HERE - Iowa PGA

2013 PGA
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
AWARD
Honoring
LEE TREVINO, PGA
2013 PGA Distinguished
Service Award
Honoring
Lee Trevino, PGA
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Rochester Riverside Convention Center
Rochester, N.Y.
When Lee Trevino arrived in this world,
the population of Garland, Texas in 1939 had barely crossed the
2,000 mark. The humble rural community 18 minutes northeast of
Dallas would ultimately blossom into today’s flowering city. Garland
is part of a state that has always dreamed big, lived large. Its city
motto, “Texas Made Here,” could also apply to a young boy born of
Mexican ancestry who rose above poverty, toiled like few others in
his craft and never looked back.
Like a comet hurtling to earth, Lee Trevino made an impact in
American golf that is immeasurable. If anything, Trevino’s life
journey is golf’s answer to the Richter scale. He taught himself a
golf swing, played his first 18-hole round
at age 15, and turned professional at
27. His first Tour victory was the 1968
U.S. Open at Oak Hill Country Club near
Rochester, N.Y., site of the 2013 PGA
Championship. Chatting away, swinging
his arms, he strolled on Sunday's final
round wearing a red shirt and red
socks – what he called his “Payday
Color.” He became the first to string
four consecutive rounds in the 60s in an
Open, and beat then seven-time major
champion Jack Nicklaus by four strokes.
That victory was Trevino’s ignition
switch. He went on to capture six major
1968 U.S. Open
championships out of 89 worldwide
professional triumphs. His World Golf Hall of Fame career was a
remarkable blend of nurturing a connection to golf fans, while
mixing a passionate yet private philanthropic life. With Lee Trevino,
you uncover a signature moment around every corner.
WeeKs BeFore The 1968 U.s. oPen, the late Paul
Kircher of Pittsford, n.Y., got a call from a friend in el Paso, Texas,
asking a favor. Would Kircher and his family be willing to host a young
golf professional during open week? The World War ii army veteran
and former new York
state trooper accepted
Trevino into his home
on arlington Lane.
arriving the sunday
before the U.s. open,
Trevino sat down to
dinner and announced
to his hosts that he
would be heading out
for the evening. “My
Lee with the Kircher Children - 1968
father said, ‘You’re
not going anywhere!’ ” recalls John Kircher, then 9 years old and now
an insurance agent and multi-club champion at Monroe Golf Club in
Pittsford. “My father took Lee to Monroe Golf Club that evening along
with my older sister, who was a women’s club champion. Lee worked
for 1½ hours at the second hole on his bunker play, while my father
stood in the fairway directing any approaching golfers to the third
hole. Lee returned the next night to practice. i believe Lee got up and
down six times from bunkers at oak hill.”
That same week, Trevino made peace with wee susan Kircher, then
5 years old and afraid of the stranger with the kinetic smile staying
in the home. Together, they walked in the backyard, where Trevino
claims, “susie found us a four-leaf clover that i kept in my pocket
that week.”
Born Lee BUCK Trevino, he never knew his father. he was
raised by his mother, Juanita, and his maternal grandfather, Joseph, a
laborer and gravedigger. Trevino worked in Garland’s onion and cotton
fields as a 5-year-old, and at age 7 the family moved into a four-room
house northeast of dallas with no electricity or plumbing and about 100
yards from the seventh fairway of the former Glen Lakes Country Club.
By age 8, Trevino was scavenging for balls in the Glen Lakes rough
and selling them to players passing by. he became a caddie and
played a crude par-3 course behind the caddie shack, where he
also polished his hand at dice and cards. Meanwhile, Grandpa Joe
instilled a workman’s pride in his grandson. he would take young Lee
to hillside Cemetery to watch as he dug smooth-sided graves. Years
later, Trevino would apply the same principles of workmanship in golf
course maintenance and helping
build a pitch-and-putt course for his
mentor, hardy Greenwood, owner of
a driving range.
Trevino dropped out of school
before the eighth grade and took
a job at Glen Lakes as an assistant
groundskeeper. he also caddied
and played a few holes at the end of
the day. To supplement his income,
Trevino hustled golf bets. When his
winning scared off most of his
competitors, he began taking bets by
using a shovel and a 32-ounce
dr Pepper bottle wrapped in
adhesive tape for a club.
Building Pitch & Putt Course - 1955
restless, he lied about his age and
joined the U.s. Marines at 17, serving
a pair of two-year stints in asia and
playing for the Third Marines division
golf squad. Upon his discharge
in 1961, Trevino was carrying a
U.S. Marine Corps - 1956
4-handicap. he took a job at hardy’s
driving range and played the flat terrain of Tenison Park Golf
Course, a municipal layout devoid of bunkers, designed by a.W.
Tillinghast in 1924.
