50th anniversary of moon landing especially meaningful for Perry, family

Chris Perry had more than a passing interest in Saturday’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.

Granted, he was only 7 years old when it happened. So, Perry doesn’t really remember watching the historic event that was broadcast live from the lunar surface to hundreds of millions around the world on July 20, 1969.

But the PGA TOUR veteran did know astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first of just 12 men to ever set foot on the moon.

Perry’s father-in-law and Armstrong were long-time friends. Perry first met Armstrong while he and his wife Kathy were dating, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award winner was a guest at their wedding. They skied in Colorado and played golf together, as well.

Perry, who played collegiately at Ohio State, took Armstrong, a Purdue grad, to the Buckeyes’ Scarlet Course a couple of times. The two also played at Camargo Country Club, Armstrong’s home course in Cincinnati, which is ranked 44th in Golf Digest’s most recent top 100.

Armstrong, Perry reports, was a “passionate” golfer who was likely an 18 handicap or so. “His swing was really flat, and he was kind of handsy. But he just loved to be out for the exercise and being with his foursome,” Perry says.

Off the golf course, Perry remembers Armstrong, who died in 2012 at the age of 82, as being a very unassuming man.

“He felt that the guy in the control room was just as important as he was,” says Perry, who won the 1998 B.C. Open. “He was very private. He didn't believe in stardom and autographs and all that kind of stuff.

“He was just very, a very humble person.”

So, taking his lead from Armstrong, Perry didn’t press his friend for details on the moon walk. He never joked that maybe his friend should have been the one to hit the makeshift 6-iron off the lunar surface like Alan Shepard did when Apollo 14 landed, either.

“We just didn't really go there with him,” says Perry, who made 483 starts on the PGA TOUR. “We knew obviously the way he was -- he felt everyone had an important role and stuff -- even though it's 500 million watching (him) that night.

“After they got back, several months later, they did 20, 28 parades in like 43 days. That was all over the world – (he was) just a hero all the way around and still is to this day.”

The date of the moon landing is important in the Perry family for reasons beyond the friendship that developed with Armstrong, though.

Both Perry’s father, Jim, who pitched for the Minnesota Twins, and his uncle, Gaylord, who at the time was pitching for the San Francisco Giants, had milestones accomplishments that day as well.

The weekend Apollo 11 landed on the moon, the Twins were in Seattle for a series with the Pilots. Saturday’s game went extra innings and eventually was suspended, tied 7-7 after 16 innings, at 1:30 in the morning.

When the game resumed on July 20, Twins manager Billy Martin sent Jim, his only rested pitcher, to the mound. He pitched two shutout innings, doubled and then scored the winning run on a balk by Pilots pitcher Jim Gelnar.

But there’s more. While Armstrong was taking his first steps on the Sea of Tranquility, Jim was getting ready to start the regularly scheduled Sunday game – going all nine innings in another shutout. So, he picked up two wins in one day – unusual in itself -- and scored the game-winning run to boot.

“There were 400 or 500 million tuned in that day on the radio or TV around the world,” Perry says. “But my dad had to go back and warm up, so he missed the actual landing on the moon.”

Jim’s younger brother Gaylord was pitching against the Los Angeles Dodgers that day. An announcement was made during the first inning – with the Giants already trailing 3-0 -- that Armstrong had climbed out of the lunar module and taken that famous one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.

About 30 minutes later, Gaylord hit a home run. What made this so interesting is that seven years earlier, the Giants’ manager, Alvin Dark, had famously told one of the team’s beat writers that there will be a man on the moon before Gaylord Perry ever hits a home run.

“It was his first, and I think, only home run he ever hit in his career,” Chris says.

Jim later told Armstrong about their shared July 20 history when he and his brother met the astronaut at Chris’ wedding reception.

“So, it’s a very unique situation that it's been 50 years, since the lunar landing … and that all of this had taken place,” Perry says. “And the fact that I played golf with him and you look up (at the moon) and just go, wow, we know that someone's actually been there, and that you actually have somewhat of a relationship with him and played golf with him.

“And so, it's very unique to our family.”