I still remember the first time I called Jim Nantz for an interview.
It was 2009, and Fred Couples, Nantz’s former college roommate and teammate at the University of Houston, was prepping for Augusta National a week ahead of the Masters by making a run in their old stomping grounds at the Shell Houston Open. Who better to get a quote from than Nantz, I figured.
Only one problem: I called him while he was broadcasting the Final Four. Oops! Anyone else would’ve hit delete on my voice mail and I might have been lucky to get a call back at the earliest on Tuesday after March Madness had concluded. But not Nantz. I was calling about one of his dearest friends and so he dialed me back in between games and, pressed for time, reeled off three or four snappy quotes, a telling nugget and an anecdote that made my column for that week’s print issue. Thus was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
On Wednesday, Nantz, who has been with CBS since 1985 and joined the network’s golf coverage in 1986, was to be inducted into the PGA of America’s Hall of Fame in the ambassador category during the 107th PGA Annual Meeting in Frisco, Texas. The honor is especially meaningful to Nantz, whose love for golf blossomed during summers spent working at Battleground Country Club in Manalapan Township, N.J., for head professional Tony Bruno.
“The greatest lesson in my life that I didn’t get from my parents was watching a PGA professional at work,” Nantz once told me.
I’ve learned a lot from Nantz over the years from our many encounters and conversations over the phone, email and text, including in August in Minnesota at a golf course being built by one of his college teammates. Here are four lessons on life I’ve learned from Nantz and one classic story he recounted from his illustrious career calling some of the great moments in men’s professional golf.