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FAIRHAVEN, Mass. — Dana Almeida is well known throughout New England as the legendary high school football coach of Fairhaven High, leading the Blue Devils to three Super Bowl titles in 1991, 1994 and 2000 and an overall record of 110-66-4 in his 19 years at the helm.
But the longtime Fairhaven resident is also an avid golfer and just recently completed the rare feat of playing a round of golf in all 50 states.
“It was beautiful,” he said of golfing on June 22 at Anchorage Golf Course in Alaska, his final stop on a journey that began around 1985.
Making it to all 50 states was not the plan when the 68-year-old Almeida first started golfing with fellow high school football coach Jim Lanagan nearly 40 years ago on trips across the United States to attend spring college football practices.
“We would visit with their coaches and we’d go to their meetings with their players and watch their drills,” he recalled. “We’d specifically pick colleges that were running the triple option, which is what we ran.
“We would always take one morning to golf. We would go early Sunday morning and go golfing before we flew home on Sunday. That’s how it started.”
Almeida then traveled the country with his wife, Debbie, on trips in the summer when she gave math and science workshops for elementary school teachers.
“I’d go with her,” Almeida said. “I’d drop her off and take the car and find a golf course and go. I’d try to do all the neighboring states.”
Almeida put up a map of the United States in his basement and began putting pins in the states to mark where he had golfed. It filled up in spurts as he did multiple states at a time over the last three-plus decades.
“She did a workshop in Wolf Point, Montana, in the northeastern corner,” he said. “We went out early and we did all the states that were surrounding Yellowstone. We did Idaho, Wyoming, Montana. We were probably 15 minutes from the North Dakota border so I drove over.
“I would drive across the state line and find the first tourist information and ask, ‘Where is the nearest golf course?’ The one in North Dakota (Links of North Dakota) was unbelievable.”
Almeida checked another five states off during a trip to Memphis, Tennessee.
“If you look at the map, there are a lot of them where I did a corner,” he said. “Within less than an hour of Memphis, I was able to play four states (Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama) and Kentucky.”
While Almeida enjoyed playing golf at so many different courses, he also treasured meeting new people along the way.
“You meet some great people,” Almeida said. “They always put you with others to play with. I’ve met some wonderful people.”
Here’s a look back at his highlights:
Most challenging course
Almeida said it has got to be the Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California.
“That’s where the pros play one of their tournaments (Farmers Insurance Open),” Almeida said.
Most beautiful course
On a trip that included Michigan and Ohio, Almeida stopped in Indiana to visit Charlie Weis at the University of Notre Dame. “Bill Lewis, a friend from Georgia, was there and he sent me across the street to play at the University of Notre Dame Country Club (Warren Golf Course), where all the big wigs from Notre Dame play. That was really, really beautiful.”
Most memorable hole
“There’s a par 3 on Torrey Pines where you actually have to hit over a piece of the ocean. When you look down, the cliff has got to be a couple of hundred feet down to the water and you have to walk around to get to the green.”
Most unforgettable course
Almeida came face-to-face with wildlife at Troon North in Scottsdale, Arizona. “They told us if your ball goes into a cactus bush don’t put your hands in there. Use a club because of the rattlesnakes, which we saw a couple. On the same course we saw wild horses out on the course. That was kind of neat.”
