The Great Eddie Lowery – A Prince to all Golfers

I knew Eddie Lowery.  Eddie Lowery, the little caddie in the movie “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”  The little caddie in this picture taken after Francis Quimet, the 20 year old amateur holding the horse shoe, had defeated the two great English pros, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray for the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, 1913.

That Eddie Lowery. He turned out to be the greatest supporter and benefactor ever of American golf. So great was his appreciation and so great was his gratitude for that experience of caddying for Quimet and winning the Open that he spent the rest of his life paying the game back. Eddie Lowery was simply a Prince to all golfers.

It was with a little luck and a lot of pluck that the 10 year old Eddie got to carry Quimet’s bag. Lowery and his older brother, Jack, had read that Vardon and Ray would play in the Open at Brookline and had decided to cut school and go watch.

When they arrived, they saw Francis Quimet. He was looking for a caddy because his caddy had just dumped him for a higher paying French pro. Quimet knew Jack Lowery because Jack caddied at the Woodland Golf Club where Quimet played. So, on this qualifying day Francis asked Jack if he would carry his bag, which he did. Eddie went out to watch the Englishmen.

All was set for the actual tournament that began the next day. Until, that is, Jack and Eddie were caught that afternoon by the truant officer and dragged home to their mother.

She gave those boys such ‘what for’ that Jack quietly went back to school the next day and bailed on Francis. Eddie, however, risked all, cut school, evaded the truant officer, found Francis and explained the situation. Then he talked his way onto the bag. “I said to Francis,” he later wrote, “whatever you decide to do, you keep your head down and I will watch the ball. I have never lost a ball yet.”

Francis, without too much choice in the matter, agreed and off they went. It went well. Better than well. It turned out to be the greatest moment in the young life of American golf. Many years later, Francis inscribed a picture of the two of them with the words, “This is the boy who won the 1913 Open.”

Lowery never forgot Quimet’s beneficence. He said his life would never have become the fairy tale it was had it not been for Francis. They were friends for life, often reuniting in happy reminiscence of the spectacular American victory.

The man who never finished high school started his work life as a caddy master, then took up Sports Writing, and finally found a little traction in advertising before moving to San Francisco in 1937 where he went to work for Van Etta Motors. It wasn’t long before he owned Van Etta and turned it into the largest Lincoln-Mercury dealership in the country.

Even before he became a millionaire, Eddie was heavily involved in the local and national golf scene. President of the Northern California Golf Association, a member of the USGA Executive Committee, he held memberships at the San Francisco Golf Club, Augusta National, Cypress Point and Seminole.

Always a fine player himself, winner of the Massachusetts Junior Championship in 1919 and the Massachusetts State Amateur title in 1927, he played to a low single digit handicap all his life. And nothing gave him greater pleasure than helping others in the game, especially young kids.

He was instrumental in launching the professional career of San Francisco’s Bob Rosberg who won the 1959 P.G.A. Championship. He hired Ken Venturi as a car salesman so he could sponsor his amateur career. Venturi lead the ’56 Masters as an amateur going into the final round. He collapsed finishing second. All of San Francisco was sick at heart. Eddie got his long time Crosby partner, Byron Nelson, to tutor Venturi. Kenny later won the U.S. Open in 1964.

After getting the Oakland phenom, Tony Lema, a job at the S.F. Club as an assistant Pro, Eddie also sponsored him on tour paying Tony’s expenses and taking a third of his winnings. Tony won the 1964 British Open at St. Andrews.

Lowery also hired, E. Harvie Ward, the greatest American amateur after Bobby Jones. Ward won The NCAA, the North-South Amateur, the Canadian Amateur, the British Amateur, and the U.S. Amateur in 1955 and 1956. Sadly, when Lowery had a problem with the IRS claiming Harvie’s and Kenny’s golf trips as his business expenses, Harvie had his amateur status revoked by the USGA. Venturi was in the same boat, but beat them to the punch by turning pro first.

Lowery won the ’55 Crosby ProAm with partner Byron Nelson. At a pre tournament cocktail party the next year, he said to a friend, “My two amateurs (Venturi and Ward) can beat any two pros in the world. I’ll put ten thousand dollars on it.” His pal, George Coleman, said, “I’ll get Nelson and Hogan and we’ll play tomorrow.”

They did. At Cypress Point. The pros shot a best ball score of 55 to the amateurs 56, and won on the last hole. Collectively, they made an eagle and 27 birdies and Venturi said it was the best golf he ever saw.

Well, maybe it’s a bit of an overstatement on my part to say that I knew Eddie Lowery. I fore-caddied for him one summer out at the San Francisco Golf Club back in the 1960’s. Eddie just loved the game, the people of who played it, and nothing gave him greater satisfaction than helping a young golfer. Or a young caddy.

He loved it so much that he always took two caddies: one on the bag and one down the fairway to spot the balls. And he paid his caddies more than any other member of the club: forty bucks for the bag and twenty for the fore-caddy. And I always had the feeling that Eddie would toss another twenty at me just for the fun of it. This in a day when the premium caddy in the pen would get $10 for a single. Eddie was simple a Prince to all golfers.

Cover Photo via Wikipedia