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Jamie Farr and myself at the 1987 Wayne Grezky Golf Classic |
The
Wayne Gretzky Golf Classic was held at the Edmonton Country Club. With the
great help from Country Club manager Leo Blindenbach I arranged to play the
first hole from my wheelchair to raise funds for the charity the tournament was
supporting. I got pledges per stroke on the first hole — a par five — so,
really, the more strokes I took the more money I made. The exact opposite of
the main objective of golf. But what the hell. Wayne hosted a reception the
night before at the Country Club and made an announcement about me playing the
first hole.
“Hey,
Cammie I have an idea,” he told the crowd, before looking at me just
after 7:30 p.m. “Why don’t you start now? You might be finished by the time the
rest of us tee-off tomorrow.”
“Will
do,” I hollered back. “By the way, I got my handicap all figured out.”
The
crowd howled with laughter, and it was so good to know others were laughing
with me — and not at me. It would have been a little uncomfortable if
Wayne would have got up and told everyone I was playing a hole, and I had
cerebral palsy, and wasn’t it a
novel thing? But putting humour into it made it more personal … more fun. I
still couldn’t golf, though: I shot a 27 on the par five, and — cover your
eyes, golfers — five putted. At the banquet that night, Leo Blindenbach
collected money and had a wod of $100 bills. We raised $3,100 that day.
I attended Wayne’s golf tournament in Edmonton for
three more years, including the last one in 1987. Wayne always made sure I felt
part of the tournament. Many well-known personalities from across North America
attended the event. And thanks to Wayne, I had the pleasure of having cocktails
with actors Jamie Farr and Alan Thicke, hockey broadcaster Danny Gallivan,
music producer David Foster and Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe, who has flown
into the parking lot one year by helicopter. Wayne’s personality brought so
many people to Edmonton and he went out of his way to make sure his friends
shared in their time.
IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE 1987 at Kevin
Lowe’s annual gathering when I know Wayne had met the love of his life and
future wife, Janet Jones. The ladies were upstairs and the men were downstairs.
“Well, guys I think I am in love. I
was with Janet last night and we went to the ballet,” Wayne said. “I really
don’t like the ballet but when you are with the right girl, who cares, right?”
he asked.
Wayne and I kept seeing each other
after Oiler games. But I perhaps fumbled a rather big story in Edmonton.
Wayne was out with an injury in early
1988. It was announced he was going to be doing some charity work, so I
arranged to interview Wayne between periods at an Oiler game. Wayne seemed a
little more nervous than other times we had been together, but I didn’t think
it was much of a big deal. I thought I had a fairly decent story but when
I got to The Edmonton Journal newsroom the next morning, my desk mate Al
Turner met me with a frown on his
face.
“I read that story you wrote on
Gretzky this morning,” Al said with a tinge of distain in his voice. “Were you
with him or did you do it on over the phone?”
I told Al I was with Wayne.
“And he didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“CHED Radio ran with a story all
morning Gretzky and Janet Jones got engaged last night at Earl’s. You were with
the guy and there was nothing in your story about him getting engaged.”
I began feeling beads of sweat on my
forehead. It was a huge story in Edmonton: Wayne was like a prodigal son, and
maybe I blew it.
“You didn’t ask him?” Al said.
No, I replied, because I didn’t hear
anything to ask the question. Maybe Wayne wasn’t sure what Janet’s answer would
be so he kept quiet.
Coming shortly: Back to L.A.
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