The Ryder Cup at Kenan Stadium

UNC athletics photo from GoHeels.com

BY TIM PEELER

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© Landmark Communications, 1999

These are two unpublished sidebars to a story I did for the Greensboro News & Record prior to the 1999 US Open in Pinehurst. The primary piece is about how the contentious 1951 Ryder Cup brought an end to the once popular North & South Open, the professional version of the North & South Amateur that has been played for almost 120 years at Pinehurst No. 2. The first sidebar is about the British team's trip to see top-ranked Tennessee play North Carolina at Kenan Stadium, where a lavish welcome awaited all. They even served tea—not wine and cheese—to British journalists in the press box. Here is an account of that day from UNC football and state golf historian Lee Pace. The second sidebar is about American hero and Duke legend Skip Alexander and his miraculous performance in his Sunday match just over a year after he was the sole survivor of a Civil Air Patrol crash in Evansville, Ind.

CHAPEL HILL—When the Ryder Cup was played at Pinehurst in 1951, the PGA of America, which hosted the event, agreed not to play matches on Saturday, Nov. 3, because all the state's attention would be focused on the UNC-Tennessee football game played that day at Kenan Stadium.

In a gesture of good will, UNC invited the players from both the American and British teams to the football game, which the top-ranked and eventual national champion Volunteers won 27-0. Tailback Hank Lauricella rushed for two touchdowns and 150 yards, and threw another scoring pass as UT won its 16th consecutive game.

It was a courteous affair, with a big luncheon before the game with most of the British team members, but only a few Americans. British journalists were even served tea in the press box at half time.

Here are the thoughts of one writer, Desmond Hackett of the London Daily Express, on what he saw. He was little impressed with the action of the 42,000 spectators at the game. And to think, he's never even saw a game at the Smith Center.

"They tried to tell me that this was a tough-guy game, a piece of legalized mayhem that made bullfighting look sissy. No sir. Any professional rugby club in England could eliminate the heavily armored characters who ambled in and out of this game.

"The England men do not need the insurance policy of crash helmets and more padding than a horse hair couch. They wear extremely brief shorts and cotton shirts and in this rig I feel sure they could beat the long pants off these American huskies. That is merely my opinion and an opinion which I freely express because I shall be able to duck out of town. 

"Back in England, the men of rugby football play forty minutes each way with one 10-minute interval. They would gulp at the idea of bringing in substitutes or that amazing all-change system when a team breaks off the defense shore and moves on the attack.

"We love your beautiful North Carolina girls who so sweetly led the organized cheering.  We feel sure they mean well but most of their best efforts appeared to inspire brisker action from the opposition members.

"The England crowd do not need any of this artificial stimulant, they up and roar their heads off when they feel so inclined. And this goes for the carriage trade in the grandstands. A polite hand clap was the nearest thing to a bust of enthusiasm that the upper set could arouse.

"There seemed to be considerable respect for the extensive panel of referees and the supporting cast of the chain gang who appeared to be taking constant ground survey in the middle of the affair. The English crowd stand up for their right to question the verdict of the referee. They are not slow to state their willingness to buy him glasses on account of his short-sightedness, or to suggest that he could not move so well because of the money tucked into his boots by the rival managers.

"But this American way of football is gay and colorful and I suppose a great game if you can guess what is going on. It is way ahead of England in its setting. This dignified arena in the glade of the deep green pines is among the finest sporting prints I have ever seen. So thanks for a wonderful memory.''

The 1951 Ryder Cup Hero

The undoubted hero of the 1951 Ryder Cup matches was Stewart "Skip" Alexander, the former Duke golfer who survived a near-fatal plane crash a year before.

Alexander, thought to be a weak link on the American team because of his massive injuries, did not participate in Friday's Scotch foursomes, but did play on Sunday, rolling up an 8 and 7 triumph over John Panton despite still being bothered by the injuries he suffered in the crash.

Stewart "Skip" Alexander of Durham.

"The thing I remember most about the Ryder Cup, was seeing Skip Alexander on the driving range, hitting balls,'' said Harvie Ward, the famed amateur golfer who had just completed his collegiate career at UNC.  "He had to wear gloves because of the injuries he had in that terrible airplane crash and every five or 10 minutes he would take those gloves off and the skin would come off with them.''

Alexander's hands bled throughout the match with Panton, yet Alexander's win was the largest margin of victory of the day for the Americans.

"I never thought he would play again,'' said Sam Snead, when introducing him at the awards ceremony.

Alexander was the lone survivor of a Sept. 24, 1950, crash of a Civil Air Patrol plane near Evansville, Ind. He suffered serious burns on his legs, head and hands and a crushed ankle that eventually ended his professional golf career because he could no longer walk the course as he played.

In all, Alexander had 17 surgeries at Duke, including the removal of three knuckles and a procedure that permanently curved his left hand so he could hold a golf club.

He eventually became the head pro at Lakewood Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Florida, a course he played the day before he died on Oct. 24, 1997, at the age of 79. A member of the North Carolina Sports, Carolinas Golf and Duke halls of fame, Alexander is buried in Durham.

(Sports Illustrated published this story about Alexander this week.)