The Smart Take from the Strong

The Smart Take From the Strong: The Basketball Philosophy of Pete Carril is the title of the legendary Princeton University’s basketball coach’s memoir, published in 1997.

In his thirty-year collegiate career (one season at Lehigh University and twenty-nine seasons at Princeton University), Pete Carril (a.k.a. Yoda) compiled a 526-273 record, with only three losing seasons.  He is the only Division I coach to win 500 games without the benefit of athletic scholarships.  Pete was enshrined in both the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Basketball of Fame.

A Bethlehem, Pennsylvania native, this cigar chewing, charismatic, bow-tie wearing genius made his mark at Easton (PA) High School, Reading (PA) High School, Lehigh University and Princeton (NJ) University.

Diminutive in stature at 5’6”, yet a giant in the coaching profession, his unselfish motion offense and incredibility stingy man-to-man defense (leading the nation in scoring defense in 14 of his last 21 seasons) were his calling cards.  Pete Carril and his Ivy League Princeton Tigers were a force to be reckoned with in Division I collegiate basketball.  Point in case; beating UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

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Having never been accused of being particularly “Smart”, I plan on “Taking” and sharing a number of interesting golf facts from Dan Jenkins book, Unplayable Lies.

Dan Jenkins, an American sportswriter, wrote for Sports Illustrated for nearly twenty-five years.   He was a bestselling novelist, publishing twenty-one books including Semi-Tough, Dead Solid Perfect and The Eternal Summer: Palmer, Nicklaus and Hogan in 1960. In addition, he was one of three writers inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and received the coveted Red Smith Award, the highest award in his profession. 

In the Forward of Unplayable Lies, Dan’s daughter (Sally), an accomplished writer in her own right, used the term “deceptive sobriety” to describe her father’s approach as a family man and a journalist.  Somehow I found humor in the concept!

Interesting Golf Facts:

• The first corporate logo on Tour was Amana with the Amana hat. Amana, a division of Maytag, was an appliance company in Newton, Iowa.  Pros were wooed into wearing the Amana hat for $50 per week.
• American Rules makers approved the steel shaft in 1924 however it didn’t catch on until Billy Burke won the 1931 US Open at Inverness in Toledo, Ohio.
• Bobby Jones won all of his Majors and his Grand Slam using hickory shafts and, without the modern sand wedge that was invented by Gene Sarazen in 1932.
• The USGA implemented the fourteen club limit in 1938. Harry Cooper’s bag contained twenty-six clubs when he won the Western Open in 1934.
• Nicklaus won ten of his eighteen Majors on three courses (Augusta National, St. Andrews, Baltusrol). Tiger Woods won nine of his fifteen Majors on three courses (Augusta National, St. Andrews, Medinah). Ben Hogan won ten Majors on nine different courses.
• Byron Nelson won eleven tournaments in a row and a total of eighteen tournaments in 1945. He is often credited with winning thirteen tournaments in a row and a total of twenty tournaments in the same season as two tournament wins were considered unofficial.  His scoring average for the thirty tournament season was 68.33.
• Arnold Palmer never won another Major after he quit smoking.
• The PGA Championship has been played in nine different months, all but January, March and April.
• San Snead won the first of his three Masters Tournaments in 1949. It was the first year the green jacket was presented to the winner.
• The LPGA was founded in 1950.
• Walter Hagan won his fifth PGA Championship and, fourth in a row, at Cedar Crest in Dallas in 1927.
• In 1911 at Chicago Golf, John McDermott was the first American to win a US Open.
• Claude Harmon was the last club pro to win a Major. He won the 1948 Masters.  Claude is the father of Butch, Craig, Billy and Dick Harmon.
• Ben Hogan finished in the top ten in sixteen straight US Opens.
• Ralph Guldahl, while winning the 1937 US Open at Oakland Hills, was the last player to wear a dress shirt and necktie.
• Harry Vardon won six British Opens, but never at St. Andrews. Tom Watson won five British Opens, but never at St. Andrews.  John Daly won one British Open, at St. Andrews.
• Gary Player won nine Majors to Arnold Palmer’s seven Majors.
• Phil Mickelson has been the runner-up in a record six US Opens.
• Quotes from Sam Snead: At Oakland Hills in 1951, “These fairways are so narrow; you have to walk sideways to keep the rough from snagging your pants.”  While winning the 1946 British Open at St. Andrews, “It looks like there used to be a golf course here.”
• Quotes from Seve Ballesteros: When asked about his inability to hit fairways, he responded, “I don’t aim for the rough, it just goes there.”  When asked to describe his four-putt on the lightening-fast greens at Augusta National, he responded, “I miss, I miss, I miss, I make.”

Having grown up in Springfield, New Jersey, forty- miles northeast of Princeton University, Pete Carril and the Princeton Tigers were a big deal!  Pete arrived at Princeton University when I was thirteen years of age, two-years after the completion of Bill Bradley’s illustrious collegiate career.

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The back nine can only get better!