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Olympia’s Dominick Francks was playing a round a few weeks back with his father at Tumwater Valley Golf Club when an important phone call came in from California.
Standing in a fairway, Francks was informed he not only had been accepted to Stanford University – his No. 1 school – but he also would be playing on scholarship for the Cardinal.
Excitement flooded his body. But proper on-course etiquette filled his head.
“I was happy,” the reigning Class 4A boys state champion said, “but I also did not want to hold up play.
Stanford was always the school Francks would wait for. And a good sign came last April when he was given one of the two applications for golf recruits to fill out.
“That showed they wanted me in their program,” Francks said.
In June, Stanford coach Conrad Ray extended a scholarship offer to Francks. That was bumped up, too, after his runner-up finish at the Callaway Junior Worlds at Torrey Pines South Course in San Diego in July.
The last hurdle was getting accepted by the university, which Francks – who captured the 2010 WJGA state and PNGA Junior Amateur titles – felt confident about because of his good grades and high Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores.
Ray phoned him with the good news in late July.
“There is no other school in the country that can offer the same level of athletics and academics (as) Stanford,” said Francks, who will take a third unofficial visit to the Palo Alto campus next week. “It’s not even close. It’s a really special place. There is no negative.”
Francks, a senior at Olympia High, will sign his letter of intent in the early signing period in November to be part of the Stanford recruiting class of 2012.
todd.milles@thenewstribune.com
