Remembering Stewart, six years later
By Ivan MaiselWhen the 156 golfers in the field for the U.S. Open arrive at Pinehurst No. 2 this week, they will be greeted by a statue of the man who won the Open there six years ago. Entitled "One Moment in Time," the statue behind the 18th green shows Payne Stewart in the pose he struck as he celebrated making the 15-foot par putt that won his second Open championship.
Stewart, 42, died with five others in a mystifying jet crash not five months after his one-stroke victory over Phil Mickelson. The flight veered off course en route from Orlando to Dallas, and crashed in a rural area of South Dakota.
In some two dozen interviews with ESPN.com, his friends throughout the golf world discuss how Stewart touched them when he lived, and since Oct. 25, 1999, that brilliantly sunny, dark Monday when he died.
Charlie Adams
Dallas
Golf teammate of Stewart at SMU
We had been talking about it for two or three years. This one project came up in west Frisco (a Dallas suburb). It was a very good location. The land didn't have a lot of physical attributes. But because of its location and Tom Hicks' involvement, Payne was willing to fly in. Fraley and those guys decided to come in, because I think they wanted to meet Hicks.
I talked to Payne Sunday night. Payne said, 'I'm wearing jeans and I want to go to Casa Dominguez (a landmark Dallas Tex-Mex restaurant) and I don't care what Tom Hicks thinks.' Typical Payne.
Southwest Airlines Captain Chris Hamilton
Pilot
Dispatched by the U.S. Air Force to fly up to Stewart's plane to investigate
I was a captain in the U.S. Air Force assigned to the 40th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base (Fla.) as a test pilot. On that day, I was doing an air-to-air training sortie against an A-10 from our squadron.
The call was very unusual in the pre-9/11 world. There is an F-15 unit based at Tyndall Air Force Base that normally handles intercept duties. They were scrambled, but by the time they were airborne, I was much closer to the predicted path of the Learjet, so they were sent back home.
When Air Traffic Control started vectoring the plane, they told me there was potentially a disaster. They said, 'We haven't heard from them.' There were two probabilities I was thinking about: One, they lost the radio; Two, and this was a slight chance, that maybe it was a hijack scenario. I anticipate pulling next to the plane and getting their attention and trying to establish some kind of communication and see how they are doing.
Adams
I was in the terminal. The plane was about 30 minutes late. I asked the lady at the counter, 'Is this unusual? Have you heard from this plane?'
She said, 'No, we haven't heard from them. It's a beautiful day. Sometimes they fly visually.'
I walked outside and there were a couple of pilots walking by. One of them said, 'Hey, did you hear about that Lear that is out of control over Missouri?'
I said, 'Where did it come from, guys?'
'I think it left from Orlando,' one of them said.
I went back inside and told the lady what I heard. She made a couple of phone calls. It took two or three minutes. I could tell from the look on her face.
I went back to the pilots' lounge, and got on the phone with Tracey, (Stewart's wife), and I called all my friends, and I went home to watch.
Hamilton
I had no idea that I would pull up next to them and everybody would be gone.
Imagine if you walked outside on a cold winter morning and you have frost on your windshield. Imagine that on the inside. That's what I saw. When I tried to look in the windshield, it's opaque. It's definitely frozen over on the inside. It was shiny and reflective on the outside.
I had no idea who was in the plane. It wasn't until I landed on the ground that I heard the news. Everybody dwelled on the Payne Stewart thing. There were other people on board. The tragedy was the same for all the people on the ground. Whatever caused the loss of pressurization, it was quick and there was nothing I could do. It really didn't sink in until I was on the ground.
Bob Francis
Former member, National Transportation Safety Board
Led the investigation of the crash
(Depressurization accidents) don't tend to happen. A lot of pilots have had some kind of training in dealing with hypoxia and oxygen deprivation. They figure out something is wrong and go on oxygen and get the plane down to 12,000 feet. It's a pretty rare sort of thing to happen when a plane flies by itself for a couple of hours across the middle of the country.
If it looked like the plane was going to crash in Chicago, the decision of shooting it down vs. letting it crash, toward the end of the day, it was pretty clear there would be no survivors in that plane one way or the other. That wouldn't have made the decision easier for whoever the hell had to make it. It wasn't the NTSB. I would just guess that it might well have ended up higher than the Cabinet level. The politics of the thing were more than any general would have taken on. I don't know if any protocol was established. They have enough trouble trying to figure out if a Cessna 152 is coming near the White House.
