To the Band of Brothers: January 8, 2021
Good morning,
The joke goes like this: why did the golfer wear two pairs of pants? In case he got a hole in one. Nothing like those jokes you read off the paper Dixie Cups your grandmother used to buy from Grand Union and stored in a dispenser that was attached to the side of her refrigerator. She always kept an abundant supply of Sunny Delight in the fridge in order to satisfy the thirst of her army of grandchildren. I remember when I first made my attempts at humor and started my campaign at St. Timothy Catholic School for class clown of the decade. Those cups inspired all my material.
Many of you asked me yesterday morning what I did over the Christmas break. I tried to play as much golf as possible. It wasn’t easy because it seems that between vacation days and the pandemic, everybody and their mother has decided to take up the sport. Every golf course in Miami was a madhouse. If you called for tee times, the only slots available were two hours after the sun set or four hours before it rose. Getting a decent time was like winning the lottery.
My love for golf began early. My grandfather (Belen class of 1940) introduced me to the sport when I was 10 years old. He bought me my first set of golf clubs. Actually, they were an old set he had in the garage. He took them to a shop and had them cut down to my size. To me, they were brand-spanking new. They were the kind of clubs where a wood was actually made of wood and the only option you had for a shaft was steel. The putter was a simple copper-colored blade with no grooves, no indentations, no arrows, and no line for aiming. It was warped and covered with dents as if my grandfather at one point used it to build a house.
My dad (Belen class of 1966) is also a golfer. He’s actually pretty good, even though he complains he doesn’t hit the ball as far as he once did. He’s got a short and compact swing, but man does it carry a wallop. He swings the club like a mallet, almost like Thor cocking Mjoollnir (that’s the Scandinavian name for Thor’s hammer – it means “the crusher”) behind his shoulder in order to squash his enemy. When I was a kid there was nothing like waking up early Saturday mornings and heading out with my father and grandfather to have breakfast at the Neighbors Restaurant on Sunset and 107th Avenue and then hitting the links at what used to be called Crooked Creek (present-day Killian Greens).
Golf is very popular now, but it wasn’t when I was growing up. Even though everyone knew who Jack Nicklaus was, I don’t think he inspired the kind of hysteria Tiger Woods did a couple of years ago. Because of him, every man, woman, and child of every race, creed, and color wanted to play the sport he dominated. It’s impressive how one man could have such a powerful impact on people. Although his golden years are past him, the outstanding golfers that are taking the tour by force today were inspired by him.
Hopefully, now that classes have started up again and people are back to work, tee times will be a little easier to make. While I do encourage you guys to take up the sport because it is one of the few you can play until a very old age, don’t all start at the same time. I need to get out on the course.
Auspice Maria,
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.