Profile of Alexander Moses Sloan – December 30, 2009-12-30

Alex Sloan was born april 30, 1929. Parents were Fred Augustis Sloan and Bonnie Bowers
Sloan. City of McLeansboro, Illinois. Population 2,500. Hamilton County in Southern
Illinois. An area often refered to as Little Egypt

For first 3 years they lived in the city then because his grandmother Bowers fell and broke her
hip, they moved to the country to live with his grandparents so his mother could take care of
her mother till she regained her good health. Grandfather Moses F. Bowers farm was only 3
miles North of town so it was a daily short comute for father Fred Sloan to go to work. Mr.
Sloan was a self taught electrician. He worked as an electrician and small appliance repair
man during the day and his second job was at night as the manager of the Capital Theater.
The 3 years living on the farm were three of the most memorible times of his life. Watching
and learning. Fall of the year was time to do the butchering of beef and pork. How this was
done was a learning experiance few youngsters of today ever see. Grandfather had his own
smoke house for curing the meat. He loved going in there and smelling smoking of the pork
as it cured. At his request, grandmother Bowers would cut him bacon rind so he could go
crawdad fishing in grandad’s stock ponds. After filling a can with crawdads he would take
them to the barn lot where the chickens were and as they saw him coming they thought he had
food for them and gathered around. He dumped the crawdads and as the chickens pecked at
them the crawdads would cling to the chickens bills and the freightened chickens ran around
the yard squacking and wings flapping trying to dislodge the crawdads. Alex would laugh till
his sides ached.

When visiting children came to play, often they would have corn cob fights. This was fun
but the older boys had the advantage and they used it.

One day Alex was on the front porch playing as if he were riding his horse as he stradled the
porch railing. Suddenly his mother came and quickly took him inside and locked the doors
and pulled down the blinds. The reason for this, passing by was a band of Gypsies with their
horse drawn wagons. Rumor had it that the Gypsies would steal small children. It later was
learned this to be just a myth. The Gypsies often camped out at the local water reservoir on
the West side of McLeansboro.

After the living with grandparents for three years his father Fred borrowed $2,000.00 from an
uncle and bought a portion of his mothers home lot in McLeansbora and built a three level
home for his family. 503 E. Main St. This was to be the family home for the remainder of his
life in McLeansboro.

Living next door to Grandmother Sloan was a huge part of his development . He loved going
next door and seeing her. In the summer as he grew older he kept the lawns cut with the old
fashioned push lawn mower. In spring he would help her by turning the garden with the
turnig fork. It was a large garden and this took two to three days to complete by hand.
Grandmother repaid him by baking a lattice work apple pie. Sending little Alex across the
street to Effie Crawford’s small store to buy a pint of ice cream for 10 cents. Grandmother
would then cut each a huge piece of the hot apple pie and put a huge scoop of the ice cream
on it and they sat on the front porch in the swing and enjoyed the treat.

Grandfather Alexander Sloan died in 1933. Little Alex can remember sitting on Grandfathers
lap and playing with his pocket watch he always carried in a vest pocket. Grandfather Sloan

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had been a veteran of the Civil war. He joined the Indiania Volunteers at the age of 14 in
1864. Of course he had lied about his age. Grandfather Sloan retired as a rural mail carrier.

Alex went to the local grade school and high school. He played on the school baseball team.
There was no football allowed in his school as a young man had died during a game in 1929
and football was discontinued. He played percussion for 8 years in the band. Last two years
of high school he studied trumpet. The last year of high school he played lead trumpet in the
band. He graduated from M.T.H.S. spring of 1947. While attending the grade school he got a
job delivering earlyb morning papers. He had 55 customers to serve. This required him
getting up and going in to work at 5:30 A.M. to roll the papers and load them in the basket of
his bicycle. He had been given the bicycle for a Christmas gift the year of 1941. The best gift
he ever received. It opened up the small world of McLeansboro to him. It made his job of
delivering the news papers much easier. He was paid $3.75 a week for this job. He saved
enough money from the meager pay to buy his first shotgun. He ordered a 410 gauge 6 shot
bolt action shotgun from Montgomery and Ward for $14.75. This was the gun he used when
he later would go quail hunting with his favorite uncle, Silas Moore.

During the four years of going to high school he worked a summer job at the local creamery
as assistant to the ice cream maker, Ralph Gunter. Best job he ever had. Never ran out of ice
cream.

In the fall of 1947 he went to Southern Illinois University to try out for a band scholarship.
He first tried by playing his trumpet. He was rejected doing this. Before leaving he told the
director he also played snare drum. The director turned to the marching band director and
asked if he needed a snare durmmer. There was one opening. A drum was brought in and
Alex proved he was a good drum player. He got the scholarship. This was the differance in
going or not going to college. The tuition was $27.00 per quarter. That was $27.00 mother
Sloan did not have. Alex’s father had been killed in 1944 in an accident. Mother Bonnie
went to work at the local Kroger store making $20.00 per week. When Alex went to
Carbondale, Illinois to school, mother gave him $10.00 a week to live on. This paid his room
rent, food for the week and any school supplies. The last two months of the school year he
got a job making $20.00 a week. He then started sending mother $10.00 a week.

During the school year Alex had talked with some students who told of working at a canning
factory in Dekalb, Illinois during the summer. They were permitted to work all the over time
they wanted and consequently made more than enough money to get them through another
school year. When Alex came home in spring of 1948 after his first year in college he talked
with a friend about going to Dekalb, Illinois to work in the canning factory. Neither Alex nor
his friend John Paul Jones gave any thought of calling the factory to see if they were hiring
workers. This proved to be a mistake that would change the direction of his life They blindly
bought bus tickets for Dekalb and took off. Alex had perhaps $15.00 in his pocket. Dekalb is
about 250 miles North of McLeansboro When Alex and John Paul arrived and got to the
factory entrance there were about 300 men milling around. Hireing was not to start for three
weeks. This was not good news. Not enough money for a return ticket home. John Paul said
he had a family friend in Pekin, Illinois. After a sleepless night in a full bunk house on the
grounds of the canning factory, Alex and John Paul started an all day venture of hitch hiking
to Pekin which is just across the Illinois river from Peoria, Illinois. Very late in the day they
got close enough for John Paul to get on the phone and give his family friend a call. He
explained their delima to her. She drove to pick them up and took them to her home.
Looking at us she could see two very hungry and tired young men. She cooked a hot meal

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and then put them to bed. Alex slept for almost 18 hours. When he awoke he had a long talk
with the very nice host . She suggested we go to Caterpillar Tractor Co. and apply for work.
She drove them to the employment office. John Paul and Alex were interviewed one at a
time. Alex got the job but John Paul did not. He got on a bus and returned to McLeansboro
never to be seen again by Alex. John Paul actually never had to work as his father owned a
mortuary. John Paul went on to college and became a school teacher and last that was heard
of him, he lived on Fiji island with his family and taught school.

