I’ve never heard any player ever say a bad word about Billy Casper. I never heard Billy say a bad word about anybody. He was a pleasure to play with. – PGA veteran Doug Sanders
PROVO — There was high praise and many tears were shed Saturday at the funeral service for Hall of Fame golfer Billy Casper, 83, who died last Saturday at his home in Springville.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert declared Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 an official state day of memoriam for Casper. Herbert was present at the service along with President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and fellow PGA Hall of Famer Johnny Miller.
“He never played bad,” said an emotional Miller, now a popular TV analyst. During the zenith of Casper's career, Miller was an athlete whom Casper took under his wing when Miller got on the PGA Tour in the late '60s. Called on for unscheduled remarks, Miller choked up as he praised and thanked Casper. He described how Casper fiercely protected his prized tools, his amazing hands. “He was a great chipper and putter. Billy had more close tap-in second putts than anybody in history.”
PGA veteran Doug Sanders, who flew in from Houston to pay his respects, called Casper one of the most beloved players in the game. Wiping tears from his cheek before the service, Sanders declared, “I’ve never heard any player ever say a bad word about Billy Casper. I never heard Billy say a bad word about anybody. He was a pleasure to play with.”
President Eyring said people describe Casper as a nice and kind man, but his life was made special by the atonement of Jesus Christ. “The fruits of the atonement made him a disciple of Christ.”
Elder W. Craig Zwick of the LDS Church’s First Quorum of the Seventy commented that from meeting the king of Morocco to champions in the locker room to a taco vender in San Diego, “Billy treated people with sincere kindness and love wherever he went.”
Lee Benson, who helped Casper write his autobiography, described Casper as a superstar who never cared about how he stood in golf’s pecking order and was surprised when told a 1990 PGA history book ranked him as the No. 4 PGA Tour player behind Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. His 51 tour wins are seventh in PGA Tour history behind Tiger Woods and Nicklaus.
Although one of the most successful Ryder Cup players of all time, Casper is often forgotten alongside Nicklaus, Palmer and Gary Player for his domination during his era as a two-time U.S. Open and Masters champion.
His daughters Linda Henrie and Julia Cervantez and granddaughters Isabel Henrie and Lindsay McDowell affectionately remembered Casper’s advice that everyone was put on earth with talents and those talents were intended to bless the lives of others. They also recalled Casper’s made-up “silly songs” that always fit in squirrels chasing something.
One of the most endearing stories told of Casper’s life was when he met Marine Lt. Clebe McClary in a hospital in Japan while on an offseason charity tour to bolster U.S. troops during the Vietnam War in 1968.
McClary was shot up in a firefight and had already accepted his impending death, as had his doctors, who told Casper not to bother visiting McClary during his rounds among 600 patients. Casper knelt at McClary’s bedside, thanked him for his service, and then whispered in his ear, “God could use you today. Don’t give up.”
McClary, 73, who flew in to Casper’s funeral from Pawleys Island, South Carolina, has retold that story many times during his life, crediting Casper for lighting a spark inside him and giving him the will to live. He lost his left arm and left eye and underwent 41 surgeries after his wounds in the battlefield leading a recon team of 12 men.
“I don’t know if I’d be here if it wasn’t for him,” McClary told his hometown newspaper The Sun News in Myrtle Beach this past week. McClary has spent his life as a motivational speaker. He and Casper were reunited after 46 years during a practice round at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, last April.
“That was a moment and a story none of us will ever forget,” said his daughter Julia.
Casper is survived by his wife of 63 years, 11 children, 37 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
Casper was buried Saturday in Evergreen Cemetery in Springville.
Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports columnist, can be found on Twitter as Harmonwrites and can be contacted at dharmon@desnews.com.