Frank Thomas

Trevino Notable Sports Figures
Lee Trevino
Caddie Shack Golfer
Lee Trevino was born on December 1, 1939 in Dallas,
Texas. His father, Joseph, was not a part of his life,
and he was raised by his mother, Juanita, a domestic,
and his maternal grandfather, Joe Trevino, a Mexican
immigrant who worked as a grave digger. The family
lived in a four-room house with no electricity or
plumbing that was about 100 yards off the seventh fairway
of Glen Lakes Country Club. As a child, Trevino
watched the golfers out on the fairway, and, after finding
an old club, began to practice hitting balls around
his yard. At the age of eight he began working as a
caddie, and played golf on three short holes behind the
caddie shack.
Trevino quit school after the seventh grade and took a
job at Glen Lakes as an assistant groundskeeper. On the
side he would work as a caddie and play a few holes at the
end of the day. Lying about his age, Trevino joined the
U.S. Marines when he was seventeen and served two twoyear
stints in Asia and played for the Third Marine Division
golf squad. By the time he was discharged in 1961, he
was a good golfer, with a four-handicap, but wanted to get
better. He took a job at Hardy’s Driving Range and played
on the rough flat terrain of the Tenison Golf Course, a municipal
course in Greenville, Texas, where he worked on
developing his unusual swing to perfection.
To supplement his income, Trevino began hustling
golf bets. At first, he d simply wager that he’d come out
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Chronology
1939 Born in Dallas, Texas
1956-60 Serves in the U.S. Marines
1960-65 Head professional at Hardy’s Driving Range in Dallas
1966 Joins the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour; becomes
chairman of the board of Lee Trevino Enterprises, Inc.
1966-67 Assistant professional as Horizon Hills Country Club, El Paso,
Texas
1983-89 Golf commentator for the National Broadcasting Network (NBC)
1984 Retires from the PGA Tour
1989 Joins the Champions Tour
ahead in a round of golf. But when his winning ways
scared off most of his competition, he began taking bets
that he could win using a 26-ounce Dr. Pepper bottle
wrapped in adhesive tape for a club. He later boasted
that he never lost with that bottle. His early experience
of wagering more money than he had to lose helped
Trevino develop his competitive edge and his coolness
under extreme pressure later in his career. Early in his
professional career, Trevino would often place offcourse
bets on his performance, sometimes winning as
much on his wagers as he did in prize money.
Turns Professional
Eventually Trevino found someone willing to subsidize
his expenses for a few tournaments that didn’t require
Professional Golf Association (PGA) membership.
During 1965 he played in three events, finishing first at
the Texas State Open, second at the Mexico City Open,
and fifth at the Panama Open. His performance was
good enough to garner the support of Martin Lettunich,
a wealthy cotton farmer from El Paso, who secured a job
for Trevino at El Paso’s Horizon Hills Country Club.
In 1965 Lettunich and his buddies invited Raymond
Floyd, a rising star on the PGA, to challenge a local
player. As Sports Illustrated retold the now-legendary
anecdote, “Floyd pulled into Horizon Hills in a white
Cadillac, where he was met by a young Hispanic clubhouse
boy, who retrieved Floyd’s clubs from the trunk,
escorted him to the locker room, and shined his shoes.
‘Who am I playing today?’ Floyd asked. ‘You’re talking
to him,’ Trevino replied.” The two played three rounds,
and with one hole left, Trevino was up by a stroke.
Floyd saved himself from the embarrassment of losing
by eagling the final hole to win by one. Packing up his
clubs, Floyd told Trevino, “Adios. I’ve got easier games
than this on the Tour.” The two would meet again many
times on the PGA and Champions Tours.
Joining the PGA in 1966, Trevino played in the U.S.
Open at the Olympic Country Club in San Francisco.
Tying for fifty-fourth place, he returned home with $600
and severe doubts about his future in golf. The following
year, Trevino’s wife sent off the twenty dollar registration
fee for the 1967 U.S. Open trials despite her hus-