Alex went to work as a hand trucker in the factory parts department. Very easy work and
great pay. For the first time he had more money in his pocket than any prior time in his life.
He was making $65.00 a week and was paid twice a month. Unfortunately, he had no money
management skills. It burned a hole in his pocket. Not that he wasted it he just did not save
any.

The next order of business for Alex was to find a place to stay. He recalled meeting family
friends who lived in Peoria. The Nelson family. He called his mother and got their phone
number. He called them and they were excited to hear from him and invited him to their
home for a meal. During the time with them that evening arrangements were discussed and
approved for him to move in with them and pay room and board. This was a bonus for the
Nelson family as they had been wanting to buy a larger home as their family had out grown
the one they lived in. The extra money for them was a huge help. They were living in a two
bed room home with 3 children. Soon they bought a four bedroom two level home. Alex
slept on a cot in the screened in front porch till the move was made. Winter arrived before the
move was made and he enjoyed the cold nights on the porch. One morning he awoke to a
dead silence. No city noises. He raised up and looked out and there had been an ice storm
during the night. Nothing could move. It was 2 miles for Alex to walk down town and aross
the Illinois river bridge and to the plant entrance. He got up and ate a bite and dressed
warmly and started slipping and slidding the two miles to get to work. He was one of very
few who clocked in that day. He was working the 3:00-11:00 shift. When he got off work
the busses were running. He rode the bus across the bridge and got off down town to get a
bite to eat. Once he left the hot dog stand that was a favorite stopping place he got on the bus
to ride up the long hill to get home. The bus had to run with it’s rear wheels rubbing the curb
to get up the icy hill. He thought a fun experiance.

One day at work his foreman stopped to talk with him. He discussed what his intentions
were. Did he plan to be a hand trucker all his life? Alex explained the developments that
brought him to work at the plant. The foreman told Alex about the opportunities Caterpillar
had to offer. They had many apprentice courses a young man could take. All this was news
to Alex and gave him pause for serious decision making. The course that appealed to him
was the 4 year machinist apprentice class. He had switched his work to the day shift so he
could take night classes at Bradley university. After talking with the foreman he decided to
take the 4 year class to become a machinist. This was a great decision. He proved to excell at
this. On the down side, his wages were cut in half. He could manage this.

He soon was in class work for a month then was taken out into the plant to start working on
differant machines. He would spend 6 weeks on a machine then be transfered to another
department to start learning how to run another machine. First machine worked on was a
simple drill press. No challenge doing this job. Important skill he developed that proved
valuable later in life was how to correctly sharpen a twist drill. The first drill he sharpened

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was a 1” drill bit. He was so proud of his work he ran to show the foreman. The foreman was
also impressed..

At the end of the first 6 weeks he had more class work. Then he was transfered to a multiple
spindle drill. This was a bit more challenging but he enjoyed every minute of it. At the end
of that 6 week period he was transfered to a milling machine. Again, more skills were learned
and enjoyed. From the milling machine he was transfered to a huge grinding machine. The
grinding stone was about 3’ in diameter. The secret to doing a good job on it was learning
how to correctly keep the radius of the edge of the stone at a specified radius. Reason being
he was grinding jobs that had to be held to a specific radius on the shaft as it went from one
size to another. He used a large industrail diamond to do this job on the grinding stone. As
he was doing the tine tuning with the diamond he had the machine on automatic so the
diamond woudl automatically go back and forth across the wheel. Alex turned to his left to
get something off his work bench or out of his tool box and his right elbow struck the
maching causing the diamond to gouge into stone. This cracked and ruined the diamond and
there was this deep gouge in the wheel. He almost had a heart attack from this huge mistake.
How was he going to have to pay for the damage? Would he be fired? He just knew the
foreman was going to give him a very hard time. He bit the bullet and went to look for the
foreman to tell him what he had done. Alex could not believe how nice the foreman was to
him. He never said one cross word. He took Alex to the tool booth and checked out another
diamond. Remember, this diamond was as large as the end of your thumb. Alex had never
before or since seen a stone this huge. The foreman took Alex back to his work station and
began showing Alex how to repair the damage. First thing was to change the bad stone for a
good stone. Then the foreman started the stone turning and set the machine on for automatic
trimming. He turned to Alex and ina very soft tone said, “Be careful. You can do this.” That
is all that was ever said about the accident.

The next job Alex was taken to to start the next 6 weeks was grinding a final trim angle on
carbide cutting tools used on the large automatic laths. The carbide had to be roughly ground
to within a close tolerance before Alex started his job. He had a blue lprint to follow for each
tool showing exactly what angles and clearance was to be ground on the carbide tips. No two
carbide tools were alike. The wheel Alex ground the carbide on was about 8” in diameter and
had a 1” path of diamond dust on the side of the wheel near the outside edge. Trick was to
manually hold the carbide tool against the carbide dust and let the diamond dust cut the
carbide to the required angles. This was not as easy as the foreman made it look as he started
training me. It required heavy pressure to be exerted by the thumb of the right hand. As a
result of doing this for 8 hours a day he developed strong hands a fingers.

On the first day of doing this he made another huge expensive mistake. As he started
grinding his first tool he failed to keep working the tool back and forth across the diamond
strip and as a result he wore a grove in the 1” of diamond dust making the grinding wheel
unusable. Again he had to grit his teeth and find the foreman and show him his error. This
was not the same foreman that showed him how to fix his mistake on the large grinding stone.
This foreman was just as nice and soft spoken to Alex. Explaining how to correctly work the
carbide tips across the 1” path to wear the wheels evenly. The problem alex encountered was
the fact the workman doing the rough grinding was not doing his job and was leaving to much
for Alex to have to remove to get the tools to the final shape. After about a week of putting
up with this Alex went to the foreman and asked him if this was expected of him. The
foreman took one look at the tools Alex had not yet ground and checked the blue prints. It
was obvious Alex had a legitament complaint. He went directly to discuss this problem with

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the man who was doing the rough grinding. He got the problem resolved and Alex never had
to contend with this problem.

The reason Alex had hesitated in complaining was the fact the man doing the rough grinding
was an old family friend with the Sloan’s in McLeansboro. He never spoke to Alex again.

The next machine Alex was put to work on was called the screw machine. It was a lathe but
the rough stock was fed into it from the right and the spindle holding the material was on the
left. As soon as Alex got the hang of using this machine he could make the chips fly. He
found he could not work as fast a this machine could produce. On every maching Alex
worked , each job had a production schedule of what the number of completed job were
expected. He never had a job he could not exceed. As a result, he stayed in trouble with all
the hourly workers around him. As Alex worked he would exceed what was called for and as
a result of this the production schedule of each job would be raised. When an hourly worked
would then get that particular job to do he knew what production had been and he could see it
was increased. The end result, Alex was not well liked by any of the hourly workers. Alex
always had a production timer on his elbow watching and timing him.

