Lee Trevino is considered one of the greatest golfers of his era and remains one of the most recognizable figures of the sport decades later.
Trevino, 84, is headlining this year’s annual American Red Cross Evening of Stars event in Normal next month. The Evening of Stars dinner takes place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, at Illinois State University’s Brown Ballroom. The event aids the organization’s disaster response, blood donation and help for military members and their families. Trevino is the first golfer invited as the special guest by the Red Cross at the event.
This isn’t the first time Trevino has spent some time around the Red Cross. He spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He said working around the Red Cross regularly grew his appreciation for the organization. However, he said what is even greater than the organization itself is its volunteers.
“And they wouldn’t ever be able to do this without a tremendous amount of people volunteering. The volunteers that they have is tremendous," Trevino said in an interview on WGLT's Sound Ideas.
Trevino said he has no specific goal for his talk that evening, adding he simply wants to motivate the people of Bloomington-Normal to support the Red Cross.
“When you give a message to an organization like this, is you have no message,” he said. “What you do is you encourage them, and you tell them to keep doing what they’re doing because they’re doing a hell of a job and without them, we’d be in a lot of trouble.”
6-time Major champion
Like most other celebrities, Trevino has spent his time in the spotlight. He was a six-time major champion, and Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Year in 1971.
Trevino recognized his celebrity status but said that he would not exactly encourage others to do the same and become the “next Lee Trevino,” because most golfers aren’t paid enough.
“It is one of the most difficult jobs there is,” he said. “How would you like to have a job and you went to work in a factory … and all of a sudden, the company didn’t do very well and because it didn’t do very well, you didn’t get paid? You did all that work and didn’t get paid. That’s what golf is all about.”
He added that when you play golf, you have 14 different clubs to use and master in order to win, as opposed to football or basketball which have one ball to use the same way every time. Also, there is no “middle class” of golf, like other sports have a minor league.
Trevino said that the golfers of his era often found themselves short on cash, too, noting that only about 15 players made enough to live off of and retire on their winnings.
“Back then, guys played 20, 25 years and when they finished playing, their kids were grown and left and they have no money, they have no retirement,” he said. “How would baseball be if you struck out you had to give a thousand dollars back?”
One of the most accomplished golfers of his era, Trevino stands outside the top 250 all-time money winners on the PGA Tour, a sign of how golf's financial model has changed over the years.
The game evolves
There has also been a growing trend in the area of golf operations investing in nine-hole courses, as young people seem to be less interested in a full 18-hole game on the green. Trevino said he sees it as a great opportunity to keep youths interested in golf.
Trevino said, “I think a nine-hole golf course is a genius idea, I really do. With today’s young people and the business that they’re in, they’re able to leave the office and in two-and-a-half hours they can be back.”
Trevino said that investment in a shorter course would increase the viability of the game, as well as bring more diverse kinds of players to it.
“They’ll get more young players, lady players, juniors. That’s the thing that we need,” he said. “It’s a big sport, golf is a big sport and it’s growing, growing every day.”
Another key area of golf that is seeing change is on the national scale. The LIV tour, bankrolled by the Saudi Arabian government, promised huge payouts for golfers and lured a lot of players from the PGA tour and is now planning to merge with the PGA, though it's not clear when.
Trevino said that if the tour was around during his prime, he would have had to have seriously considered the offer.
“If they come along and offered me $300 million, $400 million, you know, I’m not a real smart guy, but I’m not stupid,” he said. “I think you would have to take a long look at that because of your family, and the security of your family.”
Despite the large checks being cut, Trevino said he doesn’t see the LIV tour having a long-lasting impact on pro golf.
“The reason for it is simply because of the concept,” he said. “We just had one here in Dallas and they play at 11:15 (a.m.) every day….the difficulty with the LIV tour is enticing the stars to come there … getting superstars.”
Trevino said there was a LIV Tour event in Dallas recently. He said they teed off on different holes, making them hard to follow and see where the players will finish. He also objected to the more relaxed dress code in which players wore shorts.
