I’M CONVINCED THAT JOHN DERR has more golf (and other) stories than any person I’ve encountered. The 92-year-old sports commentator has included many of them in a new volume titled My Place at the Table: Stories of Golf and Life. The introduction is penned by bestselling author James Dodson.
I came to know John through a mutual acquaintance a few years ago. Since then he has shared a handful of his memories with me. Beginning in 1935, John covered 62 Masters as a print and broadcast journalist, including the first 16 that were covered by CBS-TV.
(Photo: John Derr interviews Ben Hogan
for CBS Radio.)
In 2007, John won the prestigious Masters Major Achievement Award. I asked him at the time what it was like to cover the Masters in those earlier days.
“Exacting, frustrating, very rewarding,” John said. “I always felt fortunate to be there, seeing the play, and it was my pleasure to try to let others share my joy through my description. I was heard by many, but I always tried to put myself in the position of being a reporter for a shut-in who could not be there in person. I was telling him or her what was happening—that one person.
“My job was reporting it fairly and honestly, even though some of the golfers were especially good and close friends. As a reporter you must be neutral. You are no longer a cheering fan. Communications were critical in the early days, both for a writer and especially for a broadcaster early on. But we found a way to do it.”
When John said that some of the golfers were his friends, he was referring to men like Ben Hogan and Sam Snead. John walked every step with Hogan at Carnoustie in 1953 when the golf legend won the only British Open he ever entered. “John Derr is one of the few people I would trust to get the story right and report it as it happened,” Hogan said. Snead commented that Derr “could be counted on to get to the heart of the story.”
If you glance at the list of people John knew and covered through the years, it reads like a who’s who of the 20th century. John covered far more than golf. His reporting and life travels allowed him to cross paths with—ready?—Babe Ruth, Bobby Jones, Albert Einstein, Byron Nelson, Grace Kelly, Presidents Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower, Joe DiMaggio, Billy Graham, Mahatma Gandhi, Babe Zaharias, Bing Crosby, Rocky Marciano, Edward Murrow, Jack Dempsey, Richard Nixon, Henry Ford and every important golfer from Jones to Woods not already mentioned.
I have to admit that it boggles my mind.
“Just color me lucky,” John writes in the prologue of My Place at the Table. His memory and pen are still agile. The 100 or so stories in the book are told with clarity and a kind of offhanded charm that make the reader feel like that “one person” who is privy to an amazing little tale.
Available from Pinehurst Shop
You can’t get this book anywhere, or at Amazon—at least not yet. My Place at the Table is available at the Old Sport Gallery & Bookshop in Pinehurst, North Carolina, where John resides and still enjoys a game of golf with friends. You can contact the shop at (910) 295-9775 or oldsport@nc.rr.com.
More info:
Derr’s New Book Is By Far His Best (The Pilot)
−The Armchair Golfer
‘My Place at the Table’ by John Derr
The Caddie Who Writes Golf Novels
ONE OF THE JOYS of having a golf blog is the opportunity to meet (whether online or in person) people who share a love for the game. I’ve been fortunate to connect with all types of folks in the golf world, including authors such as John Coyne. Occasionally, these new acquaintances become friends. That is certainly the case with John.
John wrote me an email a few years ago about Ben Hogan, and since then we’ve corresponded, talked on the phone and met up a few times at places such as the Masters, United States Golf Association and, last night, New York City. On a weeklong business trip, I came in from New Jersey and John traveled from his home in Westchester County. We met at the clock at Grand Central Station and headed to the Algonquin Hotel for a glass of wine, then on to a nearby Indian restaurant for a leisurely dinner.
(Photo: John Coyne)
I better explain the title of this piece. John is a longtime writer and novelist who started out in the horror genre, in which he enjoyed commercial success and cranked out more books than some people read. Yet in recent years he delved into one of his first loves: golf. There are few golf novelists, but that didn’t prevent him from starting a series of caddie novels: The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan and The Caddie Who Played with Hickory. Both were published by St. Martin’s Press (Thomas Dunne Books). Another caddie novel is on the way.
As a former caddie at Midlothian Country Club in Chicago, John knows his subject well. Both of his published novels are set at Midlothian, where John worked as a caddie for many years. I learned at dinner that John became the caddie master at Midlothian when he was 15 and oversaw 400 caddies. They ranged in age from young kids to old men. Imagine that!
John’s job at Midlothian gave him an indispensable education. First, he learned a lot about golf. Second, he observed the many differences between the privileged set and working class that are detectable in country club life. (John came from a working class family.) Third, his job at Midlothian allowed him to complete college.
Another thing I realize each time I encounter John is that we both share a deep appreciation of golf history. And, as he reminded me last night, so does his brother. The name Ed Furgol came up—his brother once caddied for Furgol—and we laughed. Who but the two of us (and maybe a handful of others) would remember or know of Ed Furgol?
It’s always good to have golf friends. But a golf friend who knows of Ed Furgol is a rare friend, indeed.
−The Armchair Golfer
