Ben Hogan

He married Valerie Fox in April 1935. He met her during Sunday school in Fort Worth and was then re-acquainted with her during his club pro job.

The couple survived a fatal head-on collision with a bus on February 2, 1949. In order to save his wife, he threw himself across his wife to protect her, which in turn, saved his life as well. Had he not moved from his seat to protect her, the steering column would have punctured his chest.

The accident left him paralyzed for several months with doctors stating that he would never be able to walk, let alone get back to the game. However, he was discharged from the hospital 59 days after the accident and he stunned all his fans when he made a comeback.

William Ben Hogan was the youngest child born to Chester and Clara Hogan, in Stephenville, Texas. The family moved to Fort Worth where they incurred numerous financial difficulties.

When Hogan was just 9-years-old, his father committed suicide with a self-inflicted chest gunshot. It is believed that his father died right before his eyes, which is often cited as the reason behind his introverted personality in his later years.

In order to make ends meet, he and his elder brother, Royal, quit school and began working a number of odd jobs. It was during this time he began to caddy at Glen Garden Country Club and his interest for golf was triggered.

In 1927, when he was 15-years-old, he and his opponent, Byron Nelson tied for the top at the annual Christmas caddy tournament.

He dropped out of Central High School and began to focus his energies on playing golf professionally, debuting at the Texas Open in San Antonio, in 1930 at the age of 17, notwithstanding a terrible hook.

He participated in his first P.G.A. Tour in the 1932 Los Angeles Open, where he finished 38th and won $.8.50.

In 1938, he was hired by Century Country Club in Purchase, New York as an assistant pro and later became a head pro. In 1941, he was offered a head job at the Hershey Country Club in Pennsylvania, which he could not decline.

Till March 1940, he had played a number of pro tournaments but without much success, but after that he won three successive tournaments in North Carolina.

Success soon followed and he became a professional at the game owing to a technique he fondly called his, ‘secret’. His ‘secret’ allowed him to hit a power draw which he could control, by abating his left grip and swaying his arm in a clock-like motion.

He won the Vardon Trophy three times for the lowest average score in 1940, 1941 and 1948.

In 1974, he was inducted into the ‘World Golf Hall of Fame’.

In 1976, he was honored with the ‘Bob Jones Award’, which is one of the highest distinctions conferred by the United States Golf Association for sportsmanship in golf.

He is featured at no. 38 in ESPN’s list of ‘SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century’, in 1999.

In 2000, he was ranked the ‘second greatest player of all time’ by Golf Digest magazine.