Golf Hall of Fame says 'Shanks' to Bob Hope
— -- With a crooked grin, scooped snoot and rapid-fire delivery, Bob Hope lightened the load for millions, whether in a theater on Broadway, a studio in Hollywood, an aircraft carrier in the Sea of Japan or a foxhole in Korea.
Among his favorite playhouses, however, were golf courses, where he honed his handicap, teed off with biting one-liners, and raised millions for charity and the military.
"The only place where Bob felt more at home than on the stage was on the golf course," former president Bill Clinton says. "Those of us who had the pleasure to tee off alongside him saw him bring the same passion, wit and skill to golf that marked his comedy routine."
Beginning Saturday and running through 2009, the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla., pays tribute to Hope's passion for golf in the exhibit Bob Hope: Shanks for the Memory, with the largest collection of Hope memorabilia placed in public display. It features sets designed to reflect locations significant in Hope's life, a sampling of his 54 honorary degrees and costumes from his TV shows.
The Bob Hope Theater will feature some of his best known golf skits and emphasize the more than 700-plus USO trips he took with stars such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Fred Astaire and Marilyn Monroe to entertain troops, from World War II through the Gulf War.
"People will be astonished to see and realize just what Bob Hope meant to the world," says golf icon and good friend Arnold Palmer, who won the Hope Chrysler Classic a record five times and will host this year's 50th anniversary of the event. "What he meant to the country, to the troops, to comedy, to the game of golf. He was a true American."
Born Leslie Townes Hope in a London suburb in 1903, the former boxer, soda jerk and paper boy eventually played more than 2000 golf courses before he passed away in 2003. The golf bug bit Hope early, and he spent decades working on his game.
"Just when he would think he had his swing down, something would happen and he would be a basket case," says his daughter, Linda. "And part of Dad's challenge is he had too much good advice – and he listened to it all."
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