The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WA! rauncnwnrcuz ‘Wednesday. May 22,2013 - 29 Remembering Leggatt Spittle from the start Based on my experiences. the bads outweigh the goods play the Champions Tour after turning pro for the senior and their golf records. Well done, guys when it comes to the growing old factor. tour in 2M4. The 2013 ceremony had the added attraction of inducting However. I had the good fortune to enjoy one of the Spittle made his mark on the Champions Tour,when he two now-departed frientk â€" former longtime sports/golf goods two weeks ago at the Golf Association of Ontario's won the AT&T tourney in October of 20m. unfortunately writer lack Marks from Toronto and longtime superintend- annual hall of fame induction ceremony at Wooden Sticks about six months after his father, lack. a former friend of em Gord Witteveen. To have four buddies honoured all on Golf Club in Uxbridge. mine. died. _ the same day is special. This 'good" may not mean a lot to some people, but It doesn't get any better than two good guys making their when you've been writing about golf - mares, females, ama- mark in the game we all love and me remembering l was on teurs. pros. tournaments, courses and the industry in gener- there When they started their paths to the GAO hall of fame. Bill (Shiv/ohm retiradfmm fulln’me spomum'tr'ng in 2002 ' al â€" for the past 56 years. there are times when it is extra No. this Isn't realiyabout me. It's about leggan and Spittle butanbemdredatsfipchipségoldennet special. l‘ve been to a few of the (MOS induction cere- monies in the past â€" the most recent the honoring of reclusive Kitchener golf legend Gerry Kesselring in at» zoosâ€"but thisyear’soeremonywill rankhighinmy memorybemuseitincludedtwospecialmen. . y .2 ‘ ldon'tknowthisforsure, if \‘\.‘.., 2‘2. lFJCREDiBLE SAVINGS butimayhavebeenthefirst f“~”‘* "'3 “ 5 daily newspaper reporter to " 5 To R E w l D E . do stories about well-known ‘ former Cambridge resident [an Leggatt and former Niaga- if“? 3 raFalls amateur standoutRod ' ._ ‘ I .- 1 Spittle. 3? ' .2: . ' } When I mentioned this to f 2 -. i friends, their first reaction is. 2- it) ’boy, you must be old.’ F» . g; 7 Of course. i can't argue ‘ kg with that. But the point of me being there is more about the u n ‘ chance to see outstanding BILL SKIP , golfers i first met and wrote [OI-[NS about as young boys being ‘ honoured for what they have done in the game for the ; past three decades and longer. 3 Leggatt. who now lives in the Toronto area. ended his playing career to become director of golf at the Summit Golf and Country Club in Richmond Hill, but ‘ he was the most successful pro from Waterloo Region after chalking up victories on both the PGA and Nationwide (now Web.com) tours. Nice stuff for a guy who started his career at the at little Puslinch lake course before movin to the 5 ! tholfandCountryClub. g a“ men S & women 5 Waterloo Re 'on golfers are also familiar with Le - ' gatt's involvemglnt in a junior tour for boys and gigs 2013 Sp rlng apparej that was founded two decades ago by several junior , . . .. tour enthusiasts. including [eggatt's mother Joyce and . ‘ ‘ .. .. 92 a” ‘ fl , his late father Jack. ,1 a ’ ' ~,,? Y" lt'wasn't hard to realizewhy Leggatt was such a .. “ . , _. 5 great guy â€" especially when it came to charity f3 AV L” 93 330‘ a fundraising including Ronald MacDonald‘s House â€" g . A “I , , ‘ after you met and had dealings with lack and Joyce for -'- .3 it u so many years as i did. 7 - As for Spittle, the GAO day was special since 1 hadn‘t . seen him in more than four decades after moving from I my hometown of Niagara Falls to join the Chronicle's _ little brother. the Waterloo Region Record. in 1972. Not surprisingly. he didn't know who i was when l ,2“... . went to shake hands with him. However, Spittle's . ; g" 4. 5'41 " f 3 . , - "j s ' ‘ ‘ entourage of family quickly caught on when i talked . , . j J, first. A '..-:- a. ;.32»»-; . 7 about newspaper articles and they just as quickly “km QC If " .. '4 "$ch .. ~~ » .. ' » :3 *2 pointed out they still show many ofthem to thisday. ':._:.;;,,. N . ”M vii Spittle's probably not as well known in this area as w A. .. : - "hm-um . Leggatt, but he's accomplished some outstanding ama- .. A am}..- .. g... WW h ' teur wins since he was this lanky, blond-haired young- §;W A w. ”52“ ”we ster playing out of the WillovDell Golf Club outside .2 a, 2‘. , '. "M j ”a,“ . g . a. t“ Niagara Falls. . , swim _- . .13.; Mr; And that line about me being old gets credence . H ,. ‘ , ‘ ‘ ‘_ ‘ _ . r; w. j 1 . .. .y .. ‘ ... when youconsiderSpittlewas born in 1955. onlytwo ‘ "“ ‘ " ‘ ' A“ p“ ‘- "A“ " ‘NJ‘Y‘ ' " ‘ ' " ‘ ‘ ' »2N\~V-'T years before I started writing about golf. Although Spittle is Canadian, he shifted his base of operations in order to attend Ohio State University on a golf scholarship and now divides his time between Dublin. Ohio and Dunedin. Fla, while he continues to