By LINDA CHION KENNEY
linda@observernews.net
The legacy of Lexi Ringo lives on through a new scholarship program and a plaque at Freedom Fairways in Sun City Center, honoring a teen whose life touched many.
Alexa “Lexi” Jewel Ringo died at age 16 in 2025, just minutes after practicing at Freedom Fairways the day after Christmas. She was riding in the passenger seat beside her mother when, according to deputies, Dominic Frye, 21, ran a stop sign and struck their car. Frye, allegedly intoxicated, is scheduled to face charges in court in December.
On May 24, friends and family gathered to remember Lexi, a National Honor Society student who dreamed of becoming an orthopedic surgeon. She died after a lesson with Coach Chris Homan, who first discovered her golf talent as an incoming fourth-grader at a First Tee – Tampa Bay summer camp at Summerfield Crossings.
The plaque ceremony at Hole Five drew people from Lexi’s Apollo Beach Waterset community and from organizations where she volunteered, including Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Metropolitan Ministries and First Tee, a youth development nonprofit that uses golf to teach kids life skills and character development.
Representatives from Winthrop College Prep Academy, where Lexi served two years as class president and was affectionately called the school’s “third principal,” attended, as did golfers and parents from East Bay High School, where Lexi last year was named Most Valuable Player for the girls team.
“A lot of overlap, people knowing Lexi, were at the plaque unveiling,” said Lexi’s mother, Chrissy Ringo. Among them were Freedom Fairways head coach Ron Larkin and Homan, “the first and last person Lexi ever played golf with.”
Hole Five was chosen for the plaque because it was both Lexi’s favorite and most challenging hole. “Lexi loved the beauty and challenges of Hole Five,” the plaque reads. “Like her life, she did not want it to be easy, but challenging enough to make her smile when she got it right.” The plaque encourages readers to reflect on their own potential and the positive impacts they can make in other
people’s lives.
Lexi’s legacy continues through a newly established scholarship program, detailed at www.lexislegacyfund.org. The merit scholarship is for a high school senior at Winthrop College Preparatory Academy, or a golfer from East Bay High or from First Tee at Freedom Fairways. The medical scholarship is for a student accepted to the University of Florida College of Medicine. Both are for the 2027-28 academic year.
Initial funding comes from the more than $118,000 raised in a GoFundMe drive after Lexi’s passing. Future fundraising plans include an Hawaiian-themed 5K race, inspired by a vacation spot favored by Lexi. “Even at her Celebration of
Life, one of the coldest days of the year, people came dressed in Hawaiian clothes,” Chrissy Ringo said, in an interview that reflected also on the teen’s character.
“Lexi didn’t like people being bullied and she believed that everybody had something important to say,” Chrissy Ringo said. “She wouldn’t bow down to peer pressure and she would tell her
Lexi Ringo’s parents, with coach Chris Homan, at Hole Five at Freedom Fairways Golf Club.
friends going down the wrong path that they should liv
e up to their potential.”
