LUNCH WITH KEN VENTURI
It was the spring of 1955 and I was stationed in Salzburg, Austria as part of my two-year army career (if two years makes a career). Salzburg was and is a beautiful old city.  On this spring day I was going to have the opportunity meet and have lunch with Ken Venturi. Gray Madison the base golf pro invited Chuck Hankamer, Zollie Holt (my army buddies) and I to meet him. The other base pro was Mr. Venturi.

Ken Venturi had battled Billy Joe Patton in the British Open as an amateur and was big news in the golf world, and as such was well taken care of by the U.S. Army during his tour of duty. He managed to compete in more than one tournament under the auspices of Uncle Sam.

Actually, Chuck Hankamer was a good friend of Gray Madison and Zollie and I were basic nobodies who got to tag along. That isn’t quite accurate … my friend Zollie was one of the four or five best fast pitch softball pitchers in the world.

I was excited to be there since I was very familiar with Ken’s exploits on the golf course since he grew up in San Francisco and I as a native Californian followed all the sports as much as possible. His being just three years older kept him on my radar for sure.

Nothing spectacular happened at lunch. Just the usual chitchat. Hold on! Strike that! During lunch Ken’s beautiful wife Connie stopped by our table to say, “Hi.” Definitely a showstopper, especially for a couple of G.I.’s a long way from home.

My memory of Ken Venturi is all the golf tournaments he called. I watched and heard his critique in his cryptic style that you either hated or loved. It is also watching the movie “Tin Cup” for the 20th time and hearing that same cryptic evaluation of Kevin Costner’s play in the U.S.Open.

I am sure that Ken didn’t even remember that day and, it was just lunch for him. It was a lunch that allowed me to enjoy golf at a higher level. San Francisco is a special City and Ken Venturi was always one ot the city’s special people. Thanks for the ride Ken, you are missed!