Alexa Stirling

A L E X A S T I R L I NG | V I

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1978. Alexa was also elected into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame on January 14, 1989. The emotional magnitude was poignantly described by Sandy to author Gleason: To us she was just our mother. Everybody revered her and respected her and I never could figure out why. She just never talked about it. Ever. I honestly never knew the scope of her accomplishments until 1977, a good year after she died. I had gone back with her when she was honored by the Atlanta Athletic Club at the 1976 U.S. Open and cut the ribbon for the opening of the Bobby Jones Room at the club. But I still didn’t realize how great she had been. Even though the USGA wined and dined us all week and everybody made such a fuss over her, I thought Southern people were just that way. Then, in 1978, I went to Atlanta to accept the State of Georgia Athletic Hall of Fame Award on her behalf, and it was then I realized what a great star she was. I was able to do a lot of digging and a lot of reading, and I talked to a lot of people who knew her then. We were, and continue to be, astounded at how she was revered, especially in the South. Imagine that, not knowing such a thing. I really regret that we weren’t aware of it and weren’t able to enjoy it with her or be immensely proud of it with her. Looking back, I think that’s just awful. And it makes me cry everytime I read [about] it. As time progressed we spent many fun-filled hours playing golf together. We had complete freedom to be on the course at any time with the exception of Sundays, at which time we would walk around and watch the better senior members. In this way we hoped to improve our own games. All our attempts were made under the watchful eye of Stewart Maiden who was our guide and mentor for years to come. It was with great gratification and admiration that I saw Bob grow to be the fine, broadminded, dignified gentleman he later proved to be. [ ] Sandra and her brothers need not worry too much that they may have missed an opportunity to tell their mother how great she was. It was enough that she loved her family and they loved her. She, like Jones, believed that it’s not what you do that counts most, but who you are. Alexa knew who she was without the need to be constantly reminded. Bob Jones had a good point when he said, “Some of the so-called little people can be so great and some of these people with a reputation for being great can be pretty damned stinking.” Alexa stood among the greatest. Alexa’s last visit to Atlanta was for the 1976 U.S.Open Championship hosted by the Atlanta Athletic Club at its new location in Duluth, Georgia. She wrote a paragraph of recollections published in the Open Program: My earliest recollection of Bob Jones was when as a child of seven he was lying asleep in his bed recovering from an upset tummy. He was a rather spindly child with a head too large for his small body, but was even then the handsome person he later turned out to be.

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