Bucknell University Athletics
Update from Head Men's Golf Coach Mike Binney -- December 2025
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Dear Bucknell Men’s Golf Family, Friends, and Alumni,
It has been a couple of months since I sent my last message, so this one will contain a few additional notes on the last two months that I think are worth mentioning in a season/semester-ending update.
Last month, we celebrated one national holiday, Veterans Day, and one national birthday, the 250th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps (10 Nov. 1775). As is the case every year, I take time to reflect on what those two days mean to me, and this year was especially important to me because the Marine Corps turned 250 years old this past month.
Because Veterans Day and the USMC birthday fall a day apart, they have been inextricably linked for me my entire adult life. My father served in the Marine Corps Reserves in the mid-1960s. His brother, my uncle, was a 1964 West Point graduate who served in Vietnam as an artillery officer. His son, Geoff, also went to West Point, played on the Army football team, and served as an artillery officer. Along with his brother Steve, who went to the Citadel, they both became FBI agents and served with distinction. Geoff is the father of three boys, and two of them went to West Point as well.
Being a Marine, the Army/Navy football game is always a struggle for me as I grew up listening to my uncle trash Roger Staubach (and subsequently the Dallas Cowboys), while later in life, after joining the Marine Corps, I could not abandon my connection to the U.S. Naval Academy, which annually produces some of the finest Marine Officers and best friends I have known!
Another of my father’s brothers served in the U.S. Air Force at U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand as a C-130 mechanic. During the Tet Offensive, the C-130s were receiving so much battle damage during their flights into Vietnam that his unit was tasked with sending a small detachment of maintenance personnel to Da Nang and Khe Sanh in order to repair the aircraft after they landed. My uncle was part of the detachment sent to Da Nang!
As I try to do every year, I like to highlight the service of someone who I consider very special to the fabric of America and this great experiment in democracy that has endured for the last 250+ years. In this case, I couldn’t do justice to just one man, so I decided to honor the exploits of one of the most important groups in Marine Corps history. On Saturday, Oct 18, 2025, U.S. Marine veteran and Navajo Code Talker John Kinsel Sr. passed away at the age of 107. He was one of the last three remaining U.S. Marine Corps Navajo Code Talkers. When John Kinsel passed away, he left behind his two remaining Marine brothers, Thomas H. Begay (101) and Peter McDonald (97).
Thomas H. Begay served with the Fifth Marine Division, and Peter MacDonald served aboard multiple battleships with the Sixth Marine Division. Along with Kinsel, Begay and McDonald were part of the almost 500-man detachment of Navajo Code Talkers in the South Pacific that were instrumental in the decisive island-hopping campaign pitting the U.S. Marine Corps against the imperial Japanese Army and Naval forces during WW2. The Code Talkers were dispersed among all of the amphibious Marine Corps units involved in the major battles of the island-hopping campaign of WW2.
With the Japanese Imperial forces unable to break the Dine language of the Navajo, the code talkers could freely pass vital information from ship to shore, especially Naval Gunfire missions. That became the decisive advantage the Marine Corps needed to take key islands such as Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Peleliu, and Okinawa.
Please take a moment during these holiday times to remember the sacrifices and service of the Navajo Nation and these great Marines during WW2!
On the golf side of things, the Bison finished a very tough schedule this past fall that culminated in our annual home invitational.
Leading the Bison were junior Hayden Quinn (78/71/69) and freshman Henry Bolster (76/71/71), who both posted top-30 performances at (+8) for the 54-hole event. Although the team did not finish as well as we would have liked, we have a lot of positives to take into the off-season as we get ready for the holiday break. Our first event is once again down in Phoenix at Palm Valley in Goodyear, AZ. It is always a “fan” favorite for the team as the weather is slightly better down there than in Lewisburg, Pa.!
One of the most significant developments this fall has been the addition of our Puttview simulator in the Bachman Golf Center. With the help of some significant parent and alumni donations, both the men’s and women’s teams were able to raise the capital to have this amazing piece of equipment installed in our current putting/simulator room. The enhancement will help us focus our efforts during the winter as we get ready for the spring 2026 season.
Without naming names (you know who you are!), I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the families and alumni who donated to this project, which will be a force multiplier for years to come for both programs!
Please mark your calendars for this year’s One Herd One Day giving challenge – March 25-26. Traditionally, our program has fared extremely well during this event, and I hope you will all consider supporting us during that very impactful and important 24-hour period. The support generated through the challenge directly impacts the experience we can provide for our student-athletes, and I thank you in advance for investing in the young men in our program.
I wish all of you a happy and safe holiday. Thank you and Go Bison!
Coach
Mike Binney
Head Men's Golf Coach
Bucknell University
mwb013@bucknell.edu
Past Newsletters:
Bison Club support is the driving force behind Bucknell Athletics. Your donations directly impact the holistic development of student-athletes from 27 Division I varsity programs who are building a foundation at Bucknell to become leaders and difference-makers around the globe. Make your gift online, or call 570-577-1771 to support your favorite Bison team today.