During the Christmas holidays of 1949 Alex went home to see his family and he had sold his
trumpet to buy an engagement ring. His sweetheart of many years, Barbara Munsell, took the
ring and they set the date to get married August 1, 1950. During the summer of 1950 he ran
into an old high school buddy who was working at Catterpillar. Alex had found a two room
apartment and rented it in anticipation of Barbara coming to Peoria. He asked his friend,
James Dial, if he would like to share the apartment until he got married. And Barabara moved
in. He accepted the invitation. This became a pivatol time in events that were about to be set
in place. One day James asked Alex if he would like to play a round of golf with him. Alex
explained he had never set foot on a golf course. He remembered seeing a set of golf clubs in
the atic back home in McLeansboro. Soon after Alex made a trip home to see Barbara and to
bring the golf clubs back to Peoria. Having never played golf and not knowing the ifrs thing
about golf or equipment, the fact that these were hickory shafted clubs never meant a thing to
Alex. His father Fred had got the clubs in 1933 during some “horse” trading. His dad loved
doing this sort of thing. He had eventually placed the old clubs in the atic for storage. From
Alex’s point of view, they were just a set of clubs.

During that summer of 1950 Alex saw a golf course for the first time. James and Alex rode
the city bus out to the Peoria municipal golf course. The bus stop was not at the entrance to
the golf course so they had some distance to walk across the golf course to get to the club
house. They went in and paid for a round of golf. Alex had never seen any thing as beautiful
as this golf course in his life. 200 acres of closely mown lawn. Not the first sand bunker was
to be seen nor was there any rough. Just fairway height cut grass for the 200 acres. I later
learned that the locals called the golf course, “Duffers Paradise”. Very few trees. It was
difficult to loose a golf ball because of the way the golf course was maintained.

James and Alex went to the starter and signed in. It was a slow day so they were allowed to
play as a twosome. James never said anything to Alex except to give him directions on where
they were and what direction they were supposed to go. As would be expected, Alex
struggled but he had never done anything before that gave so much pleasure if and when he
made contact with that little golf ball. The golf bug bit Alex that day in a huge way.

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One day Alex hit a shot that was to be remembered for the rest of his life. He was about 150
yards from the green. He pulled out one of the hickory shafted woods. He swung and for the
first time he got the ball in the air. As it got to the green it was still climbing. Edge of the
golf coursse was behind the green and there was the entrance road and lined with homes. The
ball bounced on the road and disappeared in hedges surrounding the home there. Alex was
extatic. He had never felt such a shot nor seen such results. He felt the shaft flex and propell
the ball forward. It was the best golf shot he would hit for years to come. The golf bug took
another huge bite.

During the four years in the Air force Alex had played golf at every opportunity. There was a
9 hole golf course on Craig AFB and that was where he played when he was not playing at the
9 hole public golf course called Selmont. Bud Burns, the local golf pro there became a very
good friend to Alex and his wife Georgia and Barbara also became great friends.

One day Alex heard that four well known golf professionals were gong to be playing an
exhibition at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Al. He got the day off to drive the 50 miles to
watch. The golf professionals were Scuddy Horner, head golf pro at the Montgomery C.C.,
Hearold Williams, a golf professional from Tuscaloosa, Al. Mr. Williams had been the
national long drive champion long before that became a well known event. Jimmy Demerat
and Jack Burke, Jr. Were the world famous tour playing professionals who made up the
foresome. There were very few there to watch the exhibition. Alex was with them from start
to finish. Because of the small gallery, Alex could walk along with them. He watched every
thing they all did. He noticed that Mr. Demaret did not use the famous closed Hogan stance.
Just the opposit. He had a very wide open stancd for all shots. When he got up the nerve to
ask Mr. Demerat why, the replay, “ I feel I can line up better. Years later this played a role in
assisting Alex

During the four years Alex spent in the Air force he loved it. Come January 5, 1955 it
was discharge time. He was was tried to be convienced by three officers to re-inlist. He had
worked hard and earned 4 stripes, staff sargent. He had applied for OCS but because of the
end of the Korean conflict the Air Force was down sizing so he was never called. He took his
discharge and they went to visit his sister and her husband Dr. Robert Hubbardwho was
serving in the Marines as an Optometrist. They spent two weeks with them in Harve De
Grace, Md. From there they drove over snow covered mountains to Indianapolis, In. To visit
sisters of Barbara. They left there after a few days and drove back home to McLeansboro.
Alex had no idea of what to do and he and Barbara were bored to death. After about a month
they packed up with their little Daughter Shannon who had been born April 1, 1954 and drove
back to Selma, Al. Alex had not a clue of what he was going to do but it just felt strongly that
was what they were supposed to do. Alex and Barbara had faithfully gone to church in Selma
during the Air Force years so they were in church the first Sunday back iin Selma. Everyone
came up to them and were surprised but pleased to see them again. One man came up and
asked Alex if he had a job. He replied “NO”. The man gave Alex a job working for him in
his cut rate drug store. He gave Alex the title of assistant manager. About 3 weeks passed
and one day two men came into the store to talk with Alex. They said they had heard he was
looking for a job in golf. Alex affirmed they were correct. The golf pro at the Selma C.C.
was leaving and they were looking for a head pro and an assistant. If he would agree to work
under Bud Burns as his assistant, he had the job.

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For the next two years Alex worked under Bud Burns and was in charge of the crew
maintaining the golf course. 4 days a week he worked on the golf course and 2 days a week
he worked in the golf shop.

In the spring of 1957 the job in Florence, Al. For the position of head pro. Alex was
interviewed for the position and he was hired. His job was maintaining the golf course and
running a golf shop and doing all the things a golf pro is expected to do.

As he became aquainted with all the members he noted that the football coach from the local
college, florence State Teachrs College, would often come out to play golf accomlpanied with
members of the coaching staff or players. It seems the club gave golfing privilidges to all the
athlete’s regardless of what they played at school. He kept looking for members of the golf
team. He asked Coach Hal Self about this and he said there was no golf team. Upon hearing
this Alex made an appointment to talk with the A.D. Eddie Flowers. Alex proposed the idea
to coach Flowers of getting a golf team started. Alex was willing to be the coach and was
asking nothing for his troubles. Hearing this Coach flowers lput up notices around the
campus, any one interested in playing on the new golf team, see Alex Sloan at the C.C.
They started playing matches in 1958 and for the next 15 years Alex was the coach.

