Hometown Hero

Like most golf fans, I’m an admirer of the big stars, guys like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. But one of my favorite players has always been Kenny Perry. Those with only a passing familiarity with the game might say, “Kenny who?” and indeed, he’s not a household name. But in an age when professional athletes too often make news for the wrong reasons, Kenny is a true hero, although he would surely resist that label.

Despite more than $26 million in career earnings and 12 tournament wins, Kenny Perry is as humble an athlete as you could ever meet. And his off-the-course deeds are as impressive as anything he’s accomplished with a golf club in his hands. He funded and built the first public golf course in his hometown of Franklin, Kentucky (located about 40 miles north of Nashville, Tennessee). He has been a tireless fundraiser for the local Boys and Girls Club in Franklin. He goes to church every Sunday when he’s not on tour and gives back to God generously. Plus, he donates 5 percent of his winnings to Lipscomb University, a Christian school in Nashville, as an ongoing fulfillment of a pledge he made to a friend who loaned him $5,000 when he was struggling to keep his PGA Tour playing privileges.

I first took note of Kenny when I learned he was from Franklin, for I too have family there and it’s always been one of my favorite places to visit. Franklin is a traditional small town, like something right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. By all accounts, Kenny is adored by the locals, and at the same time blends right in as one of them.

With the biennial Ryder Cup Matches being played a few hours to the north in Louisville this weekend, the spotlight will be on Perry, one of 12 players representing the U.S. team. Sports Illustrated this week did an eight-page feature story on Kenny and his life in Franklin. I loved what he had to say about keeping his word to his friend via the Lipscomb pledge, which is now approaching $1.5 million in contributions: “A deal’s a deal. … I’ve tried to honor that spirit of giving, but whatever I’ve given, I’ve gotten back tenfold. God’s shovel is a lot bigger mine.”

I met Kenny a few years ago when I was assigned to write a profile on him for the golf magazine I was working for. True to form, he made a similar statement about his stewardship of his riches: “Sure, I’ve made some money, but I believe it’s really God’s money and it’s been given to me with a responsibility to make sure I use it properly. God has put me in a situation where I can help people. I’ve had to work hard to get where I am, but too many neat things have happened in my life for it all to be coincidence, so I try to give Him the glory.”

Regardless of how Kenny Perry and the U.S. Ryder Cup team fare against the Europeans this weekend, he will remain a hero to those who appreciate traditional values.