“Many years later, due to the kindness of Bing Crosby, I was invited to play in the Crosby Tournament…it had been raining for several days [and] the day before the tournament started…my partner and I were teamed with Billy Casper and another pro…we were playing the Monterey Peninsula Club. We played the first two or three holes and no one had said anything so far…I was walking next to Billy Casper and…trying to think of something to say to start some kind of conversation, because I’ve always admired Billy Casper; another of my heroes. I was thinking…what could I ask him that would start something and I said, ‘Billy, when we’re playing and it’s been raining and the fairways are wet, do you position the ball any differently?’ He said, ‘No’…and that was my conversation with Billy Casper.”

On achievement and feelings of self-worth: “I suppose we’re all hero worshippers of different kinds. I would love to have won the National Open. Or to have played in the Masters. I’ve played with a lot of the big pros, and it would have been great to do something like that—to be so good at the game. But I can say, ‘Well, I have my own career that gives me satisfaction. I know I’ve done something a little special, too.’”