Larry Bohannan: Desert lost golf figures

Every calendar year, the desert loses people who have been important to the desert golf scene, people who had a great impact on the game in this golf mecca. But 2013 was a year that seemed to hit the desert harder in that regard than other recent years. Some of the biggest and most important names in desert golf passed away, and one local club pro passed away showing more courage than most could have imagined.

Ken Venturi was a star in so many ways in golf that it was hard to keep track. He was a brilliant amateur player, maybe the last great hope for the gentleman amateur golfer in this country. He turned into a fine professional player with 15 tour wins, And his 1964 win in the U.S. Open while suffering from the impact of the 100-degree heat at Congressional Country Club outside of Washington D.C. goes down as one of the greatest performances in golf history. But Venturi, who died in Rancho Mirage on May 17 at 82, wasn’t finished when carpel tunnel syndrome robbed him of the use of his hands. He went on to one of the longest and most distinguished broadcasting careers, spending 35 years as an analyst for CBS. His influences included being a mentor to future PGA Tour star John Cook during Venturi’s time as head pro at Bermuda Dunes Country Club and being the captain of the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup team in 2000.

Ernie Dunlevie lived enough life for three or four people. Friends with people as diverse as Howard Hughes, Clark Gable and Arnold Palmer, Dunlevie was an important land developer in the desert. He also was a driving force in the founding of the Palm Springs Golf Classic in 1960, which became the Bob Hope Classic and is now the Humana Challenge. He was on that event’s board for 53 years. And he was a war hero, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II. He died in October at 96.

Gen. William “Bill” Yancey was the first true tournament director of the Bob Hope Classic, taking the job in 1966 and bringing military organization and efficiency to the event and helping the event give away more charity funds than before he arrived. It was only later people found out that Yancey, the man making decisions about day-to-day operations of the Hope, had been one of the men in charge of the covert CIA U2 spy plane program in the 1950s.

Tracy Lane might not be a familiar name outside of the Coachella Valley, but in turning her story of terminal cervical cancer at age 31 into a chance to educate others, Lane showed that local club pros can have a big impact on the lives of club members and can reach outside the walls of private clubs to help the world. Lane and her husband and fellow club pro Derek established the Tracy Lane Foundation to raise funds for cervical cancer research. Just over four months after Tracy’s death in August, Derek Lane announced the foundation had raised more than $260,000 with a major fund-raising tournament planned for February.

Venturi, Dunlevie, Yancey and Lane all left the desert and golf with lasting and important legacies.