Fred Couples earned lifetime achievement award, Jim Nantz came to the rescue with speech
Fred Couples earned lifetime achievement award, Jim Nantz came to the rescue with speech
Fred Couples still possesses one of the silkiest swings and can make a golf ball yo-yo next to the flag practically on command. But making speeches in front of a roomful of people? Not his thing.
'I'm very shy,' Couples told the Seattle Times ahead of receiving a lifetime achievement award on Thursday from the Seattle Sports Commission at the Seattle Convention Center Summit building. 'There's going to be 1,200 people here, and that's a lot to try and impress.'
The 65-year-old Couples, winner of 15 PGA Tour titles, including the 1992 Masters, and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, got off the hook as organizers invited CBS's Jim Nantz to turn Couples's acceptance into a fireside chat of sorts between two old friends.
'There's no speech, this is chit chatting," Couples said before receiving the Royal Brougham Sports Legend Award. "All I gotta do is listen to him and say, yeah, you're correct.'
Nantz flew into the Emerald City to be by his former college roommate's side for his latest award (as did another teammate, longtime swing instructor Paul Marchand). Nantz and Couples famously met at the University of Houston in 1977. It was 'never going to be anything other than I will be there,' Nantz told the Seattle Times.
'This means a lot to him,' said Nantz, who also introduced Couples when he entered the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. 'He was so proud to be a Beacon Hill kid raised right in the shadows of downtown.'
Couples is this year's recipient of the Royal Brougham Sports Legend Award, which is given to an individual for a lifetime of achievement in sports and who exemplifies the spirit of sports in Washington state. Previous winners of this award include Ken Griffey Jr., Sue Bird, Gary Payton, Warren Moon and Elgin Baylor.
'Seattle is always on my mind,' said Couples. 'I'm a Seattle kid at heart. I think every one of my friends on the PGA Tour know that.'
Couples honed his game as a Seattle teenager at O'Dea High School and Jefferson Park Municipal. He won numerous local titles while still an amateur, including both the Washington Men's Amateur and Washington Open in 1978. He was a two-time college All-American before turning pro in 1980. He was named the PGA Tour's Player of the Year in 1984 and 1996. He's still active on PGA Tour Champions.
'I think he is without question one of the most beloved figures in the history of the game,' Nantz said of Couples. 'And I think you could build a case tonight where he is the most famous athlete ever to come out of Seattle."
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