Trevino’s drive to improve linked him with other young Tour
hopefuls, including Bob Moreland of ottumwa, iowa, who took
a job at dallas’ Cedar Crest Country Club. Moreland and Trevino
became fast friends, and from 1963 to 1965, played regularly at
Tenison Park. “i kept a book of our scores for those years, and
Lee never shot over 72,” says Moreland, now a PGa Life Member.
1968 U.S. Open
Moreland says that he was present
when Trevino had an epiphany
about his golf swing. One day at
Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort
Worth, the two decided to sneak a
peek at Ben Hogan attempting to
practice in solitude by hitting balls
to a caddie standing across the 11th
fairway. With Moreland and Trevino
standing about 40 yards away from
“The Hawk,” Hogan stopped hitting
balls, put his hands on his hips and
stared at the duo. “We stayed our
distance and watched as his caddie,
eating a sandwich, didn’t move
while retrieving the balls into a towel
wrapped around his left hand,” says
Moreland. “Lee watched Hogan
effortlessly fade the ball. The next
time I saw Lee, he had developed his
own fade. All the success he has had
was no surprise at all.”
1972 Open Championship
More signature Trevino
moments would continue to
1984 PGA Championship
enchant us. The rubber snake he
tossed to Nicklaus on the first tee
of the U.S. Open playoff in 1971 at
Merion Golf Club. A victory there
ignited a remarkable 20-day run,
adding the Canadian Open and Open
Championships – making him the
first player to win those three titles
in the same year. He defended his
Open Championship at Muirfield,
in Scotland in 1972, and capped his
major collection by winning the 1974
and 1984 PGA Championships.
In the Ryder Cup, few have
performed better. He appeared on
six U.S. Teams, posted a 17-7-6 record
and served as the 1985 U.S. Captain.
He was the 1971 PGA of America
Player of the Year and won five
Vardon Trophies for season scoring
excellence.
Captain - 1985 U.S. Ryder Cup Team
At the height of his career, Trevino
was one of three players struck by
lightning on June 27, 1975, at the
Western Open. Though it severely
hindered his game, he battled back
through a series of operations and won
29 more titles on the Champions Tour,
a run that included the 1992 and 1994
Senior PGA Championships.
“I was about 12 when I realized the scope
of who he was and what he was doing,”
says Rick Trevino, Lee’s eldest son, a
Struck by Lightning - 1975
businessman in Pensacola, Fla. “Even
later in his career, you marvel at how he
strikes the ball, so solid. Then you appreciate how his mind works
around a golf course. If there was a lesson that sticks with me, it
was when he said no matter what you are doing in your world,
everyone deserves to be happy and you should enjoy life. I try to
live by that motto.”
Tony Trevino, PGA general manager at Heritage Ranch Golf and
Country Club in Fairview, Texas, says there was never a mystery
about why his father achieved so much in golf. “I think he
succeeded because of his ability to out work the other guy. He
worked the golf ball unlike few could do.”
PGA Master Professional Bill
Eschenbrenner of El Paso, Texas, met
Trevino in the 1960s and would become
a regular during Monday games that
Trevino would dominate at Horizon
Hills Country Club in El Paso. It was
Eschenbrenner who helped Trevino
secure PGA of America membership,
earning a card that allowed him to
compete in the 1968 U.S. Open. “I saw
such a great talent; someone who made
me admire him from the beginning
because of how hard he worked,” said
Eschenbrenner.
Lee with PGA Master Professional
Bill Eschenbrenner
As much as we
appreciate the public
Lee Trevino, we also
pause to respect how
he built a fiercely
private persona. It is the
byproduct of celebrity,
which often breeds its
share of uncomfortable
fandom. Closing one
Lee with Danny Thomas (center) and Dave Hill
door, however, opens
many more for Trevino. His affection for the St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital was sparked through donations from winning
three former Danny Thomas Memphis Classic (now FedEx St. Jude
Classic) titles.
His total donations to St. Jude have surpassed $1.7 million.
“Lee is a great man with a big heart,” says Richard Shadyac Jr., CEO
of ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “His passion for
giving back is exemplified by his genuine support of the lifesaving
mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and we are
eternally grateful for his support over the last four decades.”
Comedian George Lopez, like Trevino, had
a father who left when he was an infant.
Today, Trevino almost is a big brother to
Lopez. “I’ve had the honor of knowing
Lee Trevino for 10 years, but I feel like I’ve
known him forever. He is like family to me.
Lee is a kind man who continues to give
back to the community and to the game
we both love. His continued success is
born through his relentless determination
and work ethic. The game of golf is better
because of Lee Trevino.”
Lee with George Lopez
For more than 25 years, Trevino has supported countless charities
through his agreeing to be “auctioned” to a donor, then playing
golf with groups throughout the country. The charities cover
underprivileged children, military families, shelters for abused
women, and disease prevention and research.
“Lee is one of the smartest and shrewdest individuals I’ve ever
met,” says Dave Stockton, the 2012 PGA Distinguished Service
Award recipient and like Trevino, a Ryder Cup Captain and a twotime PGA Champion. “He’s as smart as a whip. He’s also very giving
of his time and cannot do enough for his friends. I know that we
are so fortunate to have him benefit our charities and work with the
Medal of Honor recipients.”
