Ohio’s Global Icon

“Being in the money doesn’t mean anything unless you’re starving to death.” ~Jack Nicklaus, 1962, Ohio’s greatest champion, on winning.

You may be aware that there is an interview being aired on CNN this week with one of the world’s most famous athletes and one of Ohio’s native sons.  This interview and the contents therein have been painted as a transparent attempt to keep oneself the center of attention and a media ploy with an aim of “upstaging.”

I don’t necessarily agree with that but I do think perhaps the focus this week should be on another native son – Ohio’s greatest champion –  Jack Nicklaus.  The Golden Bear is in the sunset of his life and the week of the Memorial Tournament has come to be just that – a memorialization and celebration of the greatest golfer who ever lived.  I understand he is not currently dominating his craft, but instead of handwringing about summits and free agency motives, I think it both appropriate and prudent to spend some time appreciating and standing in awe of the fortune and pride that this fellow Buckeye has bestowed upon our state.  Golf may be off the radar for you but we are talking about, according to Sports Illustrated, the greatest individual athlete of the 20th century – a son of Ohio.

Yesterday at Muirfield in Columbus, Tiger Woods was asked why he stopped what he was doing on the putting green and stood at rapt attention as Jack Nicklaus was announced on the first tee in the group in front of him.  Woods responded, “It’s rare these days you get to see the greatest of all time out here on the course and in action.”  And I guess that’s what I think the fuss should be about.  Nicklaus’ accomplishments and his gravitas are unsurpassed and this is all unfortunately winding down.

Writers are constantly trying to compare our current hometown hero to the greats that have come before him – how does he stack up, physically and mentally, with Jordan? Elway? Magic?  Nicklaus, while long since active on the course, is the best model of  competitiveness and will to win while also maintaining a grace that enables such distinctions as greatest individual athlete of the 20th century.  A quote emblematic of his competitive nature:

I’m deadly serious even when I play tennis against my kids. I want to beat their brains out. Whether it’s pool or Ping Pong, I can’t stand to have my kids beat me. Especially Ping Pong! And when they beat me, they just needle the devil out of me. That’s fine. I’d rather have that than let them win a shallow victory.

He is the model.  Writers often said he was a better interview in defeat than he was in victory.  And we are running out of time to enjoy his grace and wisdom  – again, why this week is so important.

In the modern era Tiger has come to be known as the greatest who ever lived – something that Jack clearly did not acquiesce to but took in stride:

I’m grateful for Tiger. Every day he’s mentioned, I’m often mentioned in the same breath. It’s been wonderful for me. Thanks to Tiger, my name is being introduced to an entirely new generation of golfers and fans.

So much of Nicklaus’ approach has been right on the money his entire life.  This quote on Tiger, from 1997, is eerily illuminating given what has happened over the past year:

The frenzy around [Tiger Woods] is hard. You guys, you gals, and he’s single. He’s got that issue in front of him. How do you know how he’s going to react to getting married or not getting married? To having children or not having children? You don’t know, he’s just starting his life. All our lives changed when we got married, all our lives changed when we had children, all our lives changed every day. Spinning [ahead] — I’m really quite interested in seeing what’s going to happen to him. And he’s going to be — every single thing he’s going to do will be right in your newspapers. It will [be] under a microscope. It’s a tough way to live.

In stark contrast to Tiger, Jack always emphasized his family life with a great devotion to his kids and his roots in Ohio

I made a vow very soon after turning pro that, unless I could have Barbara and the children along with me, I would never be away from home for more than 14 days at a stretch. Over the years, this has caused some traumas for a lot of good people in golf and among my business associates, not to mention the stress I have experienced as a result of the problems I’ve caused them. Also, I know a certain proportion of the media, along with some of golf’s other camp-followers, think I’m overzealous about putting my family first. Be that as it may, the result has been a strong and secure marriage, plus five temperamentally different but basically normal, generally healthy, and — I sincerely hope — reasonably happy children. Case closed.

Nicklaus started on the fairways of Scioto outside Columbus and was a phenom from the beginning.  It was the perfect match of talent and work ethic that made him the greatest of all time.  Ben Hogan, for instance, developed a psychotic work ethic to become the dominant golfer of his era but many thought he was not nearly as talented as Byron Nelson when they came up together.  Jack had everything – natural and learned.

As a Buckeye, he won the NCAA title and two US Amateurs – a tournament considered a “major” when he won them.  Even more local, he broke Walter Hagen’s and Bobby Jones’ career major record in the PGA Championship at Canterbury on Cleveland’s eastside in 1973.  He would win 6 more.

The Bear, along with Arnold Palmer, revolutionized branding and marketing.  Nicklaus teamed up with Mark McCormack of Cleveland and IMG to advance his business interests throughout the world – clothing lines, equipment, and an absurdly successful and prolific course design business.  As an example from just this week: it was written that he is credited with popularizing yardage books that are now indispensable afterthoughts for every golfer.  His fingerprints are on everything – a true global icon for a half century.

