Caddying For Charlie Gibson

I just caught a final television glimpse of Charlie Gibson (ABC News anchor who announced his retirement tonight) and it reminded me of a time when I caddied for him.

He was the guest of a member of the club where I used to caddy. The member works for ABC News as well. Anyway, Charlie was a great guy. Very personable (he gave me an autograph for my wife) and a decent golfer.

It was a nice day and sort of neat to be the only caddy in this group of t.v. personalities.

We also had the course pretty much to ourselves that day because it was an early morning round during the week.

Walking to the sixteenth green, I pointed to the pond and it's collection of turtles. Charlie was briefly intrigued, but quickly returned his focus to his upcoming birdie putt and the sage advice I would hopefully provide (he missed the putt).

Bad read (worse putt).

Finally, as we left the tee box on eighteen, Charlie barely avoided stomping on a baby turtle who had apparently strayed from its family. Beside myself with what to do about the little guy, I gently picked him up and put him in my caddy bib to take home for my daughters to nurse.

When I got home, I was excited to tell my wife of my experience (sans mentioning the hard shell).

We decided to watch the ABC Evening News that night.

And there was Charlie Gibson on t.v. "Hey, girls. C'mon up and see the man that daddy caddied for today," we called down to our daughters.

But there was a difference.

The Charlie on t.v. that night looked quite different than the one I had caddied for that morning.

"Hey hon. There's something different about the way he looks on t.v.," I remember saying to my better half.

"What do you think it is?" she replied.

"Well, the guy I caddied for was bald," I answered. "This guy has hair!"

Amazing what a little "make up" can do.

P.S. Guess what we named the turtle?

Charlie