All good things must come to an end.
Jamie Farr is just glad the LPGA tournament that bore his name has not.
A decade now after the event he famously hosted for 28 years was rebranded, the beloved Toledo native expressed no hard feelings — only pride that the big-league golf showcase he helped bring to his hometown continues its fine work.
“From everything I understand, it’s still collecting quite a bit of money for all the children’s charities,” the 89-year-old Farr said by phone from his house just outside Los Angeles. “For a kid like myself growing up on the north end of Toledo from a working-class family, coming back to help all those kids like I remember from the neighborhood was such a big honor and a thrill.
“What a nice treasure to leave behind.”
Hear, hear.
As we once more welcome the best women’s golfers on the planet to Highland Meadows for what is now the Dana LPGA Open, the event is the treasure that keeps on giving.
It endures as a civic highlight of the summer and a tribute to the good our community can do when — in Farr’s own inimitable spirit — it comes together for a little fun.
All told, the tournament has distributed more than $13 million to 215 area children’s charities since its inception, along with $1.2 million to 115 college-bound students through the Jamie Farr Scholarship Fund, which carries on.
“I’m absolutely elated,” Farr said.
Of course, he must admit, he misses his annual summer homecoming, just as we all miss seeing him.
Not long ago, it would have been impossible to imagine the Jamie Farr Classic — as the tournament was known in one form or another from its debut in 1984 through 2012 — without its namesake.
From the moment Farr teamed with an enterprising young caddie on the PGA Tour named Judd Silverman to bring an LPGA tournament to their city, he did not just lend his name to the event.
He was all in.
Near the height of his fame after 11 seasons as Cpl. Maxwell Klinger on M*A*S*H, he called on Hollywood friends for cameos and starred himself.
His tournament week schedule came to feature three rounds of pro-am scrambles, a celebrity golf event, awards luncheons, sponsor dinners, the big gala, thousands of autographs, and, by the way, the tournament itself.
And he did it all with a smile.
“We knew all the players, and I loved them,” Farr said. “There wasn’t a bad one in the whole gang. ... They were all dear friends. Nancy Lopez. Juli Inkster, Annika Sorenstam, Michele Wie, everybody was just terrific.
“I know it was professional and it was for money and people wanted to win, but it was really so much fun. The ladies loved coming to the city, and of course the crowds just loved all of it. That’s what was so great. The city became a family.”
Speaking of which ...
Farr laughed as he recalled how that family would celebrate his July 1 birthday, which often fell during tournament week.
“One time, I’m ready to tee off in a pro-am, big crowd there, and who comes out of the clubhouse but Nancy Lopez, Dottie Pepper, Beth Daniel, and Juli Inkster,” Farr said. “Before I could hit the ball, they sprayed it with whipped cream and put a lighted candle in it and sang happy birthday while I teed off. I have no idea where that golf ball went. I’m sure it was sideways!”
He stepped aside at what he calls just the right time.
By his final year as host in 2012, Farr was slowing and the tournament was screeching.
As the LPGA Tour began to emerge from the wreckage left behind by former commissioner Carolyn Bivens — whose overthrow was plotted in Toledo in 2009 — it appeared the Farr might not make it.
Already without a title benefactor, the tourney was blindsided when Kroger informed the board of directors it would not return as a presenting sponsor in 2013.
The Farr needed a white knight and, thankfully, Marathon Petroleum was it, riding in with a long-term commitment north of $1 million per year.
There was just one catch.
The tournament would be called the Marathon Classic. The Farr was no more, as was an era.
Did the change to a corporate name hurt? “Well, yeah,” Farr said.
But he also got it.
While celebrity hosts were once common on the PGA and LPGA circuits — there was a time two Toledoans had their name on tournaments, if you recall the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic — the Farr was the last of its kind.
Tournaments needed big-money title sponsors, and, understandably, those companies wanted their names on them.
“Marathon put a heck of a lot of money in,” Farr said. “They don’t need any competition.”
Above all, the fan of all things Toledo — “I still follow the Rockets’ football games when they’re on the air,” the former Blade delivery boy said excitedly — is just delighted its golf treasure remains standing, proud of what he helped start and, fortunately, not finish.
As long as he remains in good health, Farr even left open the wonderful possibility he could return for the 40th anniversary of the tournament next summer.
“Jamie was an incredible tournament host and that foundation remains today,” said Silverman, the longtime tournament director. “Just the support the tournament has received over the years from the ... whole community, we wouldn't still be going without Jamie’s help and support from day one. We’ll always be grateful.”
We all will be.
First Published July 9, 2023, 3:00 p.m.
