Fore!

Marco Island Historical Society’s Curator of Collections, Austin Bell, hit a hole in one with his Out of the Sand, the Origins of Golf on Marco Island exhibit, open now at the Marco Island Historical Museum. The latest display in the Sandlin Gallery is a deep dive into an enduring pastime on the island. And Out of the Sand prominently features Marco’s most famous golf figure, Gene Sarazen, professional golf’s first grand slam winner, who made it easier for golfers to get out of the sand when he invented the sand wedge in 1932.

Of course Sarazen is also famous for his double eagle in the 1935 Masters - the most famous shot in the history of golf’s most famous tournament.

At Thursday’s opening event, Sarazen’s daughter, Mary Ann Sarazen, and grandson Gene Ilnicki, were on hand, along with longtime friend Eleanor Creighton, the first GM at the Island Country Club from back in the 1980s.

"It's a wonderful exhibit,” Mary Ann Sarazen said. "Wonderful tribute to my dad. I know he would be very pleased. And of course, he would certainly remember all these events. Love seeing him playing golf with Frank Mackle, Jr, and his son and my brother, Gene, Jr. Lots of memories. He loved Marco. He loved the country club, the golf, the people."

Gene Sarazen died in May of 1999, he was 97 years old.

“He had been to the Masters in April of 1999 with my son, Gene Ilnicki, who traveled with him. They hit the first ball, and then he came back to Marco and he just went to sleep. Died very peacefully."

Sarazen, who shot his age for many years - a great accomplishment in the game of golf - played golf into his 90s.

"I would say that near the end his golf was limited just to hitting the shot at Augusta,” Sarazen said. "My son Gene would set him up, hit maybe four or five practice balls, and then they'd go up. It could be 40 degrees with the wind blowing, and dad would hit a nice little shot 120 yards right down the middle." 

Bell, MIHS’s curator of collections, and its first employee, continues to produce outstanding exhibits, and this one is no exception. In addition to a wonderfully curated collection of vintage Marco Island-related golf memorabilia, Bell added a hands-on element that’s sure to be a hit: miniature golf holes are incorporated into the design.

Patricia Rutledge, CEO of the Marco Island Historical Society, couldn’t be more proud of the job Bell did on the exhibit.

"The most fun exhibit that we have done in the Sandlin Gallery,” Patricia Rutledge gushed. "Our mission is to preserve and share the history and heritage of this beautiful island that we call home. But we can't do that by ourselves. We need the community to help us. And you always do. You are always there. And one of the important organizations that have helped us in the past and continues to is the Island Country Club Charitable Foundation. They are our presenting sponsors this evening. The mantra of the Island Country Club Charitable Foundation is community matters. And it really does. And they show it in so many ways through so many organizations. We are just one of them, and we're very grateful."

Bell was wearing a green jacket that he got in Augusta. But he didn’t come by his green jacket in the usual way, by winning the Masters.

"I did actually get this green jacket in Augusta,” Bell jokes, "but not the same way Gene Sarazen got his. It was at a thrift shop.”

Bell may not earn a green jacket for this exhibit, but chances are he’ll be in line for awards for his excellent work.

"This was a really fun exhibit to curate,” Bell said. "I hope we did a good enough job of honoring not only our golf history here on Marco Island, but all of our golf legends. They're the Mount Rushmore of Marco Island golf: Gene Sarazen, Tony Lema, Ken Venturi, and Pat Bradley. It was an honor to be able to continue their legacy and share it. We've done more than 50 exhibits in this Sandlin Gallery since the museum opened. This one probably has the most objects from our collections out of all of those exhibits. We're approaching our 30th year as a historical society. And like a lot of historical societies, we've accumulated a lot of stuff over those years. A lot of that came in before the museum was even built. Of course, we can't display everything at one time. And there's always new stuff out there to acquire for preservation. But that's one really great thing about this gallery. The Sandlin Gallery gives us an opportunity to showcase some of those thousands of items in our collections that either don't fit into our permanent exhibits, or we didn't have at the time that we opened."

Eleanor Creighton made the trip to Marco Island from Naples to see her old friend Mary Ann Sarazen and see what the MIHS did to honor her old friend, Gene Sarazen.

"We opened Marco Shores in 1974, I believe,” said Creighton, a longtime Deltona Corporation team member. "I went to work for Deltona in 1973,” Creighton said, "but I actually became the first general manager of Island Country Club, and I think it might have been around 1985. I think the dues at that point were something like maybe $18,500 sticks in my mind."

Bell’s display brought back a lot of memories for Creighton.

"Oh my goodness,” she said, “it's really interesting to look around and see how things have changed on the island. Just to think that we have this history here. You know, it's special.”

Creighton had a close relationship with Gene Sarazen.

“We became very good friends,” Creighton said. “I traveled with him, played golf with the family and still remain friends of Mary Ann, his daughter. We've had a lot of good years and a lot of good times and I could go into stories, but that takes time.”

Out of the Sand, the Origins of Golf on Marco Island, continues until March 2, 2024.  The Marco Island Historical Museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.