Hamilton
It's amazing. Until recently, that day had faded away. It's almost because the experience is so surreal. Even now, when I think about it, it just doesn't seem that it happened. It was so out of the ordinary. It's hard to believe that I was flying next to the Ghost Plane. It was like a Twilight Zone.
That was the strangest thing I've ever seen. Being in aviation, I've lost friends in accidents. It's not that you become callous or uneasy. You realize it's an inherent part of that business. I was just a bystander. I was able to be up there and put a set of eyes on the plane. There wasn't anything I could do. It didn't affect my feelings. It was a tragic accident that I happened to be in position to see the aftermath. It was like seeing an accident on the side of the road. It's already happened.
Francis
It was one of the most personally uncomfortable cases I went through. We went through a lot. We went through TWA (Flight 800, in 2000, off Long Island). It happens that I am a pretty big sports fan. I did identify with what he was and what he stood for. That increased the sense of loss.
A lot of press was already there. They were trying to set up and take pictures. I just said to the sheriff, 'They have no right to see this. Tomorrow morning, I don't want the press anywhere near here.' This was in a cow pasture. The next morning, they were in a corner of the cow pasture.
I don't know what one says about something like that (crash site). That, for me, was the worst of the graphic. You're supposed to see the guy in the plaid pants on the green. I am a sports fan. I'm sitting here now watching the St. Jude Classic. I watch a lot of sports.
It was one of the accidents where I really tried to keep down the emotions. This was a very prominent person, as far as I was concerned, and a pretty positive figure. I wasn't interested in any kind of exploitation beyond what would be appropriate to Joe Schmo being on that airplane.
| More on Payne Stewart | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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-- Loren Roberts
-- Davis Love III
-- Peter Jacobsen
-- Padraig Harrington
-- Scott Simpson
-- Justin Leonard |
It was just awful. I blamed myself for quite a while for setting it all up. Tracey set me straight and I try not to. She slapped me at the funeral and told me I was not supposed to think that way. She didn't really slap me. It was with a hug in her house before the funeral. There was a basically a year where I did blame myself.
I called Payne Sunday night because of that kid from Jack's operation, Bruce Borland. He couldn't get on a commercial flight to Dallas, and he called to see if I could call Payne and get him a seat on the plane. That's another little miserable piece of it. I blamed myself for that, too.
Dr. Richard Coop
Sports psychologist who worked with Stewart
He and I were scheduled to go to Kentucky two weeks after the crash to look at a golf course. That chills you too. It could have been him and me.
The first several times I got in a private plane I was apprehensive. I assume that's a sign of intelligence, not fear. You think, 'How could I have stopped it?'
You just can't do that. It was just meant to be. He went out happy. We had a 20-minute conversation the night before. I've never heard him so happy in every part of his life. It was a triple-high. He was saying goodbye to me and neither one of us knew it. That has been comforting to me.
Hamilton
As a pilot for Southwest Airlines, I frequently fly all over the country, including the area where the intercept took place. Since I spent most of my time looking up at the aircraft, instead of down at the ground, there aren't any specific landmarks that bring back memories of that day. About the only thing that sometimes will trigger memories is when I check in with the air traffic controllers at Memphis Center, since I was in their airspace when I actually caught up with the aircraft.
When the people who knew Stewart talk about him, their descriptions are so vivid it's as if they saw him just the other day.
Peter Jacobsen
PGA Tour
Former member, with Stewart and Mark Lye, of the band Jake Trout and the Flounders.
We got guys on tour with bodyguards. We got players that just don't understand that fans make the sport. Payne always understood that. I would see that after his round. He would be out there shooting the breeze with people, hanging out outside. He was a regular guy. A real good friend to be with. A very intense competitor on the course. Not a lot of byplay during competition -- he was as serious about golf as anybody. During practice rounds, he was fantastic and fun to be with. He was an amazing performer.
When you have humility come into life, that's what happens. You come out on tour, you're full of life, cocky. Then you get your teeth kicked in. ... You realize when the good times happen that you better enjoy this, and take losses in stride.
Davis Love III
PGA Tour
Two-time Ryder Cup teammate
We got into an argument at Colonial one year. It carried over to Memorial. Every time I go into the locker room at Colonial or Memorial, I think about Payne. It was a ruling, actually. I was playing with him and Joey Sindelar. Let's just say Payne is very competitive, or was very competitive. He would try to get away with things, and we were the two young kids he played with.