Alex was asked if he would assit in teaching golf classes for the college. For this he would be
paid. He would meet once a week at the driving range with each of the two classes.. Over the
years he met many business men in Florence who had gotten into golf via these golf classes

In 1960 Alex started hearing about a new club being formed and a championship golf course
to be built East of town in the small community of Killen. Architecht for the golf course was
the world famous Robert Jones. The five men behind this project were Carl Tyree, George
McBurney, Sam Hardie, Byron Bower and Stanley Robbins. Mr. Robbins owned a huge
parcel of land at the mouth of Shoals Creek where it ran into the beautiful Tennessee River.
Mr. Robbins offered the men any 200 acres of their choosing for the golf course. From the
highway to the rivers edge where the club house was eventually constructed, a beautiful one
mile entrance road was built. All of the men were members of the Florence Golf & C.C.
where Alex was employed. Mr. Bower had a regular group he played with on Wednesday
and Saturday and Sunday. Mr. McBurney had his group and Mr. Hardie had his group. Mr.
Robbins was not a golfer.

Mr. Bower would on occassion ask Alex questions of first one thing and then another about
building a golf course. As their conversations progressed Alex became more and more
interested about the prospect of going to the new club. About this same time, one of the
members of F.G.& C.C. Nolan Hatcher, had designed another 9 to be built in the near future
on the property along and around the edge of the golf course boarding beautiful Cypress
Creek. Knowing this was in the works and knowing a new golf club is not always a great job
for the first few years, Alex had a tough decision to make. Stay and build the new 9 or apply
for the job at what was to become Turtle Point Yacht & C.C. . The lure of the new club was
to strong to resist. He applied for and was given the job. He started in late 1960 at T.P.
bossing a crew building bunkers. The club house was just starting to come out of the ground.
It was completed in time for the New Years party ringing in the new year of 1961.

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Fast forward to late summer of 1979. Alex was standing behind the counter serving
customers when in walked Tom Tomasello. Tommy was a good friend of Alex. He was a
traveling salesman of golf mds. He walked up to the counter and laid a small yellow book on
the counter so Alex could read the name on the book. The Golfing Macine was the name on
the book. First time Alex had seen or heard of it. Tommy siad, “If you give me an order for
some merchandise, I will give you a golf lesson from the book.” Alex already knew of things
ne needed so they took care of business and soon were on the lesson tee. Tommy worked
about 30 minutes with Alex and the more Tommy talked the better Alex struck the ball.

Ales was going to be the host that fall for the Dixie Section of the PGA fall championship.
Having jsut turned 50, Alex would be playing in the Senior division for the first time. Being
host for a golf tournament does not leave much time for the host to work on his golf game.
Alex hit prhaps two bags of balls in prepration. When Alex was called to the tee for his tee
time in the tournament he teed up the ball and said to himself, “O.K. Tommy, we are going to
see how well your instructions works On each shot for the 54 holes all Alex concentrated on
was what tommy had told him. He was the 1979 Dixie Section Senior golf champion. The
first tournament he had ever won. In a few weeks he left for Dadeville to play in the Alabama
chapter tournament at Still Water C.C. he had a repeat preformance and won that tournament.
In a few weeks Alex called Bud burns, his old former boss, and asked if he would be his
partner in the upcoming Pro-Pro championship in the Senior division. The played and won
that tournament. Three tournaments in a row and three wins. Unbelieveable. After only one
golf lesson from TGM book. What had Tommy told Alex that gave such dramatic results?
The Secret Of Golf. This was a HUGE turn around for Alex and his teaching and playing.
The following summer Tommy came back to call on Alex. The first thing Tommy told Alex
was that Homer Kelley was going to hold his first class for Authorized Instructors in January
of 1981 and he wanted Alex to accomlpany him to Seattle, Wa. to attend the class. At first
thought Alex rebelled. That was a long way from Florence, Al. Tommy and Alex discussed
it at length and Alex finally realized it was the thing to do. Together they flew on January 1,
1981 to Seattle and Homer met them at the baggage claim. Homer was holding up a sign that
said, The golfing Machine. He was wearing a tweed wool hat and sweater. From the first to
the last he was a very humble man. He took us to his home to meet his wife, Sally. She had a
huge bowl of her home made chocolate chip cookies ready. At midnight we sat and talked and
were treated with a cold glass of milk and cookies. Around 1:00 A.M. Homer took us to a
motel and said he would return at 9:00 A.M. to pick us up. During that time as we sat
around the table with Mr. And Mrs. Kelley I soon realized, I was in the presense of genious. I
could hardly sleep that night in anticipation of what was to come. Tommy and I were up at
7:00 A.M. and off to breakfast. We were so excited.

During the month of December, in anticipation of the upcoming trip, I had nightly studied my
4th edition of TGM book. I had received a list of things I was told to be familiar with. I do
not learn qickly so I started by filling page after page of things I was supposed to know and
remember starting with the table of contents and what each chapter was about. All the
referance numbers in chapter 2 and what they were. A complete working knowledge with the
glossery. I was overwhelmed with it all but I spent each night studying and filling page after
page with the information. To say I knew it all by the time I arrived in class would not be
truthful. In time, it started to fill in. But it took years of constant study.

Homer’s first words as we sat in front of him and with our tape recorders running, Larry
Aspenson, Tom Tomasello and I,“Gentleman, this is a very momentous occccason.” With

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those words spoken, we were of on a fabulous 9 day excursion of covering the work of this
great man who had spent 40 years of his life finding the “Truth” of golf.

We spent 12 hours a day for 9 days with Mr. Kelley taking a lunch break each day to go to
what he called “The Beanerie.” It was not far from his home and where he had gone daily for
lunch for many years. He was well know by one and all there.

Mr,. Kelley had a very technical curriculum for us to follow. Each night promptly at 9:00 he
dropped us off at our motel and then we went to eat dinner , return to the room and talk and
study for a short while before falling into bed. Mr. Kelley was there promptly at 9:00 next
morning picking us up.

Mr. Kelley told us how he got into working on the golf swing for so many years. He told us
that after doing his work for a period of time he started keeping three manuscripts. All in a
different place because he said if he ever lost the manuscript without having a back up, he
would not have the courage to start again. As we worked our way through his curriculum,
each day seemed to pass quickly. The first day we went out to his “driving range”, it was so
he could demonstrate something. He opened the door and reached for and took off of a nail a
string with an iron head attached. I never looked close enough to be sure but later I thought
the iron head had to have been carved from wood or it would have been to heavy if it were
made of metal. He started swinging the iron around his head but on a plane like swinging a
golf club. He said to watch the head soon as the twist got out of the string. Soon, I was
standing there with my jaw hanging open. I could not believe what I was seeing. Every time
the iron head passed the bottom of the swing, the face would be in perfect alignment. He was
making the point of what centrifigul force will do for us if we do other things correctly. This
explained to me how a trick shot artist can hit balls with a wood head attached to a small rope
rather than to a steel shaft. Mr. Kelley would do many things during our stay to amaze us but
this was the best to me.

The first message Mr. Kelley emphasized was Rhythm. The same message the day he
dropped from this world February 14, 1983. Rhythm is club shaft and left arm alignment and
is the key ingredient for solid compression on all shots. If and when the left wrist is bent and
the right wrist flatens out, Rhythm is lost and unrecoverable. Hitting or swinging. He talked
about the arc of approach and the angle of approach. Both go through the same two points,
impact and low point. Depicted in the book at 2-C-1. He mentioned that there were over one
trillion swings in the book. I later found out how many more golf swings than that there are
in the book.

