"A-pree-she-ate ya."
That's one of the favorite phrases of Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair. He's built a Top 20 program by squeezing every ounce of support from those he comes in contact with, from the assistants on his staff to the waiter who served him dinner last night or the family who sat beside him at the movies.
He's not afraid to ask anyone for anything. He's a team player all the way, and believes you should be as well. That's why he's a hard man to say no to. But he's also gracious enough to thank those who lend a helping hand.
That's why anyone who knows Blair cringes when he's handed a microphone. You never know what's going to come out of his mouth. Sure, he'll likely praise you and embarrass you in the same sentence, but he'll also challenge you to make a difference. He refuses to accept the status quo, always demanding more.
One of the gratifying things about Blair is that it's not all about him. Recently, some of the community's most needy reaped the benefits of Blair's passion. His 16th annual celebrity golf classic raised more than $100,000 to benefit Special Olympics.
He does more than just lend his name to the tournament. He gives the event as much attention as he would playing Oklahoma on Big Monday, maybe more. That's why it's been such a huge success.
Blair had three of the Special Olympians speak at the dinner the night before the tournament, then he had several more show up the next day to let the volunteers and golfers see what a good cause they were contributing to.
Since it was a Blair function, it was well run because he had delegated the hard work to his competent helpers like associate head coach Vic Schaefer. The camaraderie surrounding the event was Blairesque. Many of his peers pay their own way to come to the event, because they share the same values as Blair. Beside, they too, can't say no.
Even though everyone who plays is already a winner, Blair managed to make sure a third of the field went home with a trophy to go along with the memories.
The Eagle's group was lucky enough to be one of those.
Bo Overton was our celebrity golfer. Overton played basketball at Oklahoma from 1980-83. He was an assistant for the Sooner men and women before landing a job as head coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He then coached the WNBA's Chicago Sky and has plans to coach overseas this summer.
Overton was also The Eagle's celebrity golfer a few years ago. Well, kinda our celebrity golfer.
We actually had teed off when Overton comes speeding up to the tee box, trying to put his shoes on while someone else was bringing his clubs. He had just landed a few minutes ago at Easterwood. Now, that's a combination for keeping a tournament on time -- a Blair function and the airlines.
"So, Bo, where do you coach?" I asked as we played the first hole.
"University of Missouri at Kansas City," he proudly responded.
"So, is that like Division I, JC or what?" I asked, letting him know what kind of afternoon he was in for.
"We just missed the NCAA Tournament, we made the Mid-Continent Conference championship game." Overton said.
He didn't readily volunteer that he had been the No. 7 seed or finished 10-20, so he certainly had experience in dealing with the media.
It was an enjoyable round of golf, we just didn't score well.
Fast-forward four years. Overton returns to Blair's tournament, and finds his foursome. He stumbles out of his cart -- it is 7:30 a.m. -- and seeing me, kinda gets this queasy look. Maybe he remembered all my bad shots or maybe it was my bad puns.
"Hey, you played with us a few years back," I said.
"Oh, I remember," Overton said. "Yea. ... we had a lot of fun."
This time we had more fun. Maybe it was because Overton flew in the night before the tournament. Or maybe he was more prepared for my physical and verbal shots.
We shot an incredible 13-under par at Traditions, which ended up being only a shot off the morning's best round.
Overton hit a lot of long drives and sank a couple long putts. He had a good time despite a heavy heart. Overton received word on the back nine that his good friend and former teammate, Wayman Tisdale, had died. Overton did at least three live radio interviews during the round. While he talked, we hit some remarkable shots.
Ron Lee, The Eagle's sales & marketing director, sank a 43 1/2-foot putt and hit a 130-yard approach shot within a foot of the pin. Lee has vastly improved his game on the charity golf circuit in the past year. Now if he can only shed that Brigham Young garb. This is Big 12 country.
Crafty veteran Rod Armstrong, The Eagle's finance director and captain, had his usual solid game, while I surprisingly sank a few putts (I didn't want to disappoint Blair).
But the day's best hole belonged to fellow sports cohort Robert Premeaux, who single-handily eagled No. 15. His 3-wood curled perfectly into the green, apparently just missing a double eagle as it ended up less than a foot long.
We were so just so proud of ourselves at that point. As luck would have it, Blair's infamous casino hole was next -- the par-3 No. 16. That allowed us to brag to women's assistant coach Katy Pounds and her boyfriend, former A&M men's player Logan Lee, who were monitoring the hole. You can get money or golf balls by hitting the green, but the main objective of Blair's casino hole is to get more money for the Special Olympics, to which we gladly contributed.
Too bad we couldn't have bought a shot.
I hit my tee shot 10 yards. Premeaux and Armstrong found water. Overton and Lee pushed their shots to right, knocking them out-of-bounds. Hello bogey. That's right. We shot 13-under with a bogey. We recovered to birdie the final hole, managing to laugh at that bogey just as much as Premeaux's eagle.
It was a round that we certainly a-pree-she-ated, and all for a great cause.
Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.
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