b'AGELESS GOALCy Perkinsthe original The number of times the legendary Cy Perkins shot his age or better is 473, and that is the number that had stuck in everyones mind who teed it up after a certain age. And who, then, is Cy Perkins?He grew up on a large farm outside Oswego, Kansas, the youngest of six children and was raised in affluence. The Great Depression of the 1930s destroyed the family wealth as crop prices plunged 60 percent. Everyone scrambled to earn money that would keep food on the table and Cy spent his 18th birthday washing dishes in a hotel dining room.Kids today could never understand how hard it was for us to get by during that time, said Perkins in an interview with Golf Digest in November of 2007.There wasnt enough money for Cy to attend college, so he went to business school for six months and got a job as aIn 2020, John Meiners shot a 74 on the par-73 River salesman, first for Nabisco and then for Hills Brothers Coffee,Birch Golf Course in Star, Idaho, when he was 75. Ive only a job he took in Missouri not for the money but because thebeen trying to get better for 60 years, he says. He now town had an 18-hole golf course. plays to a 19.2 Index. He had started playing the game in 1918 when a course was built on part of his fathers farm in Kansas. It had sand greens, and the course wasnt much, but he was hooked right away. He maintained a low single-digitOctober 15, he passed peacefully in his handicap most of his life. When pros wouldhome in Hood River, just two weeks shy of come to town, hed often team up with themhis 98th birthday. for a little hustling. And that cost him his jobHis impact on the regions golf in 1941, when his boss was trying to reachcommunity is still felt. him and called the golf course. The golfCy played in the Riverside Golf and pro lied, thinking he was doing me a favor,Country Club Best-Ball for 68 of its first 70 and said I wasnt there, Perkins would lateryears, including in 1948 when he took over recall. It was the best firing I ever got. as host of the event in Hood River because He and his wife Wanna and their twoRiverside was flooded that year by the kids later settled in Hood River, Ore., whereColumbia River. In 2004, the club named he and his brother bought a Blue Bellthe senior division of the tournament the Cy potato chip franchise for $100. Cy becamePerkins Division, in honor of his commitment a traveling salesman, an occupation thatand camaraderie over the years. fitted his ebullient personality, and often putI saw the impact Cy had on our 3,000 miles on his car per month as he criss- tournament, and on the many players that crossed the Mid-Columbia region making calls. he knew from around the Northwest, said Jeff Wohler, the On Fathers Day in the mid-1950s Cy competed in, andtournaments chairman at the time of Cys passing.won, three tournaments on the same daythe Hood RiverCy is also credited with being the guiding light for the Course Championship, The Dalles Country Club SpringColumbia Blue Seniors Golf Association since its inception, and Mens Tournament, and a mixed Two-Ball Scotch foursomewas referred to as Mr. Columbia Blues.tournament. A nice hat-trick.He loved to talk about golfing records hed set, senior golf He played in the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 1941 atevents hed won and mountains hed climbed. Cy would jokingly Spokanes Indian Canyon GC, and the U.S. Senior Amateur insay he holds the record for the longest drive in the region, a feat 1967 at Shinnecock Hills. he achieved when he and his brother Ed hiked Mount Hood in On the Fourth of July in 2008, Perkins served as the Grand1945 to hit balls off the top.Marshall in the Hood River parade. Three months later, onBut the one number that remains as his legacy is 473. 32 PACIFIC NORTHWEST GOLFER| MAR 2024'