We had two big arguments early on. After that, we were very good friends. He wouldn't hold a grudge: You tell me what you think, I'll tell you what I think. Let's move on. I had a lot of respect for how we were friends from then on. That was Colonial. Some tournament later in the year, I don't remember which, we had resolved it just enough to where it had blown over, but not enough to be comfortable. He came up and said, 'Hey, let's go have a beer.' I don't drink beer, but he wasn't going to wait around for me to say something.
He would go up to someone and say, 'You play slow. You need to speed it up.' We need more guys like that. Tim (Finchem, the PGA Tour commissioner) tells us that all the time.
I am on the (Tour Policy) board. This is my third time. I don't have enough nerve to tell a guy, 'You play slow.' Payne could tell you and make you feel good. Not many guys can do that. Payne could say, 'You play slow. Let's go have a beer.' Halfway through, he'd say, 'Why do you play so slow?' Then he would change the subject again.
Coop
Every once in a while, one of my players will do something that Payne would do. Payne was one of those guys, he would disagree with you, he'd go off and think about it, and come back and say you were right. One of his saving graces was he would come back and say 'I'm wrong.' Men don't ever want to say they are wrong. They might come back and admit it, but they never want to say it. Payne was very good about that. It might be one day later, might be two days later.
Cliff Danley
Tournament Director
Honda Classic
He finished second here five times. He played in our tournament every year. We went back a long way with him, from when he first came out on tour. Certain players connect with certain events. The locker room staff fell in love with him. We've grown up with the guy. The 60-year-old guy in the locker room was 40 when he met Payne. We all saw Payne in all his iterations. We saw all his warts. There were good days and not-so-good days. He was always great with the volunteers.
Lee Rawls
Walt Disney World
Director of Golf and Sports
He was the life of the party. I can remember going to Sally (Mrs. Scott) Hoch's 40th birthday party. He had on this beautiful yellow blazer, this vest that was black and yellow. Of course all the women were in love with Payne. You couldn't go into the room without, at the end of the night, Payne knowing everybody.
Marty Hackel
Golf Digest
Fashion Director
I can remember going out to lunch with him. We had jeans on. No one had a clue who he was. This was a sportsy-type bar not that far from where he lives. I told him, 'You've got the greatest cover ever.'
He designed a line of clothes, The Payne Stewart Collection. It was really terrific, tasteful, regular product. It was colorful. It had a lot of style. It was out for a couple of years. Without his huge presence, it lost its major reason for being.
He had a pretty strong closet. I always wanted to do a story on Tour players' closets. God rest his soul, we certainly would have included his. Payne had a table, like a stand, in the middle of his closet where he put his suitcase down to pack. The stand was the perfect height.
Tom Stine
Golf Datatech
I could not even point you in the right direction to a company that sells plus-fours. I wouldn't even know where to look. Which, probably as much as anything, is the answer to the question. I don't know if anybody makes them anymore.
That probably says plus-fours were as unique as he was. He made them popular because he wore them. He didn't make them popular with the public. You got to play really good to back it up. If you don't, it's even more noticeable.
Coop
He really had to work at the structure of things. His whole demeanor and personality was changing. It would have been interesting to see what he grew into. He always had a great heart. He was learning he had to think about what he said to people because it could hurt. He was getting a lot more concerned about a lot of people. Not as self-centered as he was. To be a great athlete, a certain amount of self-centeredness is needed.
Jim Copeland
Athletic Director
SMU (Stewart's alma mater), 1995-present
Payne got the distinguished alumni award for the whole school. I think it was the year before his death. It was interesting. Sports Illustrated did that long story on him after his death. (My wife) Susan and I read the story. There was almost a delineation between his personality from one point to the next. In the front of the story he was contentious, arrogant. As I read, I thought, 'I didn't know this guy.' He was so different than the guy I met.
He had a very strong faith. He didn't mind sharing it. Some people can do that and it's almost offensive. He wasn't that way at all.
Stewart's death registered high on the Richter Scale of the golf world. People rebuild their lives, but they can never recapture the life they had.
Coop
Mike Hicks, who was Payne's caddy and is now Lee Janzen's caddy, and I were out on the Pinehurst No. 2 course last Saturday (June 4) and the bells in the bell tower started ringing. We both looked up immediately and said, 'There he is.'
