R.I.P. Kaye Kessler

Longtime sports writer Kaye Kessler, who met and covered the career of Jack Nicklaus earlier than anyone, has passed away eleven days shy of his 99th birthday.

Four years ago Gary Van Sickle filed this lovely look at the life of Kaye Kessler who, besides witnessing the rise of Nicklaus and 56 Masters tournaments, also covered Ohio State’s Woody Hayes and Fred Taylor.

So is Kaye Kessler. His life’s course was irreparably altered in 1950 when Scioto Country Club hired a new golf professional, Jack Grout, and Kessler was sent over to write a story about him for his paper, the Columbus Citizen. The paper’s photographer needed a photo so Grout posed with a posse of Scioto junior golfers. One was a 10-year-old named Nicklaus.