Oh… Just to be a kid again!
That right… Richard $ Rich, Jr – had the entire game that I wanted to model! Richie… a few good friends, and all the fun thing to made his life easy.
What 12-year-old wouldn’t want that?
We didn’t have the internet, Facebook, Twitter… (Oops I mean “X”), Instagram and Tic Tok.
We had to find our own way. Our own way home if we wandered to far… and our own way to find out about life. Yes, I lived in the time when, no matter what great adventure you had on that day, you better be home by the time the street light turned on!
Heck… growing up in a small community called Jimtown, near Elkhart, Indiana, we only had 4-channel – ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS on the Boob Tube. Well… that is what dad called it when he was yelling at us to get off our butts and go do something outside. I remember the quote vividly… “If you can’t find something to do out there… I’ll find something for you to do.”
When I got my 50-cents at the end of the week, when my chores were done… (yes… I said 50-cents) and I was on my way down to Stealy’s Jimtown Store to get my new “Richie Rich.”
In the 1960s, your life was created by the adventures that you were reading. Living vicariously through a very fictitious character.
Long heavy books were not my thing. My life was shaped by comics that I was reading and living through my baseball idols and their Topps Baseball Cards. We used to have all of the team players’ cards laid out on the floor listening to Cubs or White Sox from Chicago on AM Radio along with whatever team they were playing.
We’ve all heard the joke… I was a millionaire at one point… but then my mother sold my baseball card or comic collection.
It wasn’t until the mid-seventies, married and living on our own, that I realized that this time it was my younger brother that had taken care of my Baseball Cards and Comics, selling them at his yard sales.
Interesting part of life is that you have the time to re-create what you love… so later in life… I’ve began to find all of those old comics… and much to my surprise… reading them now… is like reading them for the first time.
I really didn’t understand how important those old comics are in many people.
And… what is even more interesting is the number comics over the years that have “Golf Covers.”
American comic book is recognized as the first proper comic book ever published also had it’s first golf cover in 1934 known as Famous Funnies #1. Fast forward 90-years to 2024… there is reported to have been over 500 comic book covers that involve golf. And not just comics like Mickey Mouse… but just about every major character in comic book history.
It is very clear that through the ages… you could see what was happening in the world through the covers of comic books. Bettle Bailey for one became popular through the Korean War and remained popular through the decade-long Vietnam War.
Lifelong determination of “Search and Find”
Possibly the “World’s Finest” collection of golf comic covers arrived at the headquarters of the United States Golf Association (USGA) in Liberty Corner, N.J.
For more than 30 years, Charlie and Sara Haviza spent weekends, holidays and summers visiting comic book stores, flea markets and comic book conventions searching for those elusive golf cover comic books.
Charlie worked as an athletic director at a middle school in Indiana, close to the Ohio border.
Remarkable determination and focus, Charlie and Sara collected over 560 comics… essentially setting the standards for others to match. But certainly, giving the guidance of what an entire collection would look like, or maybe just the enthusiasm to others to start their own collection.
Long time members of the USGA, Charlie and Sara, understood the commitment of the USGA to protect and promote the antiquities of golf for future generations and graciously donated their entire collection to the USGA Museum.
Needless to say, I am NEVER going to create a collection like the Haviza’s. Theirs is truly a Once-in-a-lifetime, dedication… but finding Golf Covers is my goal. Recently on a trip to see our son in Catania, Italy. We were in a small antique shop that had 100’s of Disney comic books and for the next hour, I looked through every issue. Finding 2 that were golf covers and one with a Bag Piper (close enough to golf for me). Okay… they were printing in Italian… so I will not know what they say… but they are maybe something that no-one else has.
If you stumble over some comics that I need to be looking to add to my collection… don’t hesitate to reach out to me and let me know.
Did you happen to notice the strange similarities between the “Hot Rod Cartoons” cover cart and our comic in the Authors’ box? I decided to have a comic created by TUF Designs out of California… an amazing artist. I told Tom that I wanted to use our Hickory Clothing and our old restored WestCoaster Golf Cart… and 56 years later… he somehow nailed my concept… and now it has me wondering if I want to dedicate my Golf Cart to recreate that cover in “Real Life.“
“I know,” recreating childhood memories can be costly… but you never know what you might find by just looking. It is truly the closest thing… to being a “Kid Again.”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Greg and Beverly Wise have been traveling the world, playing and writing about their golf experiences as “Golf the Wise Way,” and submitting to numerous publications.
Greg has played golf for more than 60 years and truly believes that “a picture is worth a thousand words…” so, Beverly and Greg both excel in getting the right photos to enhance their stories.
…AND just sometimes… you have to turn yourself into a comic!
