Cassadaga resident Art Asquith played golf with several sports legends during a pro-am tournament in Jamesburg, N.J., in 1982. Pictured, from left, are Willie Mays, Brooks Robinson, Gordie Howe, Asquith, Johnny Unitas and Joe DiMaggio. Photo courtesy of the Chatauqua Sports Hall of Fame.
On a wall at the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame on West Third Street in Jamestown, framed color photos of six golfers who competed in the 1982 pro-am tournament in Jamesburg, N.J., are displayed.
In the middle of the group is Art Asquith.
More than 40 years later, the 2010 CSHOF elect still remembers that day fondly.
Why wouldn’t they?
His “friends” in the photo do not need to be identified.
Left to right: Willie Mays, Brooks Robinson, Gordie Howe, Johnny Unitas, Joe DiMaggio.
All are Hall of Fame players.
Mays in particular has been on the former Cassadaga Valley Central School teacher and coach’s mind a lot in recent days. Perhaps the greatest player in major league history, the “Say Hey Kid,” died Tuesday at age 93.
“He was one of the best players ever,” Asquith said. “The great thing about Willie Mays was he never tried to make himself out to be better than anyone else. He was easy to talk to. Obviously he had great talent, and of course it showed when he was playing.”
Mr Asquith, 95, said he “cannot remember much” about how Mays and his comrades performed on the golf course all those years ago, but acknowledged they were “better than the average person”.
There was very little that was “normal” in Asquith’s life.
He was teammates with Bobby Richardson while playing for the New York Yankees affiliate Olean and played against fellow Hall of Famer Ernie Banks while stationed in Germany during the Korean War. It’s been quite a journey for the Little Valley native, with a decades-long career as a teacher and coach at CVCS (the school’s gymnasium is named after him), a role as an executive officer in the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association and founder of the area’s senior golf tour that now bears his name, a membership with the National Ski Patrol and induction into the Western New York Baseball, CVCS District and Grapebelt Sports Halls of Fame.
But that summer day in central New Jersey 42 years ago also holds an important place in Asquith’s illustrious career.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “I felt really lucky to be there and to play with all those guys. It was a great experience. Everybody was fun to be around. … I just fit in right away and it was fun.”