He talked about the three dimensional impact, hinge action, tracing the plane line with the
right forearm, being sure the left thumb is in line with the #3 pressure point aft of the shaft.
About the importance of ball position for the hitter and the swinger. How the results are
opposite for hitting or swing when moving the ball forward or aft in regard to the stance. The
importance of keeping the flat left wrist verticle to it’s associated plane all during the stroke.
Hitting or swinging. The importance of not disturbing Centrifical Force. Learn to monitor
with the #3 pressure point. Avoid hand manipulation.

Mr. Kelley explained how the left wrist cocks but the right wrist bends and must stay level..
He said the frozen right is just as important in swinging as it is in hitting. He explained the
flying wedge. The right elbow is what cocks the left wrist. He explained the value of

9
Extensor Action. He talked about avoiding a bent plane line. He explained the hip slide must
be paralell with the plane line. It is the first move to start the down swing .
The importance of having the ball at low point or before. Educated hands were next and
learning to sustain the lag through #3 pressure point education. The master pressure point.
Hands control the pivot. #3 pressure point completely replaces the club head. It must me a
look look learning rocess to be sure the hands are foing what you want them to do. They can
lie to you. We must develop to the point that we can “Think” what we want and it will
happen. The heart and soul of TGM is in the hands. Educated hands control everything.

Magic of the right forearm. The right forearm establishes the plane angle and it stays on
plane going up and down. It traces the delivery line. The “Three dimensional impact should
occur the same as taking a divot does”. He said to refer to 1L frequestly. In the first two
issues of the book the 21 items explaining 1-L were not there. He said he assumed everyone
would figure that out for themslevs. He soon realized this not to be true so he added the 21
items in 1-L in the 3rd edition. He talked about having your irons set so at address the toe of
the club would be “UP” off the ground at address. The shaft bends during swing to
compensate for this. It is a by product of the speed of the players swing.

2-K drawing of The Endless Belt. The effect of a change of linear motion, the hands do not
change speed but early release compared to late release. People think they need to increase
hand speed as they get near the ball and this is not correct. Hand speed stays the same but
because of the radial motion the club head speed increases as it goes around the corner.

As we swing leep the head still by not seeing the ball move. Center of the sw ing is at the left
shoulder. Rithe elbow is the center of the swing if it is a right arm swing.

Keep shoulders forward at address. Right shoulder controls the left shoulder. Small bicep
action.

What is the law of the triangle? Changing the length of one side changes the shape of the
triangle. How can a principal be changed. It cannot. Everything that happens is because of a
law. What one thing to all principals have. They have a modus operindi. Everything that
happens is because of a law. Laws of force and motion, gravity.

2-M-1 Basic power. Energy-potential and kinetic. 1/2MVSq. One half of the mass
multipied by the square of the velocity. The hardness of the Ping club heads makes the ball
go farther than standard steel heads. He discussed ball temp made a differance on how far the
ball will go. Hot balls go farther than cold balls.

What are the basic ‘golf’ laws. There are none.. It is only the correct application to the laws
of force and motion.

The differance between the swinger and hitter. Swinger uses Longitudinal acceleration and
the hitter uses radial acceleration. Hitters loads the whole lever assembly but the swinger
loads only the secondary lever assembly. The ball is always struck before full extension.
Each should be learned and practiced till the golfer can do either.. Hit or swing.

What is the basis of rythum? Club shaft is in line with the left arm according to the hinge
action. Any hinge action may be used hitting or swinging but angled is normal hitting and
dual horizontal is normally used with swinging. What the club face is doing is the result of

10
the hinge action being employed. Uphill and down hill lies discussed as well as side hill and
the plane line is always there accordingly.

The left wrist is cocked but the right wrist is always level and bent. Students must learn to
straighten the right arm but not flaten out the right wrist.

Release Motions.

Power package power and pivot power.

Tape 4-B Compare the computer and the incubator. Tommy had taken his plane to Seattle
and we spent a lot if time using it and discussing the possibulity it might be something of a
nmarketable item for Mr. Kelley. A lot of time was spent talking about TGM schools and
how it could make a lot of money for the Authorized Instructors.

Tape 5-A Talking about power with accuracy. A lot of rambling worthless info at first.
Some discussion on zone 3. Question was asked what club did he like to start a student with.
Putting was his answer. Learn the motion first then pick a club. 12 components of Zone 2.
He discussed how tough it was to place the 24 components in what zone. Dianne was
discussed. Mr. Kelley said we should be able to hit good shots at any speed.

He was following his curriculum and we were in the pivot components. Zone 1. Chapter 7
explanations of the 6 components. 7-12 discussed. Paragraph 1. Then next paragraph. Made
comment it is either motion or muscle. Swinging or hitting. Chapter 12-0 3rd. Paragraph.
He emphized it. He then took us to 2-H.
What provides the circle motion with no shoulder turn? The left arm. Arm motion will
always go in the direction of the shoulder motion. 7-14 was discussed . Variatons of this
were discussed. Tommy asked for an explanation of “Hula Hula”. He replied that it was to
keep the shoulder and hip motion independent of one another.

5-B tape. A long discussion on Hip turn and hip motion (ACTION) and 12-0 The hips do
the work of propelling the power package. 7-16 was discussed next. Mr. Kelley asked what
was main function of knees in the swing. I replied “To keep the head still.” He added that to
the next edition of the book. He said, “Why did I not say that?”
Knees were talked about at length after that.

What is the basic function of foot action? 7-17 The left heel is never lifted. Pulled off only.
Keeping weight on the heels and tapping the toes at address was stressed. Itis better spin on
ones heel rather to roll the foot over on the out side during the stroke. A long discussion
followed talking about the knees and feet.

Tape 6AB Address body alignment was discussed at length. Mr. Kelley had nothing in the
book describing body alignment at address. In the long run he inserted the one line, it is
easier to turn around a straight rod than a curved one. Relating to the spine.

Tape 7-A Discuss lattitude in Instruction. Be careful in not ever fillling the cup of the student
to not over fill their capability. Tommy told about the time Ben Dyle had come to Alabama
talking to the Dixie Section Pro.s He overwhelmed them because first of all, only the ones in
the first row coulod understand what he was saying because of his weak speaking volume.

11
We had taped his lecture and even trying to listen to the tapes, it was for the most part it was
not understandable. Every now and then we gleaned something from what he said.

The right hand controls the club head and the left hand controls the club face.

