Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Quite a follow-through

Friday, Nov. 12, 1999 | 8:48 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

YOU MEET the nicest people on the golf course.

For those of you who have followed this column for any length of time, the idea that golf and life seem intertwined is nothing new. For some of you, this may seem a trivial thought. But for those who play golf or are associated with people who do, you'll understand the significance of such a statement and appreciate its truth.

But wait, you don't have to play or even like the game of golf to understand what follows. It helps, but it isn't necessary to realize how much five young lives have been affected by their love of the game and their commitment to play it better than anyone else.

When the UNLV Rebel golfers won the NCAA Championship in 1998, Coach Dwaine Knight's enthusiasm and pride could hardly be contained. After all, winning the national championship is a career-topping dream for any coach in any sport. Jerry Tarkanian has known that thrill at UNLV and, with some luck and a great deal of work, Bill Bayno may experience that same excitement. And who knows, John Robinson may add a national banner for the football team as well.

Until that time comes, though, UNLV can point with pride to its golf team, which brought home the top prize in 1998 and, with a few putts dropping at the right time this coming spring, may do it all over again. One thing is certain: If they don't win, the Rebel golfers will scare the heck out of whoever does!

But back to Coach Knight. While Dwaine is a rather self-effacing individual -- especially for a man of his great talent -- he has been known to, on occasion, come up with some off-the-wall ideas. Following the team's 1998 victory, the coach was thinking big again. He told me that it was now commonplace for the president of the United States to welcome NCAA basketball and football teams who had won their championships each year. He also suggested that, to his knowledge, it had been a long time, if ever, that an NCAA golf championship team had ever been so honored.

I am a little slow at times but even I understood the import of his message. When I next had the opportunity, I mentioned to President Clinton that UNLV had just won the NCAA title. Before I could even ask, the president volunteered to invite them to the White House to give them the appropriate recognition. He also thought, schedule permitting, that it would be fun for all if he could play a few holes of golf with them.

Having accomplished far more than what I set out to achieve, I reported the substance of the president's invitation to Coach Knight. His reaction was swift and unequivocal, "Tell us when we can go." That was almost 17 months ago.

A lot has happened at the White House during the past year and a half. And each incident -- whether political, personal or in matters of national security -- has had the effect of putting off that which everyone wanted to do. But President Clinton never forgot his invitation to the team and in a matter of a couple of weeks, what had been a long time in the making was finally set. The UNLV golf team was going to the White House.

Since I was a bit player in this effort, Coach Knight invited me to go along. And since I never like to miss an opportunity to bring the news to Sun readers, I took a crash course in digital photography from brother-in-law Jeff Gale, who is my choice for the "patience in the face of exasperation" award for 1999. Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, the help of the Sun's Washington reporter, Ben Grove, and a certain amount of luck, Monday's newspaper carried a picture of UNLV's top golfers, their coach and President Clinton at a meeting in the Oval Office. That picture -- and others shot but not published -- are worth far more than the thousands of words that the young student-athletes have already used to describe the magnitude of that visit.

As if the Oval Office wasn't enough, our travel weary president made good on his promise to play a few holes with the team. In fact, he played all 18 holes at the Army-Navy Country Club and there isn't one of those five young players who will ever forget a shot -- his or theirs.

As for what I will remember? I'll forever be proud of our president who, realizing the impact his gesture would make on not only those five Rebel golfers but the entire game of golf, forfeited needed rest to fulfill a year-old commitment. I'll forever remember Coach Knight and crew grinning from ear to ear when, expecting to be formally escorted into the Oval Office to meet the president, they came face to face for the first time with Clinton when he opened the door to greet them -- golfer to golfer.

And I will remember the feeling I got just knowing that I had a small part to play in bringing such joy and excitement to a group of very deserving young men who in meeting and playing golf with the president of the United States, did so as gentlemen. They did their university, their city and their state very proud that day.

Oh yes, there is one more thing I'll remember. That would be to focus the camera before I take another picture.