On the morning that Canadian golf legend Moe Norman died last weekend, Gus Maue was asked to go through his good friend's belongings.
In the pants pockets of the 75-year-old Norman, Maue found a couple of Titleist golf balls, three or four tees and a watch. In the trunk of his car, he discovered more than 1,000 golf balls, most of them Titleist Pro V1s, rolling around loosely, 10 pairs of golf shoes, two to three sets of irons and $20,000 in cash hidden throughout the Cadillac.
Norman hated banks.
This week, hundreds of friends, people in the golf industry and family members have been sharing stories about Norman as they passed by his open coffin to bid adieu before today's funeral service.
There was the childhood friend who, 70 years ago, had been on the back of a toboggan with Norman. It slid under a car in a terrible accident that is rumoured to have caused injuries that resulted in Norman's eccentric behaviour.
An elderly lady shared memories of playing marbles with Norman, and losing. Everyone in the neighbourhood lost to the local street champion.
Norman lay in his coffin with a Titleist driver in one hand. He wore his usual two watches and a favourite sweater that was more colourful than the fragrant flower arrangements surrounding him. His golf bag, a black visor, a pair of shoes and a can of Diet Coke lay nearby. There were photos of him holding court at the National Golf Club of Canada near Toronto, with Nick Price, Nick Faldo, Fred Couples and Ben Crenshaw.
"The last few months were really tough on him," said Maue, who along with wife Audrey had taken Norman under their wings many years ago to look after his personal welfare.
"Not being able to play or even hit balls any more, I think, is what really did him in. He'd done it his way for 75 years and didn't want it any other way."
Titleist also came to his rescue in 1995 on behalf of the worldwide golf community by providing Norman with $5,000 (U.S.) a month just to be Moe. "Sometimes the right thing to do is to do the right thing," Wally Uihlein, chairman of Acushnet Company, told The Globe and Mail this week.
Norman learned the Thursday before he died that he would no longer be allowed to drive his six-month-old Cadillac. "I felt so bad for Moe that I went back that night to sit with him because I knew he would be depressed," Maue recalled. "I told him I would find somebody to drive him everywhere and he said, 'No, you won't,' and I assured him I could. I had somebody in mind.
"Out of the blue, and this is what amazes me about Moe, he said, 'Will you help me buy a bike and a helmet? I want one with gears.' I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I said. 'No, you can't do that, Moe. It's not safe.' "
A moment later, Norman suggested he could take the bus along King Street to Rockway Golf Club in Kitchener, as he had done as a teenager. Almost daily this summer, Norman would drop by Rockway to visit the course that he grew up on.
In the solitude of the clubhouse or on the putting green of this quaint municipal course, one of Canada's true sporting legends found peace as he struggled with an ailing heart over the past 18 months.
The greatest ball striker that ever lived would putt for an hour or chat with the folk, especially youngsters, who passed by, before calling it a day as the sun set and returning home to the Terrace on the Square retirement centre.
"We were losing him day by day; he was dying in front of our eyes," said Mike Martz, Rockway's head professional, noting the one-time shy ball-striking genius had started to mellow over the past two years and was much more approachable than in earlier times.
"Everybody's gotta die. It's my turn," Norman told Martz as they spoke for the final time last Thursday.
For more than a year, Martz has been assembling a small collection of "Moe memorabilia" in the newly renovated Moe Norman Historical Room. "We went into Moe's car and found a few things in the clubhouse attic. We're planning a ribbon cutting ceremony in the clubhouse in October," Martz said.
Norman is survived by siblings Ronald Norman, Shirley Newmaster and husband Doug, Richard Norman and wife Joan, Marie Kelly and Sister Doreen Norman.