Evening star., 1954-12-22

ticles from Gr0ntl0pd Rice.s
autobiography, @I'he Tumult
and the Shouting."J
In 1910. at the North and
South Open at Pinehurst, N. c.,
I watched Hogan head for the
18th tee In the final round. The
last four years had been very
rough on Ben and his bride
Valerie. AS Ben walked by. Wall
erie. tears streaming down her
cheeks, slipped over to Ben.
Don't break your leg. honey
~. Just don't break your legl"i
she said.
These two kids had known
the pitfalls. ulcers and poverty
that stalk the misunderstanding
pro. II Ben could just stumble
through that 18th hole, he'd
still win, with shots to spare.
Starting at Pinehurst that year.
Hogan. within two weeks won
the North and South. the
Greensboro and AShville Opens,
shooting ZIG holes in "a strokes
under parl Ben has never for
gotten the poor years.
II thought I was q hard fight
err" Jones said. Il thought Ha-
gen and Sarazen both were.
We're not in a class with this
fellow. Hogan. He's fighting for
every inch. foot and yard on
golf course"
No Reason to Miss.
The first time ] saw Hogan.
around 1887. he was practicing
a wedge shot some 90 yards from
the pin. He had been there an
hour. He stayed much longer.
placing the ball In good lies and
bad. He hit many close to the
cup Inches away. what / want
to do" he said. "is to make q
habit of hitting them all close to
the cup. Golf. or winning golf,
should be the habit of hitting
every ball well. There is no rea-
son to miss a shot"
was at the Los Angeles Open
in 1850 and heard Hogan had
just arrived. but I had no idea
he would play. AS I understood
things, he was still crippled from
an automobile accident that had
nearly cost him his life. ] saw
him in the clubhouse and went
over to speak to him. Barely able
to stand up. he was still smiling.
what are you doing here?"
] asked.
playing little golf" he said.
In the tournament" asked.
Sure" he said. "Why not?"
ran into Cary Middlecoff. rs
this right?" asked. Can he do
anything?"
Sure he can" Middlecoff said.
Watch him. II he can last he'll
win 1t.
Hogan played brilliantly al
though his leg veins were still
sutured and tied up with various
knots. Photographers swarmed
all over him and he protested
bitterly. They finally reached an
agreement. Late on the last day
Of the tournament / sat with
his wife Valerie for a while and
then with Ben. He seemed COM
pletely safe. He was four strokes
ahead of Sammy Snead with
only four left for the lean Vir-
ginian. Sammy spoiled it ny fin
ishing with four brides and win
ming the subsequent playoff
Hogan's place in the parade
no longer has to be proved. With
four National Open titles. there
isn't much one could add.
Depression Kills Magazine.
During the mid-2Os, The
American Golfer, edited by our
former amateur champion, Wal
ter j. Travis, had been moving
along under a conservative head
of steam when it was purchased
by new owners. They offered me
the job of editor, but I wasn't
much interested until / was told
that fresh capital, 500, 900 of it,
was behind it. That and the fact
that ] would be given a free rein
with the makeup Of the book in
duced me to give it a wkirl.
I Immediately went after Ir1nis
Brown. Of the New York Sun,
for my managing editor. Month
ly contributions came from such
writer's and golf enthusiasts as
Ring Lardner, George Ade. Rex
Beach and others. The editorial
side Of the American Golfer
seemed to be solid enough; the
business or advertising side OF
the book was less sensational.
Then, in 1929. Conde Mast
bought the magazine. Our cir
culation had reached 10000 -
very good when the '29 crash
hit and 20 pages of automobile
advertising Immediately fell out
-kerplunkI That was the death
rattle for The American Golfer.