What is the message of chapter 1? 1-G answers this question. Also 1-L

Tape 7-B So much of the class room work was discussing and arguing but Mr. Kelley always
won the argument or discussions. Tomasello had to be shown everything and would take
nothing at face value without a lot of discussion. On this tape a lot of disscussion was about
staying on plane and why. Mrs. Kelley stepped in and we spent time talking with her. Mrs.
Kelley told us about continueing to improve her game with taking lessons just from hearing
Homer talk about this and that and soon she was beating all her playing partners to the point
they did not want to play with her any more.

Mr. Kelley spent a lot of time explaining the hinge motions and stressing the importance of
making precise hinge motions. He kept stressing the importance of ball position being correct
with each hinge motion in order to get the results as expected. He discussed the difficulty of
hitting with horizontal hinging motion.

8-A tape Differance is monitoreing execution and playing is monitering results. Constantly
monitor hands as well as body positions, pressure points and still monitor hands more than
any thing else. Practise short shots stoping at the 45deg. Position to assure both arms straight,
left wrist still flat and right wrist still bent and left arm and club still in line. Practise all three
hinge actions over and over as they are alternated from one to another with the short shot
drills. Getting the feel of keeping the left wrist verticle to it’s associated plane during each
shot. Do not gpo beyound this length swing until each are done perfectly. Then as the swing
is lengthened do not feel more pace as yet is necessary. Then after execution is precise as
wanted, pace is then increased doing each of he three hinge motions alternately. Developing
the mechanics into a feel. Remembering the hips lead the shoulders back and down.
3-F-5. Very important. Learn the 6 things listed to do each time and do not be guilty of
“Down swing blackout”. Always being aware it is a “LOOK LOOK LOOK situation with
the Hands. Be aware of 3-F-6, Keeping a motionless right wrist. Hitting or swinging.
He again stressed “Avoiding Down Swing Blackout”. He continued to stress ‘LOOK LOOK
LOOK as we practice.

12
Flying stories and dates . Alex always wanted to learn to fly. In the spummer of 1970 he
went to the local airport and saw an add for a $5.00 introductory flight. He took advantage of
this and loved it. Soon as they landed he made an appointment to start taking his flying
lessons. Flying lessons were $20.00 an hour. This worked out great as that is what he got for
an hour golf lesson. He would give a golf lesson then book a flying lesson. All his flying at
first was in a Cessna 150. He loved it. He soloed 12-27 70. By April of 1971 he completed
the requirements for his license. He was told as he accepted his certificate, “This is just a
license to learn.” He accepted that and kept working to get his fommercial certificated and
instrument license. He did not make that goal until 1993

As most people feel once they get their pilot’s license, Alex wanted his own aiirplane to fly
any time he wanted. H found many commercial aircraft he could afford but he found that
annualy it had to have an A.P. mechanic do an inspection and that was the unknown quanity.
Price could be $100 and up. What ever the A&P said the airplane needed it had to be done
before he would sign the airplane off as airworthy for another 12 months. Aleex did a little
more research and found that if he built his own plane he could then get a builders certificate
and with that do all his own annual condition inspections. That made more sense to him. He
then went on a search for what was out there to build that was something he was qualified to
build and fly. A new plane came on the market. An RV-3 designed by Dick VanGrunsvan of
Portland, Or. He had built it and taken it to the annual EAA fly-in at Oshkish wi. And entered
it into their effeciency contest. He won the contest hands down and set records no one has
been able to match. Alex read all about this and saw a picture of the plane and got Mr.
VanGrunsvan address and wrote him and ordered the drawings. He set up shop in the caddy
shack at the golf course where he was employed. This became his aircraft factory. It turned
out to be a 10 year endeavor. His early training at Caterpillar Tractor Co. became a valuable
asset.

Alex tried to find someone in the area he could talk to and get assistance if needed. He had no
luck. In January of 1975 he and his wife packed their bags and drove to akeland, Fl. To
attend what was to become an annual event. It was a great experiance for Alex. There were
many aircraft in attendance and experimental aircraft in the air flying around and around the
pattern. He talked to many people and told many he had just begun building the RV-3. Mr.
VanGrunsvan never showed up with his RV-3. Alex attended many lectures and enjoyed the
week.

13
1976 Alex and Barbara packed their bags in January again for the trip to Lakeland, Fl. On
this trip he was going to give a lecture one day telling about the RV-3. He ordered a tape of
the lecture Mr. VanGrunsvan had given at the annual fly-in at Oshkosh and memorized all the
info. He gave the same info to all who attended his lecture. He had standing room only in the
tent at Lakeland. Upon completion almost everyone left with the exception of two men.
Virgil Yeager and . They were also building an RV-3. some Years later Virgil flew
his up to Florence to visit Alex. He also carved all his propellars.

The three of them talked for quite a while and became pen pals in the years to come. Mr.
Was building his plane in his factory In Michigan. Virgil had a room not much lager than a
broom closet he was using. Each of them completed and flew their planes.

Alex, on the long drive home from Florida, made the decision to call the Experimental
Aircraft Association in Oshkosh and see what was needed to form a chapter. He did all the
reqirments and got 10 members as was required. Each of them had to be members of EAA.
Rules and by-laws were drawn up. The chapter was incorporated in the Lauderdale County
and is registered at the courthouse as Quad Cities Chapter of the Experimental Aircraft
Association #615. Alex served as the President, vice President and chapter secretary and
financial officer. Monthly meetings were Thrsday nights in a room provided by the City of
Florence at the Broadway Rec center. Being a brand new chapter it was written up in the
paper and an invitation for one and all to attend. Alex was in hopes of getting more members.
He would order a film from the FAA for the evenings entertainment. He did this for two
years and they held a Christmas party each year and it was the entertainment point. At the
end of two years an election was held and new officers were elected. The chapter grew
gradually. At one meeting President Jim Farrell made a suggestion that the members all
donate their Sport Aviation magazines to the chapter so they could be placed around in
waiting rooms of differant offices in the hopes of helping to get more members. Alex did not
want to do this as he had joined EAA originally just to gte the Ssport Aviation magazine. The
reason being, Tony Bingellis monthly wrote a valuable article of some phase on
homebuilding. Alex valued these articles and kept them all and cataloged each article. Alex
had a better idea. He called EAA headquarters in Oshkoshm, Wi. And asked if he could
copies of back issues. They said yes and how many did he want. He said 1,000 copies.
Also, he requested a stick on lable with the name and phone number of the clubs president,
vice-president and Secy. Treas. They said yes to this request also. Alex told them where to
deliver the 1,000 copies. Once they arrived, he placed a stick on lble on the front cover of
each magazine. At the next chapter meeting he and his friend Billy Baggett loaded up the
1,000 magazines and delivered thm. At the meeting Alex requested each member take a box
of the magazines and deliver them to the offices of a Dr. or lawyer or barber shop. Alex had
set up an easel with a large poster board and each member told where they would go so no
one would make two visits to the same place. Alex called the local hospital and asked how
many waiting rooms they had and was told 22. He delivered 5 boxes of 50 magazines per box
and the hospital volunteers delivered them to all the waiting rooms. Three months later the
membership of the chapter jumped 66%. And kept growing. There was a 5 county area the
magazine was distributed within.