The Memorial serves as the primer for the US Open.  There has been a lot written recently lamenting the deterioration and dwindling of tournaments created and hosted by greats Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson in the years after they have passed.  It’s what makes days like yesterday – when Jack played in what is becoming a traditional Wednesday skins game with golf’s current stars – so important to cherish while he is still active and participating in the promotion of this week on the PGA calendar in Ohio.  Muirfield was awarded the 2013 Presidents Cup in a nod to Nicklaus as he winds down his public life.  His greatest course will have now hosted all 3 major cup events – Ryder, Solheim, and Presidents.  He stated that it will probably be his last major public appearance in the golf world and the week will serve as a final celebration of a native son, global role model, and the greatest of all time.  It’s why this week and the few remaining in the interim are so important to recognize what he has done and the great pride he should instill in all of us.

Including his fellow Ohioan in Akron – a man his equal in talent and dominance of their sports and one with the potential for Jack levels of success.  Nicklaus may be one of the few in the world who understand the sustained demands of global superstardom from the time he was a teenager.  Golf Digest has compiled an exhaustive list of his famous words from which I have  excerpted some below as perhaps applicable to the crossroads at which our next global icon finds himself.

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It’s always tougher to win the first one. Have you ever gone skeet shooting? Well, that first pigeon always is toughest to hit.

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So many of these fellas think they can come right out of college and make a living in pro golf. Look, we’re not much different from doctors. A young doctor doesn’t expect to do open-heart surgery the day he graduates from medical school. He has to spend so many years learning, and he’s hungry and maybe broke during that time. He doesn’t begin to make it until he’s really ready to do a job.

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The best way to cope with trouble is to stay out of it as much as possible.

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Self-control demands self-honesty above all else. Learn to fight emotionalism with realism. Accept first and foremost the cold fact that every shot you hit, good or bad, is the product of only one person: YOU. Accept, secondly, that you rarely if ever will play or score quite as well as you think you can and should. I never have.

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I haven’t fundamentally changed my golf swing since I was 13 years old, but I’ve never stopped trying to increase my versatility as a shotmaker. Pride has never stopped me from seeking help in this area. Much of the knowledge I possess I’ve cribbed from other tour players, both by watching and asking.

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As long as I can get irritated with myself, I’ll be a reasonable competitor.

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I knew exactly how intimidating I was, and I’ve got to tell you, it was a tremendous advantage.

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My strongest motivation through all my best years wasn’t the championships I won and the golfers I defeated, but those I lost and the players who beat me. If Arnold Palmer hadn’t been there when I turned pro, or Johnny Miller or Lee Trevino or Tom Watson hadn’t come along and whipped me as often as they did, I’m certain my record would have been a shadow of what I’m proud to have achieved.

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I finished [1977] stale and tired for the first time I can ever recall and found myself not having the interest I should have had, and right now I have no interest in playing… I did play too much… and found myself not being able to prepare for tournaments. I tried to mix it up a little bit. I had some people on my back to play in events I hadn’t played previously and I tried to accommodate them and as a result, when I got to the major championships I wasn’t ready.

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Those are a few of the reasons why I felt that some of the comparisons made between [Bob] Jones and me following my Canterbury win [in the 1973 PGA for his 14th major title, passing Jones] reflected unfairly on Bob’s achievements. The differences in the designation of the major championships, the differences in course and equipment quality, the differences in incentives and opportunities, and the differences in so many other areas of his time and mine are too vast to permit valid comparisons between us. I guess professional historians are the only people who can put these things in their proper perspective, but I wished then and I wish now that the writers and television pundits would be a little less fast and free with their “finests” and “mostests” and “greatests.”

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I still have mountains I want to climb. I just have to climb them in a different way.

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Whether admitted or not, every successful person has a hard time with ego. When you have excelled in one area, it becomes all too easy to believe you will automatically do equally well at anything else you try.

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Success comes from not realizing you’re dominant while doing it.

…and finally

The ability to win is not easy to describe. The more obvious attributes are certainly major contributors: confidence, concentration, desire, discipline, willpower, patience, love of competition, lack of fear (of success, perhaps, even more than of failure). Yet the fact that many athletes who appear to possess these qualities in spades, plus all of the necessary physical skills, still do not win consistently suggests that they aren’t quite the whole story. If more is involved, precisely what is it? With the benefit these days of perfect hindsight, I would pinpoint four qualities that seem to be shared by all consistent winners, at least insofar as golf is concerned: ability to think clearly under pressure, patience, self-centeredness (concern about what other competitors may or may not be doing is both a useless distraction and a waste of energy) and simply working harder at all of the above when you are playing poorly than when you are playing well.

(Photo: Getty Images compiled by Brett Avery of Golf Digest)