Next December 20, marks the 30th wedding anniversary for Lee and
Claudia Trevino. Lee’s roots are intertwined as if a higher power carved
a path around Greater Dallas. His family lives in a home built the year he
was born, which lies just over 11 miles from Garland’s city limits.
Lee and Claudia are parents of a daughter Olivia, an admissions
counselor at Southern Methodist University; and a son, Daniel, a
junior-to-be at the University of Southern California. Trevino also has a
daughter, Troy Liana, a fitness field project manager in Lewisville, Texas.
Trevino has eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.
“When we married, Lee said that he didn’t know how long he would
be able to be playing at a high level and was concerned about what he
could keep doing,” says Claudia. “I told him, ‘Your clubs don’t know how
old you are.’ He went out and remained competitive, stayed in great
shape and is dedicated to the game and to his family. Any Tour wife has
to be selfless, and that is the only way it works.”
Trevino says that he lives with his psychiatrist. “When you are living with
a professional athlete, traveling on the road, you tend to know him so
well. I can read him,” says Claudia.
Tonight, The PGA of America bestows the
PGA Distinguished Service Award, its highest
annual honor, upon PGA member Lee Trevino,
a celebration of a remarkable individual who
reflects a lifetime of self-reliance to values, a
commitment to excellence and a gift of sharing his
joy with others.
Featuring
Michael
Bolton
Michael Bolton, the multiple
Grammy Award-winning singer,
songwriter and social activist, has
sold more than 53 million albums
and singles worldwide. He continues
to tour the world every year, all
while writing, recording and taping
for a wide array of projects spanning
music, film, television and theater. Bolton also remains committed to
humanitarian causes, especially through the Michael Bolton Charities.
Known for his soulful voice and poignant lyrics, Bolton has won two
Grammys for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance, six American Music
Awards, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Internationally renowned, Bolton has recorded and performed with
musical icons, including Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose
Carreras and Renee Fleming. A diverse and prolific songwriter, Bolton
has collaborated with some of the greatest songwriters and producers
of our time, including Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, country western legend
Conway Twitty, and hip hop superstar Kanye West. He debuted his most
recent album, “Ain't No Mountain High Enough: A Tribute to Hitsville
U.S.A.,” with a live broadcast concert featuring Motown legends Smokey
Robinson, Valerie Simpson and Martha Reeves.
Bolton has always balanced a love for writing new songs with a passion
for covering the classics. On his breakthrough album, “The Hunger,”
Bolton authored the #1 single, “That’s What Love is All About” and
sang his chart-topping version of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) the Dock
of the Bay.”
Bolton’s true signature success was seized with the album “Soul Provider,”
selling more than 12.5 million copies worldwide, and showcasing several
chart-toppers including the #1 hit single, “How Am I Supposed to Live
Without You,” which earned Bolton his first Grammy. Soon after, Bolton
released the #1 album, “Time, Love & Tenderness,” which has sold more
than 16 million copies worldwide, and which features his Grammy Awardwinning vocal performance of the #1 blockbuster hit, “When A Man Loves
a Woman.”
Bolton’s songs and performances also have been featured in numerous
television and film soundtracks.
For his dedication to social activism, Bolton has been honored with
several Humanitarian awards – including the Martin Luther King Award
granted by the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.); the Lewis Hine
Award from The National Child Labor Committee; the Ellis Island Medal
of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations; and the
Frances Preston Lifetime Achievement Award.
Bolton is especially proud of the initiatives carried out by his own
foundation, the Michael Bolton Charities, now in its 20th year of
advocating on behalf of women and children at risk.
pGA Distinguished Service Award
past recipients
HERB GRAFFIS
1988
Bob Hope
1989
No recipient1990
the hon. gerald ford
1991
gene sarazen, pga
1992
byron nelson, pGA
1993
arnold palmer, pga
1994
patty berg
1995
FRANK CHIRKINIAN
1996
THE HON. GEORGE H.W. BUSH
1997
PAUL RUNYAN, PGA
1998
BILL DICKEY 1999
JACK NICKLAUS, PGA
2000
MARK McCORMACK
2001
TIM FINCHEM
2002
VINCE GILL
2003
PETE DYE
2004
WALLY UIHLEIN
2005
FRED RIDLEY
2006
JACK BURKE JR., PGA
2007
DENNIS WALTERS
2008
WILLIAM POWELL, PGA
2009
BILLY CASPER, PGA
2010
Larry Nelson, PGA
2011
Dave Stockton, PGA
2012
The PGA of America’s
highest annual honor
Inaugurated in 1988, the PGA Distinguished
Service Award honors outstanding individuals
who display leadership and humanitarian
qualities, including integrity, sportsmanship
and enthusiasm for the game of golf.
© 2013 the pga of america