Alex attended a test pilot class in Tullahoma, Tn. 9-27-80 in preperation to making his first
flight of his RV-3. The instructor was Dr. Ralph Kimberlin. The class lasted for three days
and was extremeely helpful for Alex. Sometime later Alex flew the RV-3 to Tullahoma to
show Dr. Kimberlin. Dr. Kimberlin wanted to try it out so he got in and took off. He was

14
gone for about an hour and Alex was starting to get nervous that something had gone wrong.
Oncce DR. Kimberlin flew back in sight he started doing touch and go’s. He did them over
and over and over. Alex thought he might never stop. When he did and taxied back to where
he had left Alex he cut the engine and rolled the canopy back and just sat there sayng nothing.
Just drumming his fingers on the sides of the cockpit. Alex was afraid there was something
wrong and Dr. Kimberlin was trying figure out how to tell him. Then, he turned toward Alex
and said, “This is the best Experimental aircraft I have ever flown. Behind us, in this hanger
is myn personal aircraft. I will give you the keys for it and trade with you right now.” Alex
was floored and relived and thankful for the great words. He could not do that. Dr.
Kimberlin kept telling how good it flew.

During the late 70’s over a three year period EAA held an annual fly-in at Tullahoma, Tn. In
January of the first year there was an organizontal meeting held at the Tullahoma Airpoart in
the home of . which sits on the airport. As EAA Chapter 615 President I was invited to
attend and two other chapter officers went. Sitting in the large living room which had two full
wall glass windows on the South and West side of the room, any planes landing or taking off
from the airport were clearly seen. During the afternoon it started snowing and when a
Cessna 172 landed during the time it was snowing it was a beautiful sight. Alex made a
presintation about the proposed fly=in that was well received by all in attendance. Later Alex
was asked to be chairman of the committee that arranged for hourly speakers on the subject
of building or testing or any thing associated with Experimental aircraft. Alex did this job for
two of the three years. Because it was so time consuming he resigned fro the last year and the
fly-in was cancelled after only three years. It was extremly successful and every one
wondered why it was cancelled. Later, onec Alex was flying his RV-3 he flew one time to
Oshkoshm Wi. To attend a dinner held annualy by Dick Vangrunsvan for all who were
buildng A van’s aircraft. By that tiem Mr. VanGrunsvan had several different aircraft designs
to chose from to build. His designs became the most popular of all to build and fly.
Alex attneded the dinner and at 10:00 the next morning got in his plane and flew to Kewanee,
Il. To spend a day visiting his sister and her family. He then flew down state to McLeansbory
to visit his mother and step father. McLeansbory has a short runway on the South side of
town. Flying there for the first time and flying over McLeansboro and looking at it from all
angles from the air, Alex realized just how small of a town he was from. Alex stayed home
for one day then took off to fly back to Florence, Al. He got over Ky. And saw that there was
no way he could continue flying. Clouds were almost at tree top height. He flew into an
airport that just happened to be hosting a fly-in. He was treated to a warm breakfast and good
company for several hours. He then took of again and got as far as Paris, Tn and had to land
again for the same reason. He was able to depart Paris about mid afternoon and flew on to
Florence.

The following April Alex flew the RV-3 to Lakeland, Fl. To attend the annnual Sun-N-Fun
flyin. This was the one that had started in 1975 in January but because of weather problems
in January after two years it was moved to April. This time Mr. VanGrunsvan flew in from
Portland, Or. in one of his new designs, an RV-6. This was a side by side two place that
looked like a stretch RV-3. He had the priveledge of parking his RV-3 next to the RV-6. and
meeting Mr. VanGrunsvan face to face and talking with him. Alex had met a retired Golf
Pro who had been coming to Florence to take TGM lessons. Art Severson was his name. He
later moved to Sarasota and he regained his golf game he once had. In his younger dyas Mr.
Severson had played in 3 National Open championship tournaments. He had attended the U,
of Miami and played on their golf team. He ended up in the Colorado PGA section and had
been section champion many times. He had retired at age 65 and moved to West Memphis.

15
A mutial friend had told Mr. Severson about TGM and that Alex Sloan at Turtle Point Y.C.C.
was an authorized instructor. Mr. Severson called and made an appointment to see Alex and
he became a regular student and slowly started to regain his old game. Mr. Severson was a
true hitter and quite long. He and Alex played frequently at Turtle Point when he came over
to take a lesson.

When Mr. Severson moved to Florida, he joined a club close to his apartment and became
well know for being a very good player. When alex flew the RV-3 into Lakeland Mr.
Severson each aftrnoon would meet Alex at the front gate and take him home for the night.
They had a great week together doing first one thing then another.
When Alex returned to florence in the RV-3, he never saw Mr. Severson again but they stayed
in touch

On December 26, 1983, Alex had an unscheduled off airport landing in the RV-3. He had
been told by the FAA to replace his float in the carburator from a plastic float to a metal float.
He did this later to find out he was not obligated to have done this because his aircraft was
experiemetal. The rule only applied to production aircraft. The new float proved to be
defective. It had a pin hole in the solder joint and when it filled up with gas it choked the
engine out and caused the off airport landing. Alex lost 6 months work and the RV-3. Alex
was devistated for the loss of the RV-3. In 1991 he decided he needed to salvage as much as
possible from the RV-3 to avoid a large financial loss. He called Mr. VanGrunsvan and
placed an order for an RV-6. He got a kit this time around and did not have to make every
single piece as he had on the RV-3.

During the final year of building the RV-3 Alex had met Jerry McCollister. Jerry was an
electrician ahd had been an engine mechanic in the navy. Jerry had wired the RV-3 and
helped Alex hanging the engine and doing the final cowl work and once it was ready to fly,
Jerry and Alex did the 40 hour test flying as required by the FAA. Jerry became so enamered
by the little airplane he decided to build an aircraft for himself. He ordered an RV-4.. This
was a two place tandom seat plane. Alex loaned him all his special building tools and he
drove down to Russellville, Al. About 4 nights a week to assist Jerry. They completed Jerry’s
RV-4 in a little over 2 years. Jerry became very well known all over the area as he would take
any one for a ride that made the request.

