180 Holes In One Day - Recently this column was about John Mangine playing 144 holes of golf in one day at Maplehurst Country Club back in July. But Beverly Crandall of Bemus Point informed me that the area record is 180 holes in one day set by her husband, Herb, on July 31, 1938.
Crandall was 16 then and a caddy at Bemus Point Golf Club. According a clipping from The Journal, he had heard about a record of 144 holes played by Joe Walsh, the assistant pro at Maplehurst. Crandall said he could play 180 holes and did it.
He started at 5:30 a.m. and finished at 7:55 p.m. He walked for all the holes and carried his own bag. His only break was for about 30 minutes for lunch.
Crandall's scores for the 20 nine-hole rounds were 42, 42, 42, 45, 42, 43, 45, 42, 42, 45, 42, 44, 43, 41, 44, 46, 43, 41, 42 and 46.
Crandall is now 87 and is reminded about his feat daily because he lives beside the No. 1 fairway at Bemus Point.
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Bunkers In Baghdad Update - Dick Nelson, who coordinates the local efforts for Bunkers in Baghdad which ships golf equipment overseas for the troops, gave a recent update.
An article in Golf World really made the efforts of Bunkers in Baghdad founder Joe Hanna in Buffalo take off and he was completely out of balls. So Nelson, with the help of many others, came through.
Nelson's last trip to the storage facility at Grand Island included 4,400 golf balls, 340 clubs and some cash collected from cans Nelson has placed at area pro shops and other facilities.
With that delivery, the totals since he began collecting items for Bunkers in Baghdad a year ago is 24,031 balls, 2,046 clubs, 277 shafts and $2,165 in cash, which is used for shipping costs.
Among the many people and organizations to thank are the Lakewood Rod & Gun Club, Snap Fitness, Don's Car Wash, Chautauqua Golf Club, Chautauqua Point Golf Course, Conewango Valley Country Club, Sunset Valley Golf Course, Bemus Point Golf Club and Stan Marshaus at Erie Golf Club.
A special thanks goes to South Hills Country Club owner Tom Trusso, who had a special Bunkers in Baghdad Day.
Soon the ponds will be drained at Chautauqua and Nelson will be back at work building up his ball supply. The photo at right shows the result of one day of ball cleaning by Nelson.
For more information about Bunkers in Baghdad or to make a contribution, contact Nelson at 664-3691.
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Times Have Changed - The recent Ryder Cup golf matches proved how times have changed in television sports.
When the United States played the Soviet Union in the famous Miracle on Ice game at Lake Placid in the 1980 Winter Olympics, the game began at 5 p.m. However, ABC decided to show the game at 8 p.m. on tape delay.
That was 1980 and now 30 years later we had the Ryder Cup Matches being played in Wales, which is five hours ahead of us in the Eastern Time Zone. Play began at 2:30 a.m. our time and they were live on ESPN.
However, tape delay came into use again as earlier action was shown quite a bit during numerous delays and suspensions because of the weather.
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Who's That - The death of former quarterback and placekicker George Blanda brought back memories.
When I became a fan of the Houston Oilers in their inaugural season of 1960, Blanda was their quarterback and he led them to three straight division titles and the first two AFL championships. They lost the third in double overtime.
Just like in 1966 when the Cincinnati Reds traded Frank Robinson to Baltimore because they thought he was ''an old 30,'' the Oilers thought Blanda's career was over when they released him in 1967. Oakland signed him and he went on to have more success for the Raiders, including against Houston in the 1967 AFL championship game which sent his team to Super Bowl II.
Unfortunately, Blanda's days with the Raiders' are mostly what he is remembered for. Most of the news stories on the day after his death included photos or film footage of him in a Raiders uniform. But on CBS's coverage of Sunday's Tennessee Titans' game, the only shots of Blanda showed him in an Oilers' uniform.
I still remember in the fall of 1960, I was a fifth-grader in Eastern Ohio and we had the assignment to write a biography. The teacher was expecting the usual subjects such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and John F, Kennedy and she did receive them. But she also received one about someone she hadn't heard of - George Blanda.
George who?
I wonder who wrote that biography?
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Former Jamestown Players In Postseason - Thanks to New York-Penn League historian Charlie Wride, here is a list of former Jamestown NY-P League players or managers who are participating in the major league postseason as a player or coach. The year or years they were in Jamestown are in parenthesis.
San Francisco - Coach Mark Gardner (1985), Andres Torres (1998),.
Cincinnati - Francisco Cordero (1995, 1996).
Tampa Bay - Gabe Kapler (1995).
Texas: Coach Dave Anderson (manager 1984), coach Jackie Moore (manager 1968, 1969).
Kapler was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Monday because of a sprained right ankle, so he will not be playing.
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Counties Of Defense - Coming into Friday night's football games, the top three teams in defense in Section 6 were from Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties.
No. 1 was Jamestown allowing 13 points in five games followed by Silver Creek with 19 and Randolph with 21.