Besides his record and character, Bobby
Jones's greatest legacy is the Augusta National Golf Club and the
Masters Tournament, which he founded in 1934. He played in the
tournament several times, never finishing better than 13th. In
1948, he developed syringomyelia, a fluid-filled cavity in his spinal
cord causing first pain, then paralysis. Jones never played golf
again, and was eventually restricted to a wheelchair until his death on
Dec. 18, 1971.
As golf historian Herbert Warren Wind wrote, "As a young man he
was able to stand up to just about the best that life can offer, which
isn't easy, and later he stood up with equal grace to just about the
worst." The USGA's award for distinguished
sportsmanship is the Bob Jones Award. "What Jones did was create a model
that everyone, consciously or unconsciously, followed," said William
Campbell, "It is why we have so many fine people in golf. He showed the
world how to do it." Jones
was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. This is a photo of Jones in 1922, before
he won his first major tournament. To read about his breakthrough
in the U.S. Open the next year at Inwood, New York,
click here.