Every time I hear those bells, he's there. There's a little church right near the course. I don't know if you remember, they were ringing the bells during the trophy ceremony. (A statue of Stewart celebrating his winning putt on the 72nd hole of the 1999 U.S. Open stands behind the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2)
Tracey asked me to help her when the sculptor was doing it. He sent several pictures to us. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, trying to help the sculptor get the right shadings of what Payne looked like. Some days it's a happy look, some days it's chilling, some days it's melancholy.
It seems to be bigger than the statues of James W. Tufts, Donald Ross and Robert Dedman. It may be perception. Payne seems bigger, and it's much more active. If a statue can be dynamic, Payne's is. That fits him. He never stood still.
Jacobsen
Payne's accident gave me appreciation for how fragile life is. I lost a brother to AIDS in 1988. I lost my father to cancer in 1992. I lost my mother to cancer this year. You appreciate those people and the time you have with them, and you know that life is precious. Every shot I hit, every round I play, I understand that. You appreciate it. As I enter my second career on the Champions Tour, I'm enjoying it more.
Adams
Any golf tournament is not the same without watching him. It took two years to even care to watch a golf tournament. Not that I still don't think about it and get frustrated about it all the time. It sneaks up in different situations. So many people know that I was Payne's (college) teammate and captain of the team. His name comes up all the time. People ask me every week something about Payne. It's a fairly constant reminder. He was a special guy.
I got through it because Payne's in heaven. I know that. I had talked to him for years about his faith. He had grown and accepted Christ. At the end of day, knowing we would see each other again helped me.
Scott Simpson
PGA Tour
Lost to Stewart in a playoff for the 1991 U.S. Open
For a couple of years, I probably thought of him every day. I still think of him quite a bit. I have no idea what triggers it. I guess anything could. It was just a sad, sad thing. Everything in his life was never better. Obviously, his golf was. It was the second coming of his golf. His faith and his family, that's the greatest thing of all. He got everything where he wanted it. He had his priorities in order. That may be why he was playing so well. Golf, early on, was so important to him, that a lot of times he would get in his own way. He was nicknamed Avis for always coming in second. He always had so much talent. He was such a good player.
Love
Every time I see (PGA Tour rules official) Jon Brendle in a cart during a tournament, I think of Payne Stewart. Probably more than anything, I identified those two out here. That was his best friend. Jon lived in the house right next door. They did everything together. I think about Jon going to pick up Payne's kids at school the day it happened. It really hits me when I see Jon.
Coop
I go back to Pinehurst once every two months, three months. That's one of the places that really reminds me of a lot of good times. It's a little harder to go now. Every time he would come to Chapel Hill, he would say, 'Do we have time for a trip to Pinehurst?' Payne was an iconoclast. He liked to poke at the USGA and what he called the poobahs. It was interesting to me that he loved Pinehurst and the tradition.
I'll tell you one thing, every time I go to Orlando airport, he would be standing there at baggage claim. This is when you could leave your car running, before (9/11) . He would be jiggling his feet, like I can't wait to get started. His motor was running, his car motor was running. Every time I go down that escalator to baggage claim, it seems like he should still be there.
John "Cubby" Burke
Longtime PGA Tour caddy
When you start thinking about the Open, obviously, every year, he pops in your head. He won two of them. Every time I see Hicksy, I think of Payne. They were together so long. The Ryder Cups. Coming back to Pinehurst. When he won it, he made that putt, that was just unadulterated. There was no holding back. He was going to show you the way he felt.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes: As long as I'm out here, as long as his (peers) are out here, it's going to feel like he should be out here. You know Payne. He was a locker-room guy, which is a good a compliment as you can give, especially in an individual sport. That's a big reason he was so good in the Ryder Cup. Believe it or not, there's camaraderie between caddies and players, players and players, caddies and caddies. Guys like that, you don't replace. You just miss them, you know?
Jacobsen
Our kids were growing up together, I remember going to Chuck E. Cheese with the Stewarts, and going to parks and spinning the merry-go-round.
I get very sad when I see Chelsea and Aaron now. Chelsea is a gorgeous 20- or 21-year-old. Aaron is 16 and the spitting image of his dad. I enjoy seeing them and I'm happy to see them, while at the same time I get sad about the last six years they've had without their dad. It's good and it's melancholy.
After Stewart's death, the tributes paid to him have been as traditional as a golf tournament that has raised nearly $1 million for his alma mater, and as unique as a couple of lovebirds named Payne and Tracey. Different as each tribute is, every single one came from the same place: a longing to cement in place a memory that would otherwise fade.
