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by John Berkovich
Every dayis Father'sDay forCalvin Peete.The winner of 12PGA Tour
eventsis now a stay athome dad for his
Catching up withCatching up withCalvin PeeteCalvin Peete
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tano
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daughters Aisha and Aleya and hewouldn't have it any other way.
“Ilove being there for my kids now,”says Peete. “When I was on
thePGA Tour I was away from homeso much that it was difficult to
bethere.” Peete turns 63 in July ofthis year and although it has
beentwenty years since he was arguablyAmerica's best, yet
definitely itsmost unappreciated golfer, he ismuch happier now.
Peete and hissecond wife Pepper live quietly inthe Jacksonville,
Florida area.While Pepper manages the localFirst Tee facility,
Calvin is thequintessential stay at home dad.His days consist of
managing thehousehold, keeping in touch withhis children from his
first mar-riage, and occasionally hitting ballsat Sawgrass where he
has a life-time membership from winning the
1985 Players Championship. He ison disability and continues
toreceive a pension from his days onthe PGA Tour. Peete also
givesback to the community with theCalvin Peete Recreation
Complexin St. Augustine, Florida. The cen-ter keeps kids off the
streets afterschool and gives them an opportu-nity to hone their
sports and lifeskills.
The inspirational Calvin Peete
story has been told before butgiven the mountains he has
con-quered and the attitude he has dis-played, it bears
repeating.
One of nine children born to aDetroit automobile factory
worker,Peete's parents separated when hewas 11. He, along with
twoyounger sisters, was dropped off athis maternal grandmother's
homein rural Missouri along theMississippi. His mother headed
toChicago to search for employmentbut never returned to pick up
herbrood.
When he was 12, Peete fell outof a cherry tree and shattered
hisleft elbow and although surgeonsrepaired the elbow, it
remainedfused so that Peete could neverfully straighten his arm.
His father
eventually came for Calvin and hissisters along with three
childrenfrom his second marriage andmoved the kids to Pahokee,
Floridaon the southeast corner of LakeOkeechobee.
Dropping out of school in theeighth grade, Peete spent his
dayshustling pool and pulling variousscams to help support the
family inaddition to the backbreaking workof pulling crops as a
migrant
farmer. Years later, Peete said thathe didn't mind getting
sweaty onthe golf course since it made himfeel like he was doing
honestwork.
Desperate to move forward,Peete got his peddlers license andwent
on the road. “I bought fromthe wholesalers and would hit themigrant
worker camps during sug-arcane season,” recalls Peete. “Alot of the
workers were fromBarbados and Jamaica. I sold jew-elry, clothing,
and stereos, basical-ly whatever they wanted I got forthem. They
liked me because I wasone of them and didn't over inflatemy
prices.” Traversing the dustyfarm roads from Florida to NewYork,
Peete put diamond chips ineach of his front teeth to makehimself
memorable while continu-
ing to hustle any game he could.
Some fellow gamesters encour-aged Peete to join them for a
roundof golf and he was hooked. Fromthat day forward his goal was
thePGA Tour. He practiced and playedany chance he could, often
stayingon the range until the lights wentout near midnight.
Three attempts and seven yearslater, Calvin Peete had his
tour
His fellow pros used to kid him about constantly being in the
middle of the fairway
with the nickname Mr. Accuracy.
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card. “The first time through q-school I wasn't disappointed
tomiss out because it was all new forme,” explains Peete. “I was
readythe second time but didn't playwell. I finally got it the
third timeand never went back.” There wasno Nationwide Tour to fall
back onbut there was Monday qualifying.The Top-60 and previous
tourna-ment winners were exempt for theyear while the rest -
includingPeete - were known as the rabbits.They earned the moniker
fromhopping from city to city at theirown expense in search of a
spot inthe field. Every Monday the rab-bits would battle it out for
theremaining spots in the tournament.Peete earned his way in three
timesin 1975 but didn't pick up his firstcheck until the 1976
Phoenix Open- a tournament he would win nine
years later. He averaged about$20,000 those first few
seasons,most of which went straight intotour expenses.
“I had a few top-tens in theearly days and knew it was only
amatter of time before I won sowinning Milwaukee in 1979 wasn'ta
surprise,” says Peete of his maid-en victory.
Despite his many weeks on the
road, Calvin Peete's heart was athome. “Dad always had time
forus,” observed daughter NicolePeete, an Atlanta third
gradeteacher. “He still does even thoughwe're apart. Dad always
loved totalk and some of my fondest mem-ories are of sitting around
the din-ner table just being a family andtalking. I don't ever
remember dadyelling at me-he's always been sosoft-spoken. I used to
love watch-ing him fiddling with the grips onhis clubs when he was
home andjust listen to him talk about life.”
Calvin Peete Junior, anElkridge, Maryland realtor, echoeshis kid
sister. “Dad always had agreat rapport with me. I stillremember the
time when I was 16and just him and I went to NewYork. I wanted to
get a car so we
visited a dealership,” says the gre-garious 37-year-old. “Dad
wasteaching me how to drive standardand instead of getting all
impatientlike most people would as I strug-gled with the gears, he
just calmlyexplained it to me and never raisedhis voice. At that
moment I foundit hard to imagine my dad hustlingproduct on the
road.”
