RIP Fuzzy Zoeller

[Webster]

LOL

Awesome response.

 

[playthrough]

Maybe this is my Hoosier bias, but I found Fuzzy to be a good man. And he sure made golf look easy. I covered a senior event in Tampa one year and he had a hot round where he was chasing 59. I followed him the last few holes and on the 18th he hit a drive in the fairway that stopped right next to a drain, in a damp lie where 99% of pros would take relief from. But he played carefree and fast (often whistling), thought he could hit it fine but hit it fat, leading to a bogey and a round of 61. Afterward he didn't express any regrets.

He started a vodka business and for years the company made some cool commemorative bottles for the Indy 500. One year he had a bottle signing at the Speedway Kroger in May, I bought a case for an Indiana University journalism scholarship golf tournament I helped run. I told Fuzzy a little about it and he nodded to his rep, who pulled out a Masters flag that Fuzzy signed and gave to me.

 

[MileHigh]

And Zoeller made his comments after the third round, right? So it could have been defused quickly and not lived on.

Or was it on Sunday?

In any case, I'm with DanielSimpsonDay here. No heroes.

It was definitely Sunday.

It was certainly racist but Fuzzy always seemed to be the class clown, always joking and yucking it up. No excuse, obviously. He thought he was just up on stage at the Chuckle Hut.

 

[dixiehack]

to be fair to Zoeller, it seemed like Tiger's "rise" was just waiting for the "personification" of the challenges of being a great non-white golfer in an overwhelmingly white sport.

I’m sympathetic to the idea Zoeller probably should be remembered for more than one horrible sound bite three decades ago. But this is a very cringy take.

 

[playthrough]

It was definitely Sunday.

It was certainly racist but Fuzzy always seemed to be the class clown, always joking and yucking it up. No excuse, obviously. He thought he was just up on stage at the Chuckle Hut.

Fuzzy had a drink in his hand while relaxing outside the ANGC clubhouse and perhaps the CNN reporter was hoping for a Chuckle Hut response, just not one like that (also not making any excuses for him).

 

[No Phonies]

Awesome response.

If I was responding to you, I would have replied to your post.

 

[MileHigh]

Fuzzy had a drink in his hand while relaxing outside the ANGC clubhouse and perhaps the CNN reporter was hoping for a Chuckle Hut response, just not one like that (also not making any excuses for him).

He was a goofy cat. Always seemed to have a quip ready to go. The white towel at Winged Foot. Just an off-the-cuff guy. Again. No excuse. Way out of line in 1997.

 

[DanOregon]

I’m sympathetic to the idea Zoeller probably should be remembered for more than one horrible sound bite three decades ago. But this is a very cringy take.

Having worked in the business a fair bit, you didn't get a sense that it is easier to "explain" the narrative of golf being unwelcoming to non-white players with a quote like Zoeller's as opposed to participation stats, the cost of the sport etc.? During Obama's rise I had the sense that there was hesitation by opponents to say certain things about him. Heck, Biden received criticism for this: I guess as opposed to Jesse Jackson.

 

[Here me roar]

I’m sympathetic to the idea Zoeller probably should be remembered for more than one horrible sound bite three decades ago. But this is a very cringy take.

This is what fuzzy said out loud, whether he had a drink or not. It was horribly racist and we all know that it was. So if this is what he said out loud, what do you think was going on behind the scenes of the rise of Tiger? This is not a comment about what Tger woods became because I think he's reasonably s***** human being. But here you have Fuzzy, a crowd and media favorite because he was good for a quip. And you have a 20 something superstar who nonetheless has to deal with reactions to his skin color all the time. Of course he forgave Fuzzy. His life would have been miserable had he not. Fuzzy may have been a fun guy. He may have been a nice man, but I don't think there's any question that racism ran deep in him. Because you don't say s*** like that when you're that deep into your life unless you hold those hatreds in your heart. It is not reasonable to suggest that he wasn't racist but still capable of saying something like that out loud.

 

[dixiehack]

This is what fuzzy said out loud, whether he had a drink or not. It was horribly racist and we all know that it was. So if this is what he said out loud, what do you think was going on behind the scenes of the rise of Tiger? This is not a comment about what Tger woods became because I think he's reasonably s***** human being. But here you have Fuzzy, a crowd and media favorite because he was good for a quip. And you have a 20 something superstar who nonetheless has to deal with reactions to his skin color all the time. Of course he forgave Fuzzy. His life would have been miserable had he not. Fuzzy may have been a fun guy. He may have been a nice man, but I don't think there's any question that racism ran deep in him. Because you don't say s*** like that when you're that deep into your life unless you hold those hatreds in your heart. It is not reasonable to suggest that he wasn't racist but still capable of saying something like that out loud.

