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Brown Bagging It with The Babe
A neighborhood bicycle ride leads to a memorable encounter for a young
Denver boy. By Scott Gardner
POWER COUPLE: Ben Hogan and Babe Zaharias congratulate each other at the World Championship Golf Tourney at Tam O’Shanter Country Club, near Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 12, 1951. A year earlier, following a victory in the Women’s Western Open, Zaharias invited 14-year-old Jerry Karsh of Denver to Park Hill to join the duo for a round of golf.
IF YOU’RE LIKE me, you’ve probably played golf by yourself, late on a summer evening. Your score stinks and the thought of penciling in another double bogey on your mustard-stained scorecard has as much appeal as fishing out a carp from the lake—where you chunked your second shot moments ago—and having it for dinner. But on the next tee, you pluck two worn balls from the bag and for the remainder of the round it’s match play—you versus Ben Hogan for the U.S. Open. This begs the question—what would you give to play with the greatest golfers of your generation? Well, if you’re longtime Denver native Jerry Karsh, the answer can fit into a small paper bag. Karsh, now 85, is a modern-day renaissance man, who’s enjoyed career success in both Hollywood and Denver in the entertainment biz, as a television production-coordinator and producer-director. If you’re a cinephile, you may have seen his Hollywood work in a “A Walk on The Wild Side,” or “The Bird Man of Alcatraz.” Locally, Karsh was instrumental in getting KRMA Channel 6 off the ground in the mid 1950s, and later in the decade, worked at KUSA Channel 9, producing local children’s programing, such as “Fred & Fae” and “Sheriff Scotty.” Karsh also
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spent time in the early ’60s as Assistant Controller of the Grinberg Film library, then the largest of its kind in the world. Not bad for someone who started his television career at Channel 9 working as the night shift janitor, before going on to earn his Radio and Television Communications degree from the University of Denver. Currently, Karsh is founder and PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE COLORADO GOLF ASSOCIATION President of Karsh Forensic Consulting, which has been involved in valuing business and personal assets for some of the highest profile divorce and corporate acquisition cases in the country. Interviewing Karsh at his Aurora office overlooking the Rockies to the west, it didn’t take long to realize that from an early age, he wasn’t afraid to take a chance—which more often than not, landed him in the right place at the right time—a trait passed down from his paternal grandfather who barely escaped the Russian pogrom against the Jews back in 1887, before emigrating to the United States. On a warm summer day back in 1943, the then-seven-year-old Karsh was exploring his Park Hill neighborhood on his bicycle. Racing his vintage Schwinn down Dahlia street, he came upon the curious sight of a full-grown woman, wearing a long dress, out in her front yard swinging a golf club. Unfamiliar with the game, Karsh skidded to a stop STAY HUNGRY: Babe Zaharias sinks a putt during the 1950 Western Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club. As a 14-year-old, Jerry Karsh of Denver attended the tournament—and ended up sharing his sack lunch with the legendary golfer. to observe. “She was not just fool- When he returned home that day, Karsh said he told his mother, “I’m hungry, Babe ate my lunch!” ing around, but really swinging the club!” he remembered. She eventually stopped to dab the perspiration from her brow When a sunburned and tired Karsh arrived Later that evening, when again Karsh was and noticed the curious lad. She asked Karsh if back home that evening, his mother called out to head-deep in the refrigerator, his mother asked he played golf and after shaking his head no, he him, asking how the tournament went. Standing him how his round with the Babe went. peddled off, leaving the words “My name’s Babe” up from the open refrigerator door, Karsh replied He responded, “Babe and Louise didn’t fading away behind him. “I’m hungry; Babe ate my lunch!” speak to each other and Ben only said ‘hello,’ Fast forward to the 1950 Women’s Western A month after Babe’s victory at Cherry Hills, before we teed off and ‘nice to play with you, son’ Open, contested at Cherry Hills Country Club. Karsh arrived home from his daily bike ride to after the round.” Babe Zaharias, voted the Greatest Female Ath- find his mother waiting. She said that Babe was “That’s it?” she asked. lete of the First Half of the Twentieth Century, looking for him. Karsh thought maybe she wanted “Oh, and Babe told me that I stand far from was battling Peggy Kirk in the match-play final. him to caddie for her, which he had done once or the ball!” The match made its way to the sixth green, where twice in the past. He laid his bike up against the So much for a glamorous round with golf then-fourteen-year-old Karsh sat cross-legged, garage door and scrambled into the family car. His superstars. The official reason why Karsh was inwatching along with a hundred or so other patrons. mother dropped him off in the parking lot of the vited to join that illustrious threesome that day at After lining up her putt on the green, Zaharias now-shuttered Park Hill golf course at 35th and Park Hill was on account of his birthday; however, noticed Karsh, who had a sack lunch perched in Colorado Blvd. my theory lies in the age-old adage that there are his lap. She strolled over to say hello. Waiting for him was Babe, wearing her no “free lunches” in life, and that the Babe was “I see you’ve come prepared,” she said, customary long dress and holding the bag of simply paying Karsh back for the sack lunch he smiling. Zaharias, who hadn’t had time for break- clubs she had collected for Karsh over the years. provided her at Cherry Hills. fast, was hungry. In fact, when she putted on the She asked Karsh if he wanted to play golf with But if there’s a moral to this story, it’s got previous greens, the hushed gallery could hear her Louise Suggs, Ben Hogan and herself to celebrate to be that if you see an athletic-looking woman stomach gurgle. For the next several holes, Karsh his recent birthday. Suggs, an eleven-time major practicing her golf swing out in her front yard, stop sacrificed the contents of his lunch for the greater champion and fierce rival of Zaharias’ on the and say hello, but be careful—she might just end good of the game. First the sandwich, then the LPGA, was in Denver discussing the formation up “eating your lunch.” potato chips. “She even ate my banana,” Karsh of the LPGA tour with Zaharias. Hogan, making remembered with a smile. Zaharias, however a rare appearance in the Mile High City, was Scott Gardner, a contributing writer for Colorado didn’t slip on the peel, as she went on to win that joining Zaharias in a charity event for children the AvidGolfer, lives in Aurora and blissfully grew up championship match by a 3 & 2 margin. following day. playing and caddying at Lakewood Country Club.
