Golf Gypsy Slays a Dragon

Being a teenager in any decade is NOT easy. Working in the golf shop at Miami Golf and Country Club during those years opened my eyes to the vast array of personalities walking through the golf shop. 

MGCC 1960's lady golfers Florence Dawson, Clara Barton

Mother stared at me with her hazel green eyes and tightly pursed lips.  When I heard the sucking sound of her lips pursed together, I knew I was in trouble.  “Letty, if you can’t say anything nice, then say nothing at all.”

“Mother,” I labored throwing my body into a forward slump, “If I say nothing at all, then I’d never talk. You’re always telling me to ‘kill them with kindness’, but I’d much rather trip those girls, and watch them fall in front of the boys.” Shaking my head, I continued ranting.

Placing a hand on each of my shoulders, attempting to calm herself she sighed and said, “Never, never stoop to their level of rudeness. You will only be the loser.  With kind and thoughtful words, you will be a better person, and people will respect you.”

“But these girls are the most popular and all of the boys like them!”

Now her voice steamed, “You must learn to control your mouth.  Your father’s job could depend on your behavior.”

My only defense came in a few lines, “Fine! Then why did you have me? I’m not attractive and I’m certainly not pretty with these pimples and flyaway hair. And I think telling the truth is more important than spreading rumors.”

With a heavy sigh mother growled one last time, “Go to your room now. One of these days your words will come back to haunt you.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my little sister spying on us from her middle bedroom. 

Letty Stapp, member of the NEO boys Golf Team 1965-67

During my teenage years I worked summer mornings at the golf shop and spent afternoons practicing my game or swimming. Evenings were my favorite time when Dad and I took the scooter (golf carts in the '50-60 were often called scooters) out to the driving range to chip up the range balls.  The Kildeer was our favorite bird to watch and dad would often put sticks around their nests so machines and people would not step on them. We rescued more baby rabbits than I can count, all with no success but many memories. 

1962 MHS Girls State Champions, Letty Stapp, Diana Oliver,
Carole Luttrell, Pam Smallwood

One night I overheard my parents talking in the kitchen. My father’s voice seemed quaky like he might cry. I knew that tone of voice meant something was wrong. Slipping out of my bedroom, I crawled into the living room and hid behind the large cushioned chair.  “Helen, he is just plain nasty to everyone at the club.  He glares at the women’s breasts. He rudely burps and belches in front of decent people. He embarrasses the women with his vulgarity and condescending remarks. He calls any man who disagrees with him a Son-of-a-Bitch, no matter whether children are nearby or not. So, I finally told him to take his business elsewhere, if he couldn’t be a gentleman around women and children.  Now he says that he’ll have my job. At the next board meeting he plans to ask them to fire me.”

The tension shook the floor of the house that night. I barely took a breath because I knew they were talking about a club member who we nicknamed “Nasty.” I understood that those words stayed inside our four walls, or else!

“Johnie, will you have a chance to speak at the board meeting to defend yourself?”

Nearly stuttering my father replied, “I certainly hope so, but I have nothing nice to say about him.”

Bob Hill, Dickie Neal Miami High School State Champions 1960

“Then say something nice about the families of the board members. Remind them of the advancements we’ve made at the club with golf carts; how we host golf tournaments that make money for the club; how you conduct one of the best Jr. Golf programs in the state of Oklahoma. Bring some of the state trophies that our junior boys and girls have won.”

Mabel Hotz Memorial tournament winner 1964, Donna Fox,  Susan Basolo

I could hear my father’s fist nervously pounding the table. My mother continued, “Always focus on the positive. Somehow Letty cheerfully greets the club members every morning on the job with a smile on her face.  She listens to their complaints and never says an ugly word. Remember that time Nasty came in and yelled at her about the condition of one of the greens, and how he couldn’t make a putt.”

“See that’s what I mean, Helen, he has no respect for any of us. Letty didn’t need to be confronted with those harsh words.” 

“My point, Johnie, is this. Remember how she handled him? She listened, then said something like, ‘Mr. B, I know you are a very good putter, and I can see that it makes you mad to miss a putt. I saw you sink that putt on number 9 the other day when you won a wad of money off the Springfield guys. That was fun to watch, and all of the people in the bar upstairs cheered and tapped on the windows.  You are a great golfer.’” 

