This column happened completely by accident.
Like when one of my drives actually goes straight down the fairway.
I’m not a golfer but a close friend from college asked me to join his foursome in the 10th annual Kirk GibsonGolf Classic.
Wait. You’re gonna pay for my golf? Um, OK. Sure. I’m in.
And I didn’t plan to write about it but I have to. Because it turned into such an amazing day and it revealed so much about folks who are so famous they need only one name: Gibby and Tram and Izzo and Megatron.
“Kirk Gibson's a fighter,” Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo said. “I mean, to me, he looks great. JoAnn (Gibby’s wife), you've done good. Because getting him to look great is not an easy task, I'm sure.”
Bam! It was a charity golf outing, folks.
There’s gotta be some friendly, good-natured trash talk and ribbing. “I don't have to be here,” Izzo said, addressing a couple hundred golfers at Wyndgate Country Club in Rochester Hills on Monday, Aug.17, an event that has raised more than $2.4 million over the past 10 years. “I get to be here. I get to do this.”
Then, Izzo went on a soliloquy that offered depth and perspective about teammates and loyalty. “One of many reasons I come here is the loyalty, the loyalty that this man has brought to the table,” Izzo said about Gibson. “I saw Calvin Johnson here. I saw Mark Hollis, my former AD. You know all the great Tigers that are here. These are people that still have loyalty. His football gang from Michigan State is here.”
About 20 of Gibson's former teammates showed up. “Continue to donate,” Izzo urged the golfers. “Continue to help. Continue to be here and continue to appreciate what (Gibson) brings to the table. It's called loyalty. It's called culture, and it's disappearing in sports a little bit right now with some of the changes. It ain't disappearing up the road with me, and it's definitely not disappearing with the guy behind me. So, Gibby, thank you, love you.”
Then, Gibson addressed the golfers. “This will be a great day,” Gibson said. “We'll take the funds, and I promise you that we will do good things and make you proud. If we don't, you come up and we'll get into a little tussle, and we'll move on. I got one more left in me.”
Yes, he has one more fight in him.
Against Parkinson’s.
A great event for a great cause
This event was special to me because I believe so strongly in this cause.
Last winter, I spent several weeks at the Kirk Gibson Center for Parkinson’s Wellness, going to classes, talking to the staff and meeting people with Parkinson’s who had joined the center. I gotta say one thing: It’s a magical place. If you know someone with Parkinson’s, or if you are dealing with it yourself, I urge you to just check it out.
Because it doesn’t feel like a place. It’s a team. A place where strangers start cheering for each other, helping each other and become teammates.
In my mind, this center is Gibson’s greatest legacy. Not flying around the football field at MSU. Not helping the Tigers win the 1984 World Series. Not hitting a homer off one leg for the Los Angeles Dodgers. No, it’s how he has put together an amazing team that has created this incredible place that is helping more than 1,000 people in Michigan. And it’s all free.
But it keeps growing. Because the need is so great.
So, Gibson is trying to make it even better.
“The way we want to approach it from here is, we want to double down,” Gibson said.
Ho hum, there's Calvin Johnson
My friends and I hit some balls to warm up and then went to the putting green. After a few minutes, former Lions great Calvin Johnson walked up and started putting a few feet away.
Yes, he moves just as smooth on a putting green as he did at Ford Field. Everybody started doing one thing: trying to act like they weren’t watching Johnson’s every move. Then, something dawned on me. That type of fame must be wild. Everybody watching your every move for the rest of your life. Everybody wanting to talk football. All the time. But that kind of fame also brings something else: the ability to make a difference. To show up and help others. And here were these sports heroes, all showing up for Gibson. Guys like Johnson and USA Hockey gold medalist Zach Werenski.
It was so freakin’ cool.
“I’m horrible at golf,” I said to Trammell.
“Me too,” he said, lamenting the fact that golf balls are stationary. “I’d be so much better if they would move.”
I introduced Gibson to one of my friends, whose father has Parkinson’s.
“Has he been to the center?” Gibson asked.
“No, he’s in Florida,” my friend replied.
Gibson invited him, whenever he returned to Michigan. Gibson is on a mission to help as many people as possible. “I've never met anybody like him,” Trammell said. “He's the toughest son of a gun that I've ever met.”
Raising thousands to help others
After the golf, there was a dinner in the clubhouse, and that’s when things got even more interesting.
Three signed jerseys were displayed behind the podium: Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams' jersey was between that of Tigers rookies Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle. And if you wondered who are the new faces of sports in Detroit, that was a giant clue. The crowd went wild bidding on a signed McGonigle jersey – it’s clear he already has a special place in the sports scene in the Motor City.
Then again, they raised thousands, selling a Tigers suite, which included a visit with former Tiger pitcher Dave Rozema, Gibson’s brother-in-law. As the bidding continued, Rozema waved his arms wildly, trying to get the bid to increase. And when Trammell won the raffle, he donated the money back to Gibson.
“I love the man and go back a long, long way,” Trammell said. “I don't want to come to tears because he doesn't want that. But I'm proud of him. I really am. How far he's come in all these years.”
Gibby is just getting started
“The center has changed so much since you were there,” Gibson said to me. “You gotta come back."
Earlier this month, the center opened a new, multipurpose gymnasium thanks to a $1 million gift from the Daniel J. Loepp Family Foundation, which is based in Detroit “We got a seven-figure donation last week,” Gibson said. “It felt great. Somebody stood up and believed in our cause.”
But he’s not satisfied. All of this is fuel for him. As he said, he’s doubling down. And only a fool would get in his way. Because Gibson is still that same guy, living on full throttle, flying around the bases. Hair flowing. Cleats digging. Charging through life. Doing everything to try to help his teammates.
Only this time, against this evil opponent, with thousands of teammates across Michigan who have Parkinson's, this game is far more important.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: I saw something awesome with Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammel and Tom Izzo
