It didn't take long for teachers to project a career path for young Bill Walsh. Sister Mary Edward at St. Francis Grammar School in Metuchen, New Jersey, was the fi rst to conclude, "William, you'll make a wonderful priest". It was a refrain Bill heard

WHERE SHOULD WE HAVE STOPPED?

The Story of a Remarkable FamilyBy Fred Behringer

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 William T. Walsh
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-3231-7

Contents

1. A Wonderful Priest?..................................32. The Years at Villanova...............................63. Service in the Navy..................................84. Law Student Meets Model..............................115. How to Keep from Starving............................146. Plainfield to Philadelphia...........................177. Taking Time to Dance.................................258. Swimmin' Walsh Women.................................299. Booth Lane Memories..................................3410. A Letter to the Children............................4011. Bill Responds to 9-11...............................4712. Growing Up "Walsh"..................................4913. Barbara's "the Glue"................................5514. Eagles, Warriors and Wildcats.......................5715. Meet the Children...................................6016. Everyone Is Different...............................7917. Retreating to Malvern...............................8718. Bill and the Knights................................9319. Bill's View on Religion.............................9620. Loyalty to Villanova................................9821. "Service Above Self"................................10022. Thoughts from Friends...............................10523. The Walsh Open......................................11024. Golfing in Florida..................................11625. Special Mother's Day Gift...........................11826. Gentlemen in Red Blazers............................12027. Adventures in Ireland...............................12228. 50,000 Golf Balls and Counting......................12829. Augusta National – No 500.....................13130. The "Raiders" and the "Whites"......................13531. Business Organizations..............................14132. The American College................................14633. The J Wood Platt Trust..............................15134. A Leading Role with GAP.............................15535. Not Cheaper by the Dozen............................15836. A Very Enjoyable Dinner Partner.....................161

Chapter One

A Wonderful Priest?

William Thomas Walsh was born on March 23, 1922, to William Earl and Gladys French Walsh in Westfield, New Jersey, a small town of about 8,000 people about 25 miles southeast of New York City in Union County. For 10 years, the family lived in a three-bedroom house on West Dudley Avenue in what Bill describes as a "nice town that is still a class place today."

Because Holy Trinity Catholic School was a mile away, Bill and his younger sister, Joan, went to Roosevelt Grammar School for first and second grade. For third and fourth grade, they went to Holy Trinity. Then with a growing family, the Walshes moved to a seven-bedroom farmhouse on three acres in Metuchen, New Jersey (sisters Patricia and Sheila had arrived.) To Bill's ongoing consternation, two acres of the property contained grass that required constant mowing—and mowing was Bill's job, one that took all day, using a push mower or a gas mower that often stalled. Yet this labor resulted in an important lesson that carried through Bill's life: "My father said that's a big job when you start out, but if you just keep going around in those circles, you'll find that the circle becomes much smaller. You'll find that out about all jobs in life, that they look so big in the beginning, but if you just start out on them with the right attitude, you get to the point where it's a breeze to the end. And that's true in paperwork, in reading or anything like that. You get started, plunge in, and it becomes manageable."

Tackling another chore at home brought Bill to the brink of disaster when he attempted to paint the house without a ladder tall enough to reach the highest points. "I decided to put two step ladders together with a big board across them and then put a ladder on top of that. I got up on it and everything seemed fine, but when I stretched to reach one of the little eaves with a paintbrush, everything collapsed. I'm up three floors right under the roof, and I landed in an evergreen bush, so I was really fortunate. I could have killed myself, broken an arm, broken a leg, ruined my back, but God was taking care of me, I guess."

In Metuchen, Bill went to St. Francis Grammar School, where fifth and sixth grades formed one class, taught by Sister Mary Edward, who rarely smiled and kept order with a ruler. Bill's ever-present smiles and laughter caused the nun to label him a "wise-acre," but he did so well in his early tests that she quickly promoted him from fifth grade into sixth. "This was looked upon as an honor by the school and my parents," Bill recalls, "but it turned out to probably have hurt me. I became the youngest, smallest and most naïve person in the graduating class in eighth and 12th grades." In the eighth grade, he placed first in his class academically.

At five foot, two inches and 98 pounds entering St. Peter's High School in New Brunswick, Bill struggled to overcome his diminutive stature as he tried out for sports teams. He played football and baseball but missed the cut in basketball. A thrilling 7-0 victory in football over the New Brunswick High School freshmen stands out in his memory, as does a stop he made by driving a blocker into a ball carrier so forcefully that the runner was flipped into the air. "The cheers from the crowd were the most I ever had as a kid." The St. Peter's varsity coach told Bill, "We're waiting for you next year, Red," but Bill's father would not let him continue with football. He joined the boxing team, continued with baseball and worked at a bowling alley in New Brunswick, where he once recorded a score of 257.

More significantly for his future, Bill became a caddie at Metuchen Golf and Country Club and received a junior membership at the club as a birthday gift. He soon signaled a special aptitude for the game of golf, which he first played with his grandfather as a 10-year-old at Galloping Hill Golf Course. Showing his incredible memory of details from childhood on, Bill recalls scoring 68-64–132 for his first 18 holes. "My grandfather counted every stroke."

Caddies could play every Monday at Metuchen so Bill would play as many as 54 holes once a week. He convinced the principal at St. Peter's to let him skip the graduation ceremony to play the final match for the Metuchen Junior Club Championship, which he won on the 34th hole with an eagle.

Bill graduated in the top 10 of his high school class and impressed his senior homeroom teacher, who echoed Sister Mary Edward's feeling: "William, you'll make a wonderful priest."

Chapter Two

The Years at Villanova

In September 1939, Bill took his father's advice to get work experience before going to college, becoming an office boy at Milbank, Tweed, Hope & Webb, a large law firm in New York City. He earned $15 a week less 15 cents for Social Security. "Essentially we were gofers delivering large manila envelopes. If the delivery point was 23 blocks or more, we were given a nickel for the subway. Unless it was 40 blocks or more, some of us would keep the nickel and walk very fast or run so that we were back in normal time." As we'll learn, Bill resumed running long distances later in life. Lunch at the Horn and Hardart Automat was soup, chicken potpie and water for 25 cents, also presaging a habit of Bill's not to spend...