Lessons for a Nickel
A year after accepting the CCC position, he began his first Saturday morning golf clinic for boys and girls of all ages, believed to be the first in the country. All the youngster needed was a nickel and a spoonful of desire - it would be years before the fee increased to a dime, which went to pay the caddies who shagged the golf balls. “Each one got individual instruction, not in groups,” Haskins says. “ They were out there from 8:30 to 12 and I’d have little pitch and putt contests for them to keep them busy until their turn came and I’d give repaired golf balls as prizes.” (First prize was always the same: a used, repainted and polished golf ball worth around 35c)
“A lot of pros today are not interested in kids,” Billy Key says.
“Fred Haskins was the opposite. I think it was part of his nature. He was like a second father to a lot of us. He liked having kids almost every available moment out there.” Fred Haskins had a knack for teaching you to win.” Jack Key says.
“He taught you not just to play but the psychological end of the game. He knew how to get inside your head. He had the ability to make you believe you were actually better than you actually were.”
On the practice tee he’d say ‘Let’s hit a few,’” Cecil Calhoun says, “then he’d stand back and watch, say nothing, and take a few minutes to form his impressions.”
“He’d say to you ‘Let’s go to the driving range.’” Jack Key says. “So you’d hit a few balls, and he’d say ‘Perfect. You’re swinging perfect.’ Even if you weren’t, He’d say ‘You ought to enter the state amateur.”
“He was patient as long as we were trying,” Billy Key says. “If we were cutting up, fooling around, he wouldn’t put up with that.”
“He was just like a daddy to everybody, all the kids. He didn’t care if you were black, blue, white, purple or gray.” Howard Pitts, Haskins’ Assistant for more than three decades.
Excerpts and interviews from:
Cecil Darby Column
Ledger Enquirer Newspaper
May 7th, 1971
Ed Miles Article
Ledger Enquirer Newspaper
June 29th, 1952