Riding with the Squire

Sometimes you just get lucky. February 27, 1993, happened to be one of those days for me. The day before, I was getting my haircut by Marco Island hairdresser Maria Elena, who gave me a haircut and a tip. She said, “Why don't you go photograph Gene Sarazen tomorrow? They’re having a special celebration for him at the Country Club. It’s his 91st birthday.”

I just laughed at the idea. Number one, I wasn’t invited. Number two, I’d never met the man, though as a lifelong sports fan, I knew all about him. I knew about his famous shot - the most famous shot in the history of the famous Masters golf tournament. His double eagle led him to an overtime win at the 1935 Masters. It’s memorialized at Sarazen Park on the south end of the island with a statue of two eagles in flight. It’s known as “the shot heard ‘round the world.”  

Like most people on the island in those days, I knew that Sarazen was the first golfer to win all four Grand Slam events. To this day, only five players have accomplished the feat: Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods are the other four. Sarazen is a worldwide golf legend, without a doubt.

I woke up the next morning and immediately thought of Maria Elena encouraging me to photograph Gene Sarazen. So, against my better judgment, I rolled out of bed and worked up the courage to give it a shot. In those days, my wardrobe consisted of tennis clothes, swimsuits, and Levi’s - and one suit that I used for weddings and funerals. Nothing in between. So, I threw on my suit, tied my tie, polished my black Bostonians, grabbed my camera bag, and drove over to the Marco Island Country Club in my 1972 VW Bug.

I was prepared to be unceremoniously escorted back to my bug and asked to leave the property on that glorious Marco Island winter morning. I had worked through what I was going to say when someone questioned why I was there. I was prepared to humbly leave the premises. But much to my surprise, my approach landed me right in the middle of the fairway. As I walked up, a clean-cut man in his 40s quickly walked up to me with his hand extended and a big smile on his face. “Welcome!” he said to me. I was in.

Now, I was already an experienced sports photographer by this time. And the fact I had an impressive camera bag over the shoulder of my Hart Schaffner and Marx suit and was sporting a fresh haircut must have made me look like I belonged.

The friendly man who welcomed me asked me to wait a moment, then walked away. He quickly returned with good news. 

“We’re going to have you ride along in Mr. Sarazen’s foursome,” he said. It turns out there were only three in his foursome, so I rode in a cart with Joe Phillips, vice president for golf promotion for Wilson Sporting Goods. Phillips was famous for, among other things, the JP series of wedges that were the leading wedges on PGA Tours for years. Besides being a famous sports figure in his own right, Phillips was an extraordinarily nice guy. He even invited me to lunch as his guest after the round of golf.

Before the round began, Sarazen’s daughter, Mary Ann Sarazen, was nice enough to offer me some advice for shooting photographs of her famous father. “He plays very quickly,” Mary Ann cautioned me, “so you need to be ready when he steps up to the ball. And don’t let him see you. He doesn’t like to see photographers when he’s swinging.”

The next thing I knew I was face to face with Gene Sarazen, dressed in a white sports shirt and green cardigan sweater, highlighted by his trademark knickers that exposed gray socks and a pristine pair of two-tone golf shoes. I was in the midst of a legend, and I couldn’t have been more excited. The fact that the lighting that morning was absolutely perfect just made me all the more excited to start photographing the legendary Sarazen.

Sure enough, while everyone else went through a rather lengthy pre-stroke routine, Sarazen simply walked up to the ball and hit it.

Sarazen couldn’t have been nicer to me as we toured the course. Amazingly, no one ever asked who I was or why I was there. I just decided it was best for me to go with the flow and just enjoy my incredible luck. There were a few newspaper photographers along the course, but they didn’t know what I did about Sarazen’s preferences. After the round, someone told me, “Mr. Sarazen liked you much better than the other photographers.” Ah, music to my ears.

Being a lifelong journalist - since age 15, anyhow - I like to ask questions. And Sarazen was more than happy to oblige. One bit of advice he offered was about practice. He told me, “You need to practice six times as much as you play.” I still haven’t met a golfer who does that, but Sarazen evidently did. And it certainly paid off for him. He also told me that most golfers take too many risks. This came after we watched a couple of golfers plunk shots into the water while trying to clear a lake with their approach shots. Sarazen instead played a perfectly executed lay-up shot that landed on the near shore of the lake. He then casually cleared the lake on his next shot to win the hole.

As our foursome rolled up to each hole - and sometimes along the fairway - a nervous adult would walk up hoping to gain an audience with Sarazen. He obliged each and every one of them throughout the round. They all stood starstruck.

Sarazen also told me that he could still shoot his age at 91. Not many golfers ever accomplish that feat.

A few days later, I was contacted with a request to use my photographs for a bronze bust that was being created of the Squire. Of course, I humbly obliged. That famous bust now resides in the Marco Island Urgent Care Center, a facility that Sarazen generously supported throughout his life on Marco Island.

A few weeks later, I asked Gene Ilnicki, Sarazen’s grandson, if his grandpa would sign a couple of my photos from that momentous day for me. He kindly made it happen. As he handed over the autographed photos, he said to me, “You know you really got lucky, don't you?” Truer words were never spoken.