With Arnie Burdick at the 2012 RBC Heritage.
I had the distinct privilege, honor and pleasure to meet and interview Mr. Burdick during the 2012 RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. If you know the golf business, most folks love the week after The Masters as much as The Masters. Hilton Head is laid back, relaxed and fun after a week of intensity. It is like interacting with the world for one week and then going to Hilton Head to relax and recover from interacting with the world for one week. If you like the place you usually like the people you meet there but that isn’t the reason why I liked and looked forward to seeing Arnie. He was from Central New York like me and if there was one thing we had in common was that we were survivors of the winters up north (sorry to my friends and relatives still thawing out up there).
While I was from Binghamton, Arnie was from Syracuse and he was all Syracuse. Born and raised there as well as being a graduate of Syracuse University. He worked there for ten years after serving his country in WWII and then moved over to the Syracuse Herald Journal where he was Sports Editor for 30 years. After he retired and moved south to Hilton Head with his wife Mimi he nearly matched his career longevity as the Media Relations Director for the Heritage.
Mr. Hickory Golf with Sir Willie William, the mascot of the RBC Heritage.
What I remember from our conversation was that Arnie wasn’t really a golfer but did a lot of things for the game of golf. How unselfish is that to contribute to activities that are not your personal passion? Though he played a little bit early on he self-characterized his game as “just hacking.” In Syracuse he started the Herald Amateur in 1957 and it still is played today. Another phrase that has stuck with me from our conversation about junior golf is that it is “up to the individual to realize how far he can go, what his level will be” in the game as a professional. He liked telling the story of how Greg Norman won the Heritage in 1988 for a young boy with cancer who idolized the Great White Shark.
Mr. Burdick passed on a few months after we spoke at nearly 93 years of age. I will miss saying hello to him as much as I will revel in relaxing under the oak tree near the clubhouse at Augusta National (others can interact with the world). But I will think of him, The Old Scout, and enjoy the warm sunshine of Hilton Head.
