AUGUSTA – Spending down time at the Masters with assorted personalities and accomplished men and women offers opportunity to interact with those who are not preoccupied with birdies and bogeys.

Having a drink with the fabled British announcer, Henry Longhurst, and allow him to pontificate without interruption was a treasured experience.  Eavesdropping on conversations of Allister Cooke, who was the premier broadcast essayist for over 58 years with his program, “Letter from America,” was intellectually uplifting and stimulating. 

While I did not have access to his broadcasts around the world, modest research made me aware of his success and legend.  I liked it that he had an understandable accent, that he wore a coat and tie, and didn’t use multi-syllable words in his sprightly conversations.

In the press building, the Taj Mahal of all such facilities in all of sports, Sam Nunn, a member of the Media Committee, moves about without fuss or attention, which is in keeping with his personality.  There are many people, even seasoned writers who don’t know who he is—but all should look him up and thank him for what he did for our state and our country during his quarter century in the United States Senate.

There are a lot of small town, country boy ways about this skillful politician who underscored service and authored cogent legislation all his years in Congress.

Having enrolled at Georgia Tech as an undergraduate, following a productive high school career in Perry where he was a premier basketball player, he became acquainted with Charlie Yates, winner of the 1938 British Amateur and also an Augusta member.

Nunn had learned to play golf on Perry’s four-hole golf course (that was all the money available to start a country club).  Then the course became a nine-hole layout and eventually there were 18 holes.  The future U. S. senator became an efficient player and appreciated the nuances of the game.

It was not lost on him that this challenging game taught the most valuable of lessons, namely that you were your own referee.  You called penalties on yourself.  You kept your own score and you were always a gentleman.

He was proud that one of the greatest golf tournaments in the world took place in Augusta, which is 153 miles from Perry.  By the time he was in the 10^th grade, he found his way to the tournament each spring.  His first year as a spectator was 1953 when Ben Hogan set the 54-hole Masters record.  He became enraptured with Hogan’s fluency and precision at hitting a golf ball.

His favorite time during the championship was watching Ben Hogan hit practice balls.  “It didn’t matter the club he was using, when he hit a ball, the caddie hardly moved out of his tracks to pick up Hogan’s shots,” Nunn remembers.

When Nunn was a state senator, Charlie Yates invited him to play the Augusta National. He was overcome with such anticipation he could not sleep. Yates told him to arrive at the front gate at 8:30, and Sam left Perry at 4:00 a.m.  He arrived at 2604 Washington Rd. well before daybreak.

With all the anticipation and nerves that came with the reality of where he was and what he was doing, he settled in and shot 76.  The thought that he might someday become a member never entered his mind.  To confirm that he is a modest and unassuming man—for the longest time, he had nightmares after he joined the club that one day a Pinkerton detective might walk out and ask him to leave, wondering what he was doing on the course.

Those who know this ablest of politicians extend the highest of marks for his natural bent for courtesy, honesty, humility, and high standards.  Bobby Jones likely would be proud that Sam Nunn became a member of the club he founded.

When Nunn set up his office in Washington, Mississippi Senator, John Stennis, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, invited him to his office for a conversation.  Stennis told the youthful senator that he thought that he had lots of potential as a senator and then added, “but remember Sam after becoming a member of the Senate, some senators grow and some simply swell.”

Something that has resonated with the senator is that he is often stopped by Masters patrons who don’t know him but are aware that he is a member from the green coat he wears during tournament week.  They are compelled to thank him for the beautiful grounds and the great tournament that is the Masters.  They feel moved to offer thanks for what they experience. “As a Georgian, that makes me very proud,” he says. 

With his eventful career and virtuoso service in the U. S. Senate, all Georgians should be thanking him for what he has meant to our state.