My one caveat is that 30-plus years does allow for the possibility of personal growth and transformation. I have no clue whether Mr. Zoeller underwent said metamorphosis, since he was a B-list name in golf even by the 90s and essentially never heard from again after committing the queen mother of ****ups.

Having worked in the business a fair bit, you didn't get a sense that it is easier to "explain" the narrative of golf being unwelcoming to non-white players with a quote like Zoeller's as opposed to participation stats, the cost of the sport etc.?

After Shoal Creek, I think the idea of racism in golf was easily front of mind once Tiger went supernova. Maybe it provided a useful hook, but “fair to Zoeller” feels like saying the media blew it up bigger than it should have been and poor old Fuzzy got a raw deal. He absolutely deserved all the scorn he got in the moment.

 

[DanOregon]

Not saying he was a "victim" - any more than the people fired for various comments after Kirk was killed were victims. There are a lot of who say stuff without realizing how their comments will be perceived. I guess I'm one of them. I was genuinely curious though if there was more to the story about Zoeller's comments at the time. I remember when Cosell was hammered for referring to a black Redskins player as a "little monkey" in a game, and I learned that not only did he have a strong record of sticking up for black athletes (Ali for one), he had any number of black leaders defending him. It gave me a different perspective on Cosell that I hadn't heard before. But it still led to his departure from MNF.
From wikipedia :"

Departure from​

During the first half of the September 5, 1983 Monday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, Cosell's commentary on wide receiver Alvin Garrett included "That little monkey gets loose doesn't he?" Cosell's references to Garrett as a "little monkey," ignited a racial controversy that laid the groundwork for Cosell's departure from MNF at the end of the 1983 season. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, then-president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, denounced Cosell's comment as racist and demanded a public apology. Despite supportive statements by Jesse Jackson, Muhammad Ali, and Alvin Garrett himself, the fallout contributed to Cosell's decision to leave Monday Night Football following the 1983 season.

"I liked Howard Cosell," Garrett said. "I didn't feel that it was a demeaning statement."<a href="Howard Cosell - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>20<span>]</span></a> Cosell explained that Garrett's small stature, and not his race, was the basis for his comment, citing the fact that he had used the term to describe his own grandchildren. Among other evidence to support Cosell's claim is video footage of a 1972 preseason game between the New York Giants and the Kansas City Chiefs that features Cosell referring to athlete Mike Adamle, a 5-foot, 8-inch, 195-pound European American, as a "little monkey."

 

[poindexter]

"That little boy is driving well and he's putting well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year. Got it?," Zoeller said.

He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he was walking away he turned and said, "Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve."

"That little boy" and "pat him on the head" are some incredibly patronizing phrases. At best. A 21-year old Tiger had a Michael Jordan-like intensity. He isn't going to let that slide easily.

"..or whatever the hell else they serve" is some flat out racist ****.

 

[poindexter]

My one caveat is that 30-plus years does allow for the possibility of personal growth and transformation.

As I get older, and see others around me get older, the demographic I see with the very least potential for personal growth and transformation would be older white men in the, let's call it "Trump demographic".

 

[DanOregon]

Totally agree. You also figure that thinking like that doesn't come out of the blue. Just surprised there wasn't an "epilogue" or something to the whole thing. Good or bad. Besides this thread, obviously.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/myshot_gd0608

 

[dixiehack]

As I get older, and see others around me get older, the demographic I see with the very least potential for personal growth and transformation would be older white men in the, let's call it "Trump demographic".

Possible doesn’t mean likely. But you never know. I had a friend in college who collected anything and everything with the Rebel flag. He had nothing against black people; just loved the imagery. And now he is a fire-breathing lefty anti-racist utterly repulsed by anything to do with Old South mythology.

 

[UNCGrad]

I thought KVV's thread on this was good:

 

[DanOregon]

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/myshot_gd0608

Weird how that "aside" is just wedged in there.

 

[playthrough]

"That little boy is driving well and he's putting well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year. Got it?," Zoeller said.

He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he was walking away he turned and said, "Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve."

"That little boy" and "pat him on the head" are some incredibly patronizing phrases. At best. A 21-year old Tiger had a Michael Jordan-like intensity. He isn't going to let that slide easily.

"..or whatever the hell else they serve" is some flat out racist ****.

Plenty of bad there but I think the snap and final retort were the killers. And a completely unflattering video aesthetically -- portly golfer getting sauced after his round -- so in other words a home run for CNN.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Is it safe to say that the (justifiable) backlash on Zoeller came from the fact that he embodied what most of America viewed golfers as in 1997: beer bellied, middle-aged white guy with a drink in his hand and a pair of Ambervisions on? Btw, anyone know if he was a smoker? 74 seems awfully young in this day and age.