The Pellucid Perspective - February 2015 - (Page 20)

THE LAST WORD Tough week for sports legends W ell, if any of the sports world's celebrities are believers in the "bad news comes in 3's" cliche, they can probably breathe easy for whatever the time lapse is before the clock starts ticking again. Golf lost two giants in Charlie Sifford and Billy Casper, and the third Hall of Fame caliber death was University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith. If any of you are wondering why I mention Dean Smith in a golf industry publication, I'll clear that up for you by saying that I'm the middle of three generations of UNC-Chapel Hill graduates, knew Dean somewhat on a personal level, and know a heretofore untold private story about him that still awes me. Plus he loved golf, but more about Dean later. Charlie Sifford's story is well known in the golf industry, so there's no need to rehash that. Suffice it to say that one of his labels, the Jackie Robinson of golf, is well deserved, both in terms of the doors he opened (eventually) for others of his race and his ability in his chosen sport. It was entirely appropriate that representatives of the various predominant golf organizations - PGA Tour, USGA, PGA of America, etc. - issued statements memorializing the 92 year old Sifford after his death. Well ... except possibly for the PGA of America. It was, after all, 1961 before the PGA of America, in part due to Sifford's success in the relatively few professional tournaments he was allowed to enter and in part due to decades of effort by other talented black golfers, celebrities such as Joe Louis and others, finally deleted the "Caucasians only" clause in its bylaws. I'm sure that current PGA of America President Derek Sprague is a fair-minded and unprejudiced individual, but given that organization's lag of more than 13 years behind major league baseball in admitting African-Americans to its ranks, I cringed when he labeled Sifford "an uncommon and faithful servant" in a quote published by the Huffington Post. Perhaps that was taken out of context - not sure I would have applied the term "servant" to someone my organiza- 20 The Pellucid PersPecTive tion had denied professional status to for so many years of his competitive prime. Remember, Derek, your predecessor's use of the term "little girl" in a Tweet didn't work out too well for him, but unlike that reference, I'm pretty certain you meant no disrespect. Ironic that Casper, a San Diego native and a fixture at the San Diego Country Club for many years after retiring from competition before moving to Utah, should pass away during the Farmers Insurance tournament at Torrey Pines. With an unblemished reputation as a gentleman, humanitarian and family man, Casper had a golf game to match, and as several of the "Big 3" of Palmer, Player and Nicklaus have mentioned, should have been included in a "Big 4." As for Dean Smith, in addition to his phenomenal coaching record, he too was a trailblazer in the area of human rights. Long before he reached legendary status at UNC, he helped integrate several Chapel Hill facilities and neighborhoods, and signed the first African-American player in the Atlantic Coast Conference to a scholarship in Charlie Scott. My acquaintance with Coach Smith began in high school when he occasionally stopped by to watch me play at Chapel Hill High School. He understandably fell short of being impressed enough to offer me a scholarship, but he did invite me to walk on, where I would undoubtedly have served as practice fodder or reminded him how many timeouts we had left. Since he was insistent that his players attend class and stay out of the Franklin Street bars, I declined and played baseball instead, where they were more forgiving of my lifestyle and class attendance habits. Many years later, after he'd retired, my former father-in-law, who had cut Dean's hair for years, also retired and moved to a nearby town. Not too long afterwards, he developed Alzheimer's and had to move into a nursing home which stretched the family budget to the breaking point. My son Matt wrote Coach Smith a letter telling him of his grandfather's situation, and asked if there was anything Dean could do to help, saying that he realized the coach undoubtedly got hundreds of similar requests. Less than a week later, Matt received a handwritten note from Dean, expressing his sympathies, and telling Matt that he had instructed his assistant to send $200 a month for Matt's grandfather's care every month for as long as he was in the facility, presumably for the rest of his life. Matt's grandfather passed away in less than a year, so Dean's bank account didn't take too big a hit, but the gesture was incredible, and a true measure of the man. And, lest anyone think that amount was insubstantial, that was more than 20 years ago, and long before premier college basketball coaches were paid well up into seven figures. Having been around a number of legendary sports figures over the years, my list of genuine heroes is short, but Dean Smith is right at the top. While in a family realm, which I'm sure everyone is dying to hear more about, the Farmers tournament down the coast a few miles from my house was a big one for the extended Dunlap clan. Our son-in-law, Jason Goldsmith, works with Jason Day in a variety of capacities, including comprehensive instruction in the use of a device to create optimum focus on the task at hand, practice and competition routines, etc. Needless to say, our Jason and his wife, our daughter Elizabeth, as well as the rest of the family, were thrilled when Day walked off with the winner's trophy after a 2-hole playoff, advancing to number four in the world rankings. And if anyone didn't think the 9-under total that got Day and three others into the sudden death playoff was a monumental accomplishment, they've never played Torrey Pines South under tournament conditions. It's hard to imagine what the USGA can possibly do to make it even more treacherous when the U.S. Open returns to Torrey in 2021, but I'm sure they'll think of something. I suppose they could just make them keep playing if the fog rolls in again, although that wouldn't exactly make for must-see TV. -Jim Dunlap February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - February 2015

TOC
Oro Valley has ‘golden’ opportunity with El Conquistador purchase
Whither golf equipment in 2015: Up, down or sideways?
Notes from 35,000 feet
USGA annual meeting: Nothing earth-shattering
Rival FootGolf groups state their cases
Golf and public policy find common ground
No time to play? Trilogy at Ocala Preserve offers a unique solution
January golf weather impact: Off to a good start relative to ’14
Like oil prices, Houston market hard to figure
Tough week for sports legends

The Pellucid Perspective - February 2015