What is a Patriot? Better yet what does it take to be a Patriot? When I look up the definition of a Patriot here is what I get, “a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors”.  I will tell you, looking at the definition doesn’t really help me determine what it takes to be a Patriot. I have known a few Vietnam Veterans. I think those guys I knew that served in that war were Patriots, they answered their countries call. Most did not volunteer, most were drafted but that doesn’t mean their sacrifice means less. I have friends that lost family members in Vietnam. I have seen the look in a mother’s eye as she talked about her lost child. Part of being a Patriot and Patriotism in general is the sacrifice that is made for one’s country. Being a Patriot is not about being famous. Audi Murphy, the most decorated soldier during World War II was a Patriot before he was a famous movie star. John F Kennedy who served in the Navy in World War II was a Patriot before he became our 35^th President of the United States. Many famous people have become famous because they were first Patriots. My point is being famous is not a Patriotic act. Patriotism is sometimes the act that make people famous. Not all Patriots are famous. In fact most of our Patriots you have never heard of. Their names may be engraved on a wall or may be buried in some National Cemetery but to the general public their sacrifice is pretty much an unknown.

What made me think of Patriotism was watching the Masters Golf Tournament on TV and seeing the Network interview Jack Nicklaus. At one time Nicklaus was one of my heroes. I had watched him grow from that chubby kid to a global ambassador of golf. Barbara and Jack Nicklaus founded the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation in 2004. Their website states that “As young parents they pledged to each other that if they were ever in a position to help others, they wanted to help children”. That is a positive statement to a positive cause. I thought that until he endorsed Trump for President.  I hadn’t watched the Masters since Nicklaus put out that letter endorsing Donald Trump for President in 2020. In his letter he praised Donald Trump as being a great Patriot and a person that loved his country. Here’s Nicklaus. a man I admired, voicing support for a man that separated children from their parents. That is right. This “Pro Children” and “Pro Family” man wrote a letter trying to convince other people to support a man that separated children from their parents. He wrote a letter supporting a man that because of his gross incompetence lead to the death of many people that needn’t have died from Covid, unnecessarily including children. He called a man that refused to answer the call in the 60s that other men answered, a great Patriot. It changed my opinion of Jack Nicklaus forever. I really don’t care that Nicklaus voted for Trump. Voting is a personal choice and a lot of people keep it personal. I care about that fact that he would try and convince others to vote for Trump where on paper you would think that Trump would not be the type of person a family man and a supporter of children’s health would want to be associated with.

I think that too many of us, including me, like to transform our sports heroes into “Great Patriots”. Just because someone can hit a baseball or swing a golf club does not make them a “Patriot”. The Masters, World Series, or Super Bowl are not “Patriotic Events”. Neither is the Ryder Cup or even the Olympics. They are all just “Sporting Events”. Nobody dies in these events and everyone live to compete another day. The winners get rich in some cases and, in some cases so do the losers. America in not any stronger no matter how many medals we win at the Olympics or how far we go in the World Cup. I am not saying that “Sports Figures” can’t be “Heroes” some do, some like Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman left the Arizona Cardinals to join up and defend our nation after 9/11. He was killed in Afghanistan while serving in the Army. He was killed by friendly fire but that does not make him less of a “Patriot”.  He left a very lucrative football career to stand up for his country. To me that is a real “Patriot”. I wish he would have lived so we could have seen what makes a real “Patriot”. Ted Williams one of the greatest Baseball Players of all time served not only in WWll but also in the Korean War. Ted Williams is not alone many from our sports world stood up and were counted.

One that did not stand up and get counted was Jack Nicklaus. I won’t say that he was a coward that ran away from the fight. What Jack Nicklaus got was a 1-Y classification for the draft which allowed him to focus on his golf career and continue to represent his country on the international level. I am not saying that was wrong and I probably would have wanted the same thing but while others served and some died Jack Nicklaus was home perfecting his golf swing that made him rich. His net worth in now between 440 million to 1 billion dollars depending which publication you read. I will say that the closest that Jack Nicklaus got to Vietnam is designing a golf course there. Jack was not alone, as other exceptional athletes of the time received similar deferments. Funny how Jack Nicklaus got a deferment but one of the greatest Black Athletes of the time did not. That Athlete was probably the greatest Athlete of that generation, Mohamed Ali, got drafted, he resisted and went to jail.

I am not saying that Jack Nicklaus is a bad person. It is written that he is a strong supporter of the military and I don’t doubt that. It just rubs me the wrong way with the fact he called a man that got five medical deferments claiming bone spurs so he didn’t have a serve, a great “Patriot”. He called a man that put the nation’s economy before the health of the nation’s people with many died needlessly.  I would bet that some died in Jack Nicklaus hospitals. If Trump was such a great American why did he try and burn our Constitution? When questions about it at the Masters came up he said that he was there to talk about golf and wouldn’t address the issue. At that point I turned the channel and stopped watching the Masters.