Xavier Nation Magazine Feature: Tee It Up

Brian McCants, hired last July as Xavier's new golf coach, is a great storyteller. Xavier Nation asked him to share a few of his more entertaining tales.

BASEBALL TALK

"I've been a Cubs fan since the summer of 1982, when I was 11. I was an Atlanta Braves fan until then, like my entire neighborhood. Every summer my family would visit my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins in Southern Illinois for at least three weeks. In the summer of 1982, I flew there by myself and spent six weeks. That's when I started paying attention to Cubs games on WGN with Harry Caray. Each afternoon, my grandparents and I would watch the games on WGN; Harry made the games so much fun. When I got back home, I announced to my friends that I no longer liked the Braves; I was now a Cubs fan. I've never looked back. My grandparents were the first people I thought of when the Cubs advanced to the World Series and then won against the Indians. I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that my grandmother lived to 94 and my grandfather 92, and they both died the year the Cubs won the World Series and didn't get to see them win."

BASKETBALL TALK

"Also when I was 11, I got to see North Carolina play basketball in person for the first time, in February 1983. Back then, Carolina would play at least one game a season at the Greensboro [North Carolina] Coliseum. It was impossible for regular folks like me and my dad to get tickets to Carolina's home gym, Carmichael Auditorium. Games in Greensboro gave us a fighting chance. As luck would have it, the Georgia Tech game that my dad and I went to happened to be the game that Michael Jordan had his UNC career-best 39 points. Like every other kid, I wanted to go to school that next Monday and say that I got MJ's autograph. I was standing in line getting Sam Perkins's autograph when I noticed MJ heading for the busses. Perkins was closer, so I get his autograph and then go around the back side of the bus that MJ is getting on. I have my pen and program in my outstretched arms and catch Jordan as he has one foot on the bus and one on the ground. He looks at me and says, 'Sorry kid, no more autographs today.' Since that day, I've maintained that the only autograph I'll get is Michael Jordan's. He loves golf, so perhaps our paths will cross; if they do I'll tell this story to him and ask him for his picture and signature."

MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

"Pinehurst, North Carolina, is the place for me. On top of my memories caddying there and playing too many rounds to count in the Pinehurst area, I proposed to my wife on the bench behind the first tee of Course No. 2. The bench is still there, because I saw it on television in 2014 when the U.S. Open returned to Pinehurst. My wife was an avid golfer, too. She had an accomplished career in junior golf and went on to play at Yale University. I thought proposing to her at a golf course was the perfect place—and for me, there was no other place to do it than Pinehurst. I remembered that bench behind the first tee at No. 2 and made arrangements for us to spend a weekend at Pinehurst in November 2009. She and I were both coaching at Newberry College back then—that's how we met—so we drove up to Pinehurst that weekend. By the time we got to the course, the sun was setting. So I kind of hurried up and led her over to the bench behind the first tee. I got down on one knee and started my proposal speech. To hear Lauren tell it, she says all she heard me say was: 'As the first hole begins the journey of that day's round, so does this ring begin the journey of our lives together.' After that, it was blah blah blah."

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Xavier Nation Magazine Feature: Tee It Up

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