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Happy Birthday, Jack

By Quin Hillyer on 1.21.10 @ 12:42PM

Today we wish a happy 70th birthday to Jack Nicklaus -- the greatest sportsman, in the fullest sense of that wonderful word, since Bobby Jones.

Until Scott Brown so rudely (I'm joking) interrupted my plans by providing the best electoral news we've seen in more than 15 years, I was planning to devote today's full column to Nicklaus, in tribute of his career. It's worth noting that Nicklaus provided three of the five most compelling golf moments of the modern sports television age (which I count as starting around 1970, when sports on TV became not just an attraction but a near-universally accessible national obsession): his 1975 Masters victory, about which much more should be written; his 1977 Duel in the Sun at Turnberry with Tom Watson; and his 1986 Masters victory, walking off the 18th green with his arm around son/caddie Jackie. (The other two most compelling golf moments: the 1999 Ryder Cup comeback win for the US; and Tiger's U.S. Open chapionship in 2008 while playing on a fractured leg. Just behind those two would come Ben Crenshaw's 1995 Masters victory while mourning teacher Harvey Penick.) He also provided so many of the greatest moments of sportsmanship that they are hard to catalogue, but they include the putt concession to Tony Jacklin in 1969's Ryder Cup and the agreement with Gary Player to let the President's Cup in South Africa end in a tie in the gloaming. And year in and year out, nobody won with more magnaminity, or lost with more grace, than Jack Nicklaus. Nobody else had the foresight he did, either, with his idea to include continental Europe in the Ryder Cup not only rescuing that event but turning it into one of the greatest events in all of sports.

Plus, he brought into public eye the lady who is perhaps the most gracious champion's wife, Barbara Nicklaus, who ever walked the planet.

And oh, yes, he won 18 professional majors (and two U.S. Amateurs), and finished second another 19 times in majors. And he always gave straight answers, and thoughtful ones, to almost any question.

So Happy Birthday to the Golden Bear. May he have many more.

View all comments (4) | Leave a comment

TennesseeVolunteer| 1.21.10 @ 1:19PM

Kudos to Jack. My dad's golf hero was Arnold Palmer. Though Jack eclipsed Arnie, their spirited and sportsmanlike competition elevated the great game of golf.

Robert Owens| 1.21.10 @ 3:26PM

As a member of Buckeye Nation, I appreciate the mighty Quin's birthday wishes for a real Ohio legend. Although I know Quin is a die-hard 'Bama fan, I would urge him to make a trip to Jack's tourney, the Memorial, and stop by his museum on the campus of the Ohio State University.

Tennessee Volunteer is right to ... Arnie's the best!

Quin| 1.21.10 @ 3:38PM

To Robert Owens: Thanks much! Oddly enough, I have never set foot in Ohio. But I would give a fool's ransom to actually play Muirfield Village, and of course I would love to visit the Nicklaus museum. I must make one small correction, though: I am not a die-hard 'Bama fan. I'll root for Alabama more often than not, and I grew up rooting for them more avidly than I do now, but my teams are the New Orleans Saints, the Georgetown Hoyas, the Tulane Green Wave, the Boston Red Sox (long story why the Sox, but it makes perfect sense once you hear it), and any team that Peyton Manning plays on. And when I watch the NBA, which is rarely, I'll root for the New Orleans Hornets. Oh... and of course, I'll root for anybody with the stars and stripes on their uniforms in the Olympics!
:)

JaneVonMises| 1.21.10 @ 4:56PM

While I am certainly not a 'bama fan, having an undergraduate degree from Auburn, and a graduate degree from Texas, I join with you, Quinn, on your salute to Jack Nicklaus.

He is class, grace, dignity, and steely eyed competition all rolled into a down-to-earth persona. He has given us rabid golfers more enjoyment than should be our allotment on this earth.

But most of all, he reminds me of his biggest fan, my dad, who always carries 3 pennies in his back pocket (1 to mark his ball, 1 in case he loses the first, and 1 to give to someone who might have forgotten his), just like Jack.

Happy Birthday, Jack.