Cardinal

“What happened” I asked as opened my eyes and noticed that everything was blurry. I heard my mom begin to answer the question with sorrow in her voice. I prepared to hear something bad, but nothing on earth could have prepared for what my mother was about to say. “There was an accident on the way home from the golf course” she explained.  “Your father collided with a drunk driver. He didn’t make it.” I remember that night three years ago like it was last night.  I don’t remember anything about the accident but I remember what happened before it and the brief conversation I had with my mother that changed my life forever.

                I was practically a celebrity at the age of 15 in Denver and people were always telling me I was a golf prodigy. My father and went to the golf course that Saturday and stayed a little longer than usual because there was a storm coming the next day and I wouldn’t be able to practice. My dad was especially pleased with my performance that day and he decided to tell me his aspirations for me as a golfer. He explained how he grew up near Stanford University’s golf course and dreamed that he could someday play there, but he was forced to give up playing before he had the chance. He told me that he would really like for me to keep my grades up and keep working hard at golf so that one day I might have a chance to play there  That was the last conversation my dad and I had before the collision.

                One month later, I was lying in my bed with a broken wrist from the accident. I looked around and saw all of the golf posters on the walls and full trophy case in the corner. I thought of my dad, about that night, and about what he had told me. “Stanford” I said to myself. I decided then that I would do everything I could to make my father’s dream come true. I talked to my mother the next morning and shared with her everything that happened before the accident for the first time. I then asked her if we could move somewhere with a climate that would be better suited for golfing. After much discussion and debate, we decided that would move to Austin, the capitol of Texas.

                In Austin, I quickly rose to the tops of the local golf ranks and soon after that the state ranks. Since Texas was a much more competitive golf state, I was quickly receiving a lot of attention from colleges all over the nation. Florida, Oklahoma State, Texas, Syracuse, they all wanted me but wasn’t interested in them. I was waiting for Stanford but for some reason I hadn’t heard anything from them.  I decided that if they weren’t coming to me, then I’d go to them. So my mother and I packed our bags for Palo Alto, California, home of the Stanford Cardinal. They hosted a tournament every year to make sure they weren’t missing out on any big recruits. I won that tournament and shortly the award ceremony I was approached by a man with a red S on his chest. He introduced himself as the head golf coach and simply said “how’d you like to be a Cardinal.”

                My dad would have been so proud of me that day. All of my hard work and commitment toward the sport was for him. I fulfilled his dream and joined the Stanford golf tem the next year. Now every time I’m on that same golf course he grew up by, I’m playing for him.