Love
I've got of picture of him in his plus fours, leaning on his club, funny-looking green knickers. I put it on the shelf in my bathroom. It's not even in a frame. I lean it up against some books with a WWJD bracelet. A picture of my kids, a picture of Billy Andrade's son, my two dogs. That's what I see in my bathroom.
Rawls
His second win was here at Disney in 1983. Since 1971, each year, we put a plaque on a locker for the winner for that year. Payne always used that locker. He played in our event every year. He was a hometown guy, part of what we call Team Orlando. His last round of golf was played on the Magnolia Course, the Friday before he passed away on Monday.
His wife donated to us the outfit he wore when he won in 1983. We took the wooden front off his locker and put that outfit inside and put Plexiglas over it to honor him. She also gave us the outfit he wore for his last round of golf. We have that displayed in a shadow box in the golf shop.
George Reynolds
Dallas
The Payne Stewart Cup
The reason I know Payne Stewart is (because) I am a past chairman of the Byron Nelson Classic. Payne's love and affection for Byron -- they had become very good friends -- Payne had been out to Byron and Peggy's home on a number of occasions.
Over a period of time we got to know each other fairly well. He found out I was a grad of SMU. His passion was really to help out SMU in any way he could. Payne never forgot what SMU did for him, which was give him a golf scholarship. He had a strong give-back attitude, which some people don't have.
The Payne Stewart Cup, to support SMU golf, had 24 participants and Payne. He told me, 'I hope that these 24 men become my best friends.' He wanted it to be a cozy, fun affair where you could speak freely and have fun. Payne would play three or four holes in the tournament with each group.
The day before he was killed, we had talked about the finer points that he wanted to make sure were taken care of: getting from the hotel to the course, wanting to know about pin placements, were the same guys playing this year as last. He had gotten to know the wives and the guys on a first-name basis. When you were with him for cocktails for dinner, he would want to get in your face and get to know you. He didn't have a big head.
It was several thousand dollars per couple, which included the entry fee and hotel. As part of the package, Payne would set aside an afternoon to hold a cooking school with the ladies. He would put on his chef's apron. He would really give a detailed instructional class on the things he liked to cook. He loved it. They had some real laughs. He was really good.
Payne was killed in this unfortunate accident. It happened 60 days before the tournament. Without Payne, it was too depressing for all of us to continue. I decided we needed to build a legacy for Payne and redesign the whole affair and have a one-day tournament in Dallas. Instead of 24 golfers, we have 96 at $1250 per person. That includes cocktails and a dinner celebration.
The tournament proceeds over the years? I can almost give you (an exact) number -- $850,000, which goes to Payne Stewart Foundation, which funds SMU golf. He would be proud, and we're proud to honor him.
The thing that just kills me is you pull up to the golf tournament, and the SMU golf team is there to help you get your clubs out, and they're all dressed in plus-fours and tams.
Peggy Nelson
Byron got me these parakeets. I wanted a bird for a long time. Our neighbor's mother wanted to find a home for them about a year ago. The male was green and yellow, and the female blue and white. As soon as I saw green and yellow, I thought of the Green Bay Packers, and Payne. The male is hyperactive, kind of like Payne was.
Byron thought naming the birds Payne and Tracey was a great idea. I called Tracey and explained what we wanted to do. Tracey said that was a lovely thought. The birds are kind of like a little married couple. Those names are nice to have because they mean so much to us.
I don't think a day goes by that we don't think of one or both, especially because of these birds. They were such a blessed family in so many ways. Payne was such a strong Christian. It was amazing to see him grow. When you see the shots of him taking Phil's face in his hands, you know what he said, even though you couldn't hear it. It was true. "It doesn't matter. You're going to be a daddy." That's the kind of person he was. He was a blessing.
They were absolutely joined at the hip. So close and so in love, and I know that Tracey's faith and love for her children will keep her strong.
Payne is the poster parakeet for ADD. He's all over the place. He eats out of my hand. So will Tracey.
Rawls
Every year we have the golf professionals sign about eight posters when they come in to register. We have one poster from the 1998 National Car Rental Classic. All of the pros signed it. The ink slowly started to disappear. Over the years, we've gotten better-quality paper. I've got posters from the earlier years where all the names have disappeared.
Payne signed it with a Sharpie. We had 144 players sign the poster. The only signature left is Payne's.
Ivan Maisel is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Ivan.Maisel@espn3.com.
