By ERIC SODERSTROM
Assistant EditorAlex Reinecke dug his work boots into the rough, preparing to hit his third shot at Kinsley Country Club’s par-5 fifth hole during the May 10 Kinsley (Kan.) High School Invitational. Reinecke had pounded his second shot over the green, whereupon he turned to his coach, Ron Roe, and said: “Man, these things really go.”
He was referring to a new set of clubs, fresh out of the box that afternoon. And Reinecke was wearing boots because they were all he escaped with after his home was destroyed by a May 4 tornado that leveled Greensburg, Kan.
Roe, the Greensburg High coach, had pulled his team off a course in Coldwater after only 12 holes that afternoon, figuring the huge, dark cloud to the south was enough reason to get home fast.
The category F-5 twister that hit a few hours later – 1.7 miles wide, with winds that reached 205 mph – killed 11 people. It flattened the homes of Roe, Reinecke and four teammates, along with an estimated 95 percent of a town that 1,400 residents still refer to as home.
“I’m not trying to be self-centered or anything,” said Reinecke, 18, a Greensburg High senior who also plays football, “but I was a good kid before this happened, and it’s just made me better. That’s all there is to it.”
Tim Hacker, a teaching professional based in Alpharetta, Ga., graduated from Greensburg High in 1983. He was driving to Atlanta around 5 a.m. May 5 to do a radio show when he first heard the news.
“We really didn’t do much the rest of the weekend besides watch television,” said Hacker, who learned through one broadcast that Greensburg’s golf team had won five consecutive tournaments before the storm and intended to finish its season, despite damaged and missing clubs, and the collective trauma of losing homes and other possessions. The Rangers’ next tournament was the following Thursday.
Hacker picked up the phone. He made a lot of calls, but he didn’t hit the jackpot until he connected with John Utley, the brother of former PGA Tour winner and short-game teacher Stan Utley, a Titleist staff member and also a good friend of Hacker.
Stan Utley got off a red-eye flight Tuesday morning as scheduled and headed to The Players at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. There he ran into friend Mac Fritz, Titleist’s vice president of leadership promotion, which led to an impromptu meeting that included Titleist vice president Peter Broome and Scotty Cameron.
It wasn’t long before Fritz had called in a “Tour priority order.” Six sets of 735 model irons, six 905R drivers, six 906F 3-woods, six Vokey 56-degree wedges, six Scotty Cameron putters, six carry bags, 12 dozen Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls and a dozen hats were headed to southern Kansas. Everything was in stock except the driver and 3-wood for the team’s only lefty, Logan Waters. Fritz, also left-handed, had those built especially by Titleist’s Tour department.
“It hit home when I asked for a shipping address and we had to ship it to one of the high school coaches (Marshall Ballard) who lived 65 miles away,” said Fritz, who also had gathered the players’ equipment specs.
“It’s just amazing that it worked out,” Hacker said, “because I couldn’t fathom that anybody could do what what we needed done that quick. “The whole town, golf is their big thing right now.”
Roe, Reinecke, Waters, Justin Brokar, Devin Bundy and Brenden Jentz were standing in front of the remains of Greensburg High on Thursday when Ballard arrived in his pickup truck with a bed full of Titleist boxes. Ballard had driven 90 miles to meet a FedEx driver in Hutchinson. He arrived back in Greensburg about 11:20 a.m., 10 minutes before the team had to leave for its tournament in Kinsley.
“It was just like watching little kids on Christmas morning. They were wide-eyed, just like ‘wowed’ about the whole thing,” Roe said.
Greensburg defeated reigning Class 1A champion Quivira Heights by four shots, led by sophomore Andrew Seiler’s 78 and Reinecke’s 80.
Some Greensburg players were wearing jeans (new golf apparel has since been donated thanks to Nike and the PGA of America), while others still were removing plastic from their clubs during the round.
“There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to win it,” said Reinecke, whose team took a six-match victory streak into regional playoffs. “We had to. I mean there was really no choice after something disastrous like that. If we came out and had a terrible performance, what would that say about us?”
• • •
Eric Soderstrom is a
Golfweek assistant editor. To reach him e-mail
esoderstrom@golfweek.com.
Posted: 5/14/2007
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