The life story of Eddie Rack, a professional golfer whose family owns and operates 7 Springs Golf Course in Elizabeth Township, Allegheny County, and the Colony West Golf Course near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., contains all the ingredients of an all-American success.
Rack is Frank Merriwell, Horace Greeley, Tom Sawyer and Nick the Greek, with a touch of Donald Trump, all rolled into one. Rack's son-in-law, Bob Sherman, describes him as "lucky, lucky, lucky. And generous. If he wins, everybody wins, and that includes family and friends."
Rack was recently feted with a 90th-birthday celebration at the clubhouse of the local 18-hole course, off Route 51, he bought in 1955. He and his wife, Genevieve, finished out the evening by "dancing the night away," said a friend who attended the festivities.
The best part came when Rack got up to speak. He told the crowd he had prepared a long speech. He produced a long sheet of notes and smiled as he tore it up and spoke from the heart.
"I was 6 years old when I began caddying at the Youghiogheny Country Club to help my family face hard times," said the golf pro. "We had nothing in those days. My dad worked in the coal mines and invested in the gas boom. That didn't come to anything."
He earned the standard fee for caddying -- 15 cents for the first nine holes; 20 cents for 18. He gave all the money to his parents, who doled out a portion of his earnings to their hard-working son.
Laughing, Rack said, "I can still remember the guys who tipped 10 cents. There were the big tippers who gave you 20 cents, and then there was the golfer, a steamboat captain on the Monongahela River, who gave us a dollar tip. Naturally, he was the only one we all wanted."
Rack joined the McKeesport High School golf team. Tom Bennett, the pro at the Youghiogheny Country Club, helped him improve his game. "Bennett worked on my swing and checked my grip," Rack said. "Then he said, 'Laddy, if you hold that grip forever, your golf will improve for the rest of your life.' I took him at his word and it worked."
The Racks moved to McKeesport from an Illinois farm in 1919 because his father was desperate to find a well-paying job to support his family. The young Rack began playing in amateur golf championships at area golf courses.
"I actually thought of dropping out of high school to become a full-time caddy," he said. "But W.D. Mansfield, who owned the McKeesport Daily News and who was president of the First National Bank, talked me out of it. He told me if I finished high school, he would give me a job on his newspaper. I took him up on it."
He hired Rack as an apprentice printer and encouraged him to represent the newspaper in golf tournaments. Rack began winning.
"One of my mentors was Bill Sullivan, a member of the country club," Rack said. "He encouraged me to join the golf team at McKeesport High School, where he was the head golf coach. I played on the team with guys like Crawford Kelly, Peden Gamble, Aldo Zecchini, Adam Dabin and Dr. Caughey."
About this time, he met his future wife, a friend of his sister's. The couple recently celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. "He was really something," Genevieve said. "I was 17 and Eddie was 19. I was lucky to get him."
In 1951, Rack met Arnold Palmer right after the Latrobe golfer won the National Amateur Championship.
"Arnie was in the area to put on an exhibition to benefit the McKeesport Rotary Club," Rack said. "Since I was then the club champ and the representative from the Youghiogheny Country Club, they paired us together."
Rack impressed Palmer by shooting a 69, while Palmer could only manage a 71.
As they shook hands, Palmer grinned. "I'll get you, Rack," he said.
"Arnold Palmer is the best thing that ever happened to golf," Rack said. "Tiger Woods is the next best thing. Tiger is going great for young people and minorities, but it was Palmer who really started things off."
Rack said he was in the right place at the right time when he became owner of the 7 Springs Golf Course.
"Bill Sullivan was a real estate developer who loved to play golf," Rack said. "I got to know him as a caddy and when he told me he had some property he thought could be developed into a golf course, I became interested."
Rack and Sullivan laid out 18 holes and the club opened May 13,1955. Rack managed the course. When Sullivan decided to get married and move to Florida, he stunned Rack by asking him if he was interested in purchasing the course. Rack talked it over with his wife and his children, Eddie Jr., Norman and Janice, and they decided to make it a family operation.
Sullivan sold him the golf course for $240,000. Mansfield helped him to obtain the bank loan with one phone call. Rack's monthly payment was $330.
"That was how 7 Springs was started," Rack said. "Here I was, a poor kid from the other side of the tracks, and I owned a golf course. Pretty hard to believe, but it happened just like that."
Rack became involved in the Tri-State PGA, where he is now a member of its hall of fame, and served as tournament director for 10 years.
On one occasion, he contacted Ford Motor Co. and asked for help to sponsor a tournament. A top executive said, "Mr. Rack, if you can get three touring pros, we'll give you $10,000 in prize money."
Rack drove to Ohio, where Palmer was competing in the Cleveland Open. The golfer was so tickled, he walked off the fairway to see Rack.
"I told him what the Ford people had said and Palmer told his secretary, 'Check my touring dates,'" Rack said. "The dates were open and he agreed to play in our tournament. Two other pros were Dudley Wysong and Bobby Crukshank. We got the $10,000."
Probably the biggest coup came when Rack traveled to Tamarac, Fla., and played at the Colony West Country Club. "The club had about 100 members and they had committed themselves to building a $1 million clubhouse," Rack said. "Unfortunately for the membership, the deal didn't work out, and the club was headed for bankruptcy."
Rack made an offer: he would pay for the clubhouse and give each member $10,000 to buy the golf course, using 7 Springs as collateral.
"I wanted it for my grandchildren," he said. "My family was expanding and I wanted to make sure everybody had a job."
In January 1985, Rack became the owner of Colony West Country Club, rated by Golf Digest Magazine as one of the country's top 50 public golf courses. It's managed by Rack's son, Norm, who competed on the PGA tour.
Rack has also faced adversity.
In 1976, his stomach ached. A biopsy showed a malignant tumor in his liver. After a consultation with five top cancer specialists, they called in Rack and his family. A doctor told them the tumor was malignant and inoperable. They gave him six months to live.
The fighter in Rack came out and he began taking massive doses of vitamins. Another doctor and herbalist put him on a special diet that included organic eggs and fruits and whole milk. His wife made special meals.
"After 11 days, I upchucked everything and it came out black as coal," he said. "My weight had dropped from 200 to 150. I went back to my regular doctors and began taking shots of chemotherapy. They made me hot and dizzy but, amazingly, my strength began returning. The pain left me. After 21 chemo shots ... I had gone into remission. The cancer was gone. Know what the doctor told me⢠'Eddie, somebody is helping you a lot more than I am.'"
If golf hadn't beckoned, Rack said he would have "probably gone to work in a steel mill and retired at 65. I'd own my own home and that would be about it."
"That is why golf has been so important to me and my family," he said. "Just call me lucky."