Alex soon found out he needed more room for the “RV-6 he was building and he was about to
retire from Turtle Point and had to vacate the caddy shack. One night he attended an FAA
safety meeting and while there met an old friend, Willard Jeffreys. During the break that
night Willard asked Alex what special tools he needed to build an airplane. Alex answered all
his questions. Later when he got home he realixed he had dropped the ball. Next morning he
gave Willard a call and said if he had a place large enough for him to use to complete his RV-
6, Alex would not only have all the tools Willard needed to build an airplane but he would a
pair experianced hands to go along with them. Willard drove out to Turtle Point to see what
Alex had and then they drove out to Willards farm and he showed Alex his very large barn.
At the time it was full of this and that and an RV camper he was reworking. He said he ould
clean out the barn and asked Alex if that was enough room. Alex gleefully said yes. Willard
took about a week to clean out the barn then he had to get some hey out fo the barn. At one
time he raised cattle and this was left over hey. Willlard had alergies that kept him from
doing the work. Alex and his son Scott were out there shortly together moving the hey out of
the barn. Where the hey had been it was about 1/3 of the floor area of the barn. Willard then
ordered enough concrete to be delivered and he paved the rest of the barn floor. Once that

16
was done, Alex started moving in with all of his tools and work benches and the parts of his
RV-6. Willard then ordered a kit for an RV-6. Willard not only had a work place for Alex to
move into but he also had a 1,500’ grass strip to fly into and out of. Willard had his own
Cessna 172 and a hanger he had built just large enough for his plane.

Alex soon retired from T.P. and once he did he would get to Willards at 8:00 A.M.. When
Willards kit arrived he coached Willard and they started his project. Alex would work on his
RV-6 till 4:00 and Willard would come in from work and eat then he and Alex would work
till 9:00 or 10:00 P.M. Alex completed his new RV-6 in 4 years and Willard completed his
RV-6 with help from Alex.

Again, Alex had 40 hours of test flying to do on the new RV-6. On the first flight he took of
from Willards grass strip and slowley circled on his way to /courtland filed. Once over
Courtland he kept circling and climbing till he got to 10,000” The reason for this was to
break in the engine that had been overhauled and had new rings that needed to be seated. By
the time he got to 10,000 all temps were close to red line. He throttled back and kept circling
till all temps were back to normal. He had kept leaning out the mixture during the climb. The
airplane flew like a dream. Once the temps were all back to normal he started a very slow
decent continuing to circle over the Courtland field. He a a good friend, Paul Hinton who had
built an RV-4 and invited Alex to share his hanger during his 40 hour flight test period. Once
alex had returned to the correct altitude to start the approach to landing he announced his
location and intentions of landing at Courtland. The landing was perhaps the best landing he
ever made in the RV-6. All his friends were there waiting on him. Alex taxied to
Paul’shanger and they walked it in and Alex did the recording in the log book and Paul
showed Alex how to close the hanger. All in attendance gave Alex a huge pat on the back for
another successful experiance with the Rv-6.

Because of the success Alex, Jerry, Willard and Paul had with their building of their planes
others started buying kits and building RV aircraft. We had over 17-18 under construction
and because I was now a Technical Counselar for EAA and qualified to inspect their airplanes
as they requested during construction, I was kept quite busy.

Once I completed the test flying I made plans to fly to Oshkosh. I had received a letter from
them requesting all Tecnical Counselors to come and volunteer to work during the week of
the fly-in. I looked forward to that. The -6 had the room for me to carry a tent, enough food
for a week and large bag with enough clean cloths to last me. I flew into Oshkosh and itself
was quite an experiance. There would be about 12,000 aircraft flying in. I had to follow
specific directions enrout. Flying over a check point and ground controllers would talk to me
by color and design and give instructions on which runway to land on. No response was
needed, only a waggle of wings. Specific altitude and airspeed was required. I entered the
traffic pattern following other aircraft and with a steacy stream of aircraft in front and behind
me. I kept the aircraft ahead a specific distance from mine and entered dwon wind and base
leg then final approach. I was about 3’ off the runway when I was given aproval to land.
Upon landing I taxied to the specified tie down area. I tied dwon the aircraft then walked the
mile to the area to report in for working for the week. Each morning I worked as a Technical
Counselor talking to all who came into the T.C. area asking questions about building an
aircraft. I worked from 8:00 till noon each day and then 3:00 till 5:00 each day in the
registeration area where builders had come to register their aircraft and I passed out mugs to
all who came in and registered their aircraft.

17
I had set up my tent and each night I cooked an MRI for my evening meal. I loved camping
out. Each morning I had grahm crackers and jelly and peanut butter for breakfast. At noon
free sandwiches were provided for all volunteers.

At the end of the week I was leaving and telling all I had worked with good buy and the man
in charge of the volunteers asked me if I would consider being the Chairman next year for the
Technical Counselor area. I said yes. I was honered to be asked. It gave me a year to make
plans of what I was going to do to improve all I saw and did. I did the Chairman’s job for the
next three years. On Thanksgiving day of 1999 I got a call from the Vice President of EAA,
Bob Warner. He asked me if I would be the chairperson for a new council the Board of EAA
had initiated. EAA had been founded by a group of Homebuilders headed by Paul Poberezny.
Over the years EAA grew and grew. Today their annual convention is the largest gathering of
airmen and aircraft of any similar group. During the week of EAA convention nearly ¾
million will attend and 12,000 to 14,000 aircraft will be there. Eaa wanted to get back to the
grass roots of what they were in the beginning and the Homebuilders Aircraft Council was to
be the eyes and ears for the board of directors to keep abrest of all activities of that segment of
the organization. With the position of chairman came a seat on the board of Directors of
EAA. I told Mr. Warner I would do it for two years to get it started. I served my time and
met my obligations. This meant 4 trips a year to Oshkosh for council meetings and Board
meetings. If it were in good weather I flew the RV-6 to get there otherwise I flew
commercial. Winter was no fun flying either commmercial or in the RV. While chairing the
council one thing we did was to initate an award for some Technical counselar who did more
than anyone else in that position. We named the award the Tony Bengilis award in honor to
the man who had for 25 years been very faithful and devoted to writing an instructional article
each month in the Sport Aviation magazine as as being a devoted Technical Counselor to any
one who requested help from him. I had the honor of being awarded the Tony Bengilis award
the second year it was awarded. When one walks into the world famous EAA museum, if they
turn left as if going into the business offices of the organization, before walking through the
two large glass doors if they look to their left they see the huge plaque with names of all who
have been given the award. During that two year span I was also awarded the Presidential
Award for having been the founder of EAA chapter 615 and promoting EAA. Also, I was
awarded the 2001 EAA Major Achievement award and also given a plaque honoring me for
being the first EAA Homebuuilders Aircraft Council chairman.

Golf Awards May 20, 1975. From the Alabama Golf Association. Given a plaque honoreing
me for my Service to golf.

1983 from the Dixie Section of the PGA I was given the Horton Smith Award. Honoring me
for my educational contribution to golf .

1986 From rhe Dixie Section of the PGA awarded for the first time by the section, Teacher of
the Year award.

1993, From the Dixie Section, Senior PGA Member of the Year award.

1979, Dixie Section Sr. Golf Champion, Alabama Chapter Sr. Golf Champion and with Bud
burns we won the Sr. Division of the Section Pro-Pro championship.

August 31-September 1, I won the age group 60-64 age division of the Dixie Section PGA.

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