Although he wouldn't win againfor three years, Peete continued
his
solid play and earned over$100,000 in 1980 and 1981 - a tidysum
in those days. “People knewwhat dad was earning because ofwhat he
did and everyone thoughtwe were so rich,” laughs Junior. “Ireally
didn't grasp the impact ofwhat dad was doing until yearslater.”
Over the next four seasonsCalvin Peete's golf game was inthe
stratosphere. He won 11 times -including the 1985
PlayersChampionship - and the undyingrespect of his peers as
possibly thebest American golfer during thattime and certainly the
most accu-rate. His fellow pros used to kidhim about constantly
being in themiddle of the fairway with thenickname Mr. Accuracy. He
playedon two Ryder Cup teams and cap-
tured the Vardon Trophy in 1984for low scoring average. The
onlyknock against him was his failureto win a major, yet he
collected ahandful of top-five finishes. “I wasat the top of my
game at ThePlayers and I consider it mymajor,” explained Peete of
thosegolden years. “I always felt com-fortable with my fellow pros
andwinning brings you the respect ofothers. When I first came out
Ideveloped a good rapport with Lee
“The press wasn't ready for a black man to dominate the PGA Tour
and
some of them expected me to self-destruct.”
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Elder, Charley Sifford and JackNicklaus. Tom Kite, LannyWadkins
and I became goodfriends. We all got along but let'sface it, we
wanted win.”
Inexplicably, some golf instruc-tors have credited Peete's
leg-endary accuracy off the tee to hisbent arm while at the same
timeignoring golf's cardinal rule: keepyour left arm straight. “Dad
wasone of the best ball strikers thatever lived and certainly the
mostaccurate, yet some people refuse togive him the credit he
deserves,”chimes in Calvin's son Rick, an ITconsultant and actor.
“I think dadwas very underrated as a playerand I wonder if some of
the reasonis that he's African American. Idon't think people were
ready forhim when he started winning tour-naments.” His father
agrees. “Itwas different when Tiger Woodscame along because
everyone waswaiting for him. They had beenhearing about him since
he was achild. The press wasn't ready for ablack man to dominate
the PGATour and some of them expectedme to self-destruct.”
Even with his success, darkclouds were looming on the hori-zon.
“Even though I continued toplay well and win after 1982, Istarted
finding it tougher to focus,”explains Peete of what would
yearslater be diagnosed as TouretteSyndrome. “I was
constantlychanging my grip and what wasleft became right on the
golfcourse. I literally had to think inreverse when hitting a shot.
Hepicked up a pair of victories in1983 but wouldn't win again
untilthe tail end of 1984. “I think I triedtoo hard for a while
there and the
Tourette's made it worse although Ididn't know what was
happening atthe time. Naturally since I hadn'twon in a while I was
accused oftaking drugs. You know, everytime a black athlete has a
slump it'salways drugs,” stated Peete sarcas-tically. “Those
comments reallyhurt.”
He won twice in 1985 and1986 - his last victory at what isnow
the Zurich Classic of NewOrleans - before it all started tounravel
in 1987. His marriage toChristine collapsed, sending himinto a
depression. Feeling as if hefailed, his game plummeted
-exacerbating his neurological dis-order.
After a brief stint in Phoenix,Calvin Peete remarried and
movedback to Florida, playing theChampions Tour for eight yearswith
moderate success while fight-ing the disease that eventuallyforced
him to retire. “I thank Godfor Pepper and my family,” saysPeete.
“She's been a real blessingas have my kids.” He stays in con-stant
touch with his grown childrenand is supportive of their
variedcareers.
“Dad and I are very close. Ialways remember sitting on thecouch
with him and watchingcartoons. He used to take me forice cream and
we would just talkabout things. He tried to teach megolf but all I
ever wanted to dowas drive the golf cart,” remi-nisced daughter
Calvinetta, aWashington D.C. law schoolgraduate. “I remember at
schoolonce I turned in a paper and thelaw professor saw my name
andasked if I was related to CalvinPeete. When I told him who I
was he wanted to know every-thing about dad rather than me.”
Over the years Calvin Peeteemphasized the importance of agood
education and the kids havetaken dad's advice. “I grew up in
achurch and consider myself a spiri-tual man,” says Dad. “My wife
andkids attend church every Sunday. Iknow about love and have
passedthat on to my children. I haveseven children from my two
mar-riages and I have always wantedwhat's best for them. When I
wasplaying I used to think that witheach dollar I earned I could
sendmy kids to college.”
“What's interesting about dad isthat although he never got the
typeof education we did, he has a lifeeducation,” explains son
Calvin.“What he has accomplished andlearned and passed on to us is
tentimes greater than anything thatcan be written about him. He
wason medication for a while withTourette's but he came off it and
isdoing great. His mind is extraordi-nary and his advice to us is
alwaysright on. He once said to me 'Justremember, you are your wife
andchildren.' It really made me realizethe importance of marriage
andfamily.”
Nicole Peete concurs with hersiblings. “I talk with dad
everyweek. He's a very smart man andI'm extremely proud of him.
Dadgrew up poor and how he has risenabove all the obstacles in his
life isamazing. It shows what you canachieve despite what life
throws atyou. Not only is he a wonderfulfather, he is the greatest
and wisestman I have ever known. I love himso much.” MG