It has been a couple of months since I sent my last message, so this one will contain a few additional notes on the last two months that I think are worth mentioning in a season/semester-ending update.
Last month, we celebrated one national holiday, Veterans Day, and one national birthday, the 250th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps (10 Nov. 1775). As is the case every year, I take time to reflect on what those two days mean to me, and this year was especially important to me because the Marine Corps turned 250 years old this past month.
Because Veterans Day and the USMC birthday fall a day apart, they have been inextricably linked for me my entire adult life. My father served in the Marine Corps Reserves in the mid-1960s. His brother, my uncle, was a 1964 West Point graduate who served in Vietnam as an artillery officer. His son, Geoff, also went to West Point, played on the Army football team, and served as an artillery officer. Along with his brother Steve, who went to the Citadel, they both became FBI agents and served with distinction. Geoff is the father of three boys, and two of them went to West Point as well.
Being a Marine, the Army/Navy football game is always a struggle for me as I grew up listening to my uncle trash Roger Staubach (and subsequently the Dallas Cowboys), while later in life, after joining the Marine Corps, I could not abandon my connection to the U.S. Naval Academy, which annually produces some of the finest Marine Officers and best friends I have known!
Another of my father’s brothers served in the U.S. Air Force at U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand as a C-130 mechanic. During the Tet Offensive, the C-130s were receiving so much battle damage during their flights into Vietnam that his unit was tasked with sending a small detachment of maintenance personnel to Da Nang and Khe Sanh in order to repair the aircraft after they landed. My uncle was part of the detachment sent to Da Nang!
As I try to do every year, I like to highlight the service of someone who I consider very special to the fabric of America and this great experiment in democracy that has endured for the last 250+ years. In this case, I couldn’t do justice to just one man, so I decided to honor the exploits of one of the most important groups in Marine Corps history. On Saturday, Oct 18, 2025, U.S. Marine veteran and Navajo Code Talker John Kinsel Sr. passed away at the age of 107. He was one of the last three remaining U.S. Marine Corps Navajo Code Talkers. When John Kinsel passed away, he left behind his two remaining Marine brothers, Thomas H. Begay (101) and Peter McDonald (97).
Thomas H. Begay served with the Fifth Marine Division, and Peter MacDonald served aboard multiple battleships with the Sixth Marine Division. Along with Kinsel, Begay and McDonald were part of the almost 500-man detachment of Navajo Code Talkers in the South Pacific that were instrumental in the decisive island-hopping campaign pitting the U.S. Marine Corps against the imperial Japanese Army and Naval forces during WW2. The Code Talkers were dispersed among all of the amphibious Marine Corps units involved in the major battles of the island-hopping campaign of WW2.
With the Japanese Imperial forces unable to break the Dine language of the Navajo, the code talkers could freely pass vital information from ship to shore, especially Naval Gunfire missions. That became the decisive advantage the Marine Corps needed to take key islands such as Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Peleliu, and Okinawa.
Please take a moment during these holiday times to remember the sacrifices and service of the Navajo Nation and these great Marines during WW2!
On the golf side of things, the Bison finished a very tough schedule this past fall that culminated in our annual home invitational.
Leading the Bison were junior Hayden Quinn (78/71/69) and freshman Henry Bolster (76/71/71), who both posted top-30 performances at (+8) for the 54-hole event. Although the team did not finish as well as we would have liked, we have a lot of positives to take into the off-season as we get ready for the holiday break. Our first event is once again down in Phoenix at Palm Valley in Goodyear, AZ. It is always a “fan” favorite for the team as the weather is slightly better down there than in Lewisburg, Pa.!
One of the most significant developments this fall has been the addition of our Puttview simulator in the Bachman Golf Center. With the help of some significant parent and alumni donations, both the men’s and women’s teams were able to raise the capital to have this amazing piece of equipment installed in our current putting/simulator room. The enhancement will help us focus our efforts during the winter as we get ready for the spring 2026 season.
Without naming names (you know who you are!), I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the families and alumni who donated to this project, which will be a force multiplier for years to come for both programs!
Please mark your calendars for this year’s One Herd One Day giving challenge – March 25-26. Traditionally, our program has fared extremely well during this event, and I hope you will all consider supporting us during that very impactful and important 24-hour period. The support generated through the challenge directly impacts the experience we can provide for our student-athletes, and I thank you in advance for investing in the young men in our program.
I wish all of you a happy and safe holiday. Thank you and Go Bison!
Coach
Mike Binney
Head Men's Golf Coach
Bucknell University
mwb013@bucknell.edu
Past Newsletters:
- February 2023
- March 2023
- April 2023
- May 2023
- September 2023
- October 2023
- November 2023
- February 2024
- April 2024
- May 2024
- September 2024
- December 2024
- October 2025
Bison Club support is the driving force behind Bucknell Athletics. Your donations directly impact the holistic development of student-athletes from 27 Division I varsity programs who are building a foundation at Bucknell to become leaders and difference-makers around the globe. Make your gift online, or call 570-577-1771 to support your favorite Bison team today.