Jack comes back: Nicklaus delights crowd in return to Newport Beach
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Jack Nicklaus may have competed just once on the senior circuit in Newport Beach, but the golf great received a reception fit for a royal as the star attraction of the Hoag Classic’s Breakfast with a Champion.
A ballroom full of people leaned on every word shared by Nicklaus, who spent more than an hour in conversation with Hank Adler, the chairman emeritus of the Hoag Classic, on Tuesday morning at the Balboa Bay Resort.
Their talk, while eventually getting around to golf, strayed off the beaten path. Nicklaus, who combined longevity and talent to win a record 18 major championships over a span of 25 years on the PGA Tour, has been celebrated as a family man, golf course designer and philanthropist.
A giant in the game, the 85-year-old’s family has reached those proportions. Nicklaus and his wife, Barbara, will have been married for 65 years in July. They have five children, 24 grandchildren and seven great- grandchildren.
Nicklaus has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and the Lincoln Medal. He reflected on an honor bestowed upon him by his alma mater, when he “dotted the i” in the Ohio State marching band’s halftime show.
“They honor somebody every game, and it’s usually one of their members,” said Nicklaus, who mentioned Bob Hope among those outside the band who had served in the role. “... It was a great honor to be there. Now, I’ve been out in front of a gallery of 25- to 30,000 people, but that gallery was 106,000. I kept walking out there … to be honored, and I just said [to myself], ‘Please don’t trip over that white line.’”
Jack and Barbara, both of whom attended Ohio State, helped launch 100% TBDBITL, an initiative to provide scholarships for members of the band.
“We’re very proud of that,” Nicklaus said. “Every standing member of the Ohio State University band is on scholarship.”
The couple decided long ago that if they were ever in a position to help others, they wanted to be able to benefit the lives of children.
The Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation has raised more than $200 million since it was established in 2004, providing for pediatric healthcare services in South Florida. Miami Children’s Hospital has been rebranded Nicklaus Children’s; it has treated children from every state and more than 120 countries.
Nicklaus’ father, Charlie, was a three-sport athlete in baseball, basketball and football at Ohio State. In his youth, Nicklaus also tried a wide variety of sports.
As Nicklaus was considering what sport to stick with, he got a vote of confidence from Woody Hayes, the Buckeyes’ legendary football coach. Hayes walked into Charlie’s drugstore as a customer when the latter fielded his opinion on the matter.
“[Hayes] says, ‘Your son’s a good athlete, but he’s got a sport he does pretty well at,’” Nicklaus recalled. “He said, ‘You keep him as far away from my sport as you can.”
Whatever passion Nicklaus pursued, he followed through on it. Golf had its merits for a young boy that wanted to control how far he could go.
“I’m a decent baseball player, but I couldn’t go to the park and wait for 15 kids to come on a hot summer day when I can get up in the morning, go to the golf course at seven o’clock...and come home at dark and play all day long,” Nicklaus said. “The other kids, half of them never showed up anyway. I finally figured out that whatever I wanted to do, it was going to be because of my own effort and not because [of] somebody else. That’s why, I think, I gravitated to an individual sport.”
The walk back in time also included discussion of Nicklaus’ friendship with Arnold Palmer, the journey to the top of the major championship leaderboard and his final major title in the 1986 Masters. Nicklaus’ six Masters titles remain the most for the tournament, one more than Tiger Woods has earned.
Nicklaus played the local PGA Tour Champions event in 2004, when it was known as the Toshiba Classic.
“I know now that I should have played more out here at the Hoag tournament,” Nicklaus concluded, before several attendees advanced toward the stage to seek autographs. “... I wish you well with the fundraising. I hope everything goes well there.”
Also at the event, the late Richard Pickup was inducted into the tournament’s Hall of Fame. He died shortly after the Hoag Classic last year in April.
Among his philanthropic efforts, a $50-million contribution to Hoag Hospital led to the creation of the Richard H. Pickup Center for Brain Health, Hoag announced in 2023. Prior to that, a $15-million gift made in 2017 helped make possible the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute.
The Hoag Classic takes place at Newport Beach Country Club from Friday through Sunday.
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