It was quiet in the kitchen, but my heart pounded in the living room. “Johnie, she simply fluffed his feathers and softened him by treating him kindly and with respect, even though I can guess what she might have been thinking.”

That night, I felt like crying tears of joy. For all of the times that I had said it wrong, my mother remembered the time that I said it right, and slayed a dragon with kindness.

by Letty Stapp Watt
Johnie Stapp's daughter and historian

HerStory: Susan Basolo Kennedy

She would have been sixty-six this month, I know because she was one month older than I was, and we had both started school when we were five.  The difference is that she was a genius, whose focus on golf and her schooling out-shined all of us who played along side her.  She matured long before most of her classmates and golf companions, while I lagged behind in maturity and confidence.  She was left handed and played golf right handed, making me think I should have learned to play golf left handed so I'd be strong like she was.

I was fifty before I realized how positively she impacted my life, and that was long after she beat me in every golf tournament in which we ever played.  My Oklahoma Jr. Golf years and tournaments aligned with Susan's every entry. We both began our junior state tournaments in 1959 at Southern Hills, and ended our junior years at Southern Hills.  I held my own as an eleven year old in the nine hole division, but by age fourteen the pressure was on, and the skill level skyrocketed.  I was no match for her fury and focus.  She rolled over most of us in the those years.

Champion Susan Basolo

Yet, in reflection I think she was my mother's nemesis, not mine.  Mother coached me and believed in me and more than once said, "Letty, this year I just know you will beat Susan." I would leave my mother exasperated when I'd yell back, "Mom, she's the best golfer in the state.  I'm not like her." 

I admired Susan, and feared her.  I never once thought I could beat her, although I'm sure I'm dreamed of victory. I knew her talents, her strengths, and her vision. She was truly "one" with the game of golf; I was one with "emotional" upheavals which were most detrimental to a steady game of golf. Even as a teenager I studied people and asked myself, "How can she do that? What gives her the focus that I don't have?..."  Indirectly, I learned and would one day apply to my life, the meaning of words, such as, tenacity and perseverance, by observing her actions on the golf course and throughout her college career.

Studying psychology in college one day at LSU I experienced an epiphany   IQ. Susan had a very high IQ, and I knew one day would reach her goal to become a doctor.  Years passed and two golfers began making headlines...Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods.  It was in their eyes that I once again saw Susan Basolo...beady focus, relaxed determination, confidence, refined skills that took them to the top, and I guessed a high IQ.  

An old newspaper clipping from the Tulsa Tribune Sports Writer, Bill Harper, stated that Susan's golf pro at Muskogee Country Club was Gordon Jones, who also taught LPGA early member Beth Stone.  Harper described Jones as "psychological type teacher."  Susan said at the time, "He's the type teacher that makes you believe that you can beat anybody."  

Mack Boswell wrote often of Susan's exploits on the golf course.  "Susan Basolo, 15 year old Muskogee girl who has been making an impressive record in women's golf competition this year, captured the fourth annual Mabel Hotz Jr. Girls Golf tournament in Miami,Oklahoma shooting an 82. Susan, who weighs 105 and stands 5-2 1/2" has made an impressive record in other meets this year.  She won second place in the state high school invitational meet in Norman.  (Yes, Oklahoma enjoyed a decade of high school girls golf before dropping it in 1964.)  She was third in a big LPGA tournament at Muskogee, and was consolation runner-up in the state women's tournament in Duncan." She went on to win the Oklahoma Jr. Girls tournament in 1964, 1965.

The newspaper dubbed her "the small blaster from Muskogee."  Small in size only, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from OU, graduated from medical school and went on to be a successful dermatologist.  I played against her one more time in 1988 when we both attempted to qualify for the USGA Mid-Am.  She qualified, I was an alternate, but I overcame a barrier that day.  I knew that I, too, had something inside of me that day...conviction.  When I set my sights to accomplish a goal I could do it.  Thank you Susan for showing me what conviction, confidence, and focus looked like.  I'm just sorry that I never had a chance to tell you this.

Susan Basolo Kennedy died July 9, 2013 at her home in Tucson, Az.  She would have been 66 on Nov. 10, 2013.