered.
Â
"He just had a lot of grit and a lot of tenacity when it came to playing the game; obviously it's served him well after school too, and he's had an amazing career…you develop a confidence and an inner belief that you can do something, and that impacts not just yourself, but other people…
Â
"It's cool what he's done, not just for Miami, but for a bunch of folks."
Â
The former teammates have stayed in touch, with McVey sending Fogt some videos of his swing in the past couple of years to pick up a few pointers as he continues to practice the game he loves. "He still plays golf at a high level," Fogt said. "He was never a long hitter, but he just worked on his short game and maximized his strengths."
Â
Over the years, McVey has been fortunate enough to play on some of the world's top courses, with Augusta National, Shinnecock Hills, and Pebble Beach among his all-time favorites. Earlier this year, McVey competed at the American Express Pro-Am in Palm Springs, playing alongside pro stars such as Justin Rose and Jason Day. However, his all-time low score remains a round he played in Oxford, Ohio as a collegian. "My best score ever was in a qualifying round at Oxford Country Club," McVey said. "It was an important day for me to advance [in the tryouts], and I managed to put one of my best rounds together that day and shoot a 65 out there."
Although McVey may not even be the best athlete in his own family – his wife, television personality Lara Spencer, was an All-American diver at Penn State and enjoys playing tennis at a high level to this day – he has always been a competitor, whether on the course or off. "I like to get the best out of not only what I can contribute, but the teams that I've been able to lead over the years," McVey said.
Â
"I do think that hard work and persistence and competitiveness all feed into what you often see in successful careers after college, and I certainly feel that was the case for me."
 Find more Front Row Features at MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.
Interested in making a donation to the Golf Excellence Fund? Please click here or contact Assistant Vice President for Development Dr. Jeff Porter at jporter@miamioh.edu to learn how you can get involved and support Miami Golf.
