On
Sunday, October 27, just five days before his 78th birthday,
international golf champion, sport ambassador and philanthropist Gary
Player shows why he remains an inspiration for millions of people across
the world. Player, one of the greatest golfers
of all time and a man who has raised millions of dollars for the
education of underprivileged children, is the first athlete to feature
in
21 Icons South Africa, which showcases extraordinary South
Africans who have lived inspirational lives. The short film and a
portrait of Player by photographer and filmmaker Adrian Steirn will be
released globally online.
As
Steirn remarks in the episode: “Gary Player would have been successful
at anything he chose to do.” Turning pro at the age of 17, a mere
three years after he started playing golf, Player has racked up more
than 165 professional wins, including nine majors, in a career spanning
six decades and as many continents. He has been called the world’s most
travelled athlete, clocking more than 25 million
kilometers, and his dedication to fitness and a healthy diet is world
renowned. In fact, ESPN The Magazine chose a nude Player this year for
the cover of its annual Body Issue, an honour which, according to its
website, goes to “athletes who have pushed their
physiques to profound frontiers”.
“Have
you done any sit-ups today?” Steirn asks Player as they prepare for the
21 Icons photo shoot. “Not today,” Player answers, “but I
did eleven hundred last night.”
The
thoroughbred racehorse breeder explains his longevity — and exceptional
energy — thus: “If you stay fit and you watch your diet and
you stay lean, you’re going to last longer. You know, in the racehorse
business they say ‘the longer the race, the leaner the horse’, and that
applies to life. If you stay lean, you’re going to live longer; the less
you eat, the longer you’ll live.”
Player
ascribes his success to his never-give-up attitude. When he decided to
turn pro at 17, everyone, including his father, thought he
was crazy. “But I was never influenced by what other people thought,”
he says. “I just believed I could do it, and I want to tell young people
that you’re the one who’s got to believe it. Other people can’t decide
for you — you’ve got to believe it. And if
you have a problem in life, nobody’s going to solve it except you. I’ve
seen so many potentially great players who could have been great had
they had the right attitude. It’s really 10% what happens to you and 90%
how you react to it.”
Of
course, Player has also been successful because of old-fashioned hard
work. “I always worked harder than everybody else,” he says. “There
was no entitlement in my life whatsoever. I woke up and I practised
every morning at 6 o’clock and I finished every night at 7 o’clock. I
practised all day long, every day, and exercised. It was a very insular
life, but to become a world champion you have
to sacrifice a lot of things.”
Spending
time with his family is one of the things he had to sacrifice, he
reveals in 21 Icons. “I have missed my family a lot and been
deprived of that, which is the saddest thing,” says Player, who has
nevertheless been blessed with a long and happy marriage. He married
wife Vivienne in 1957 and they had six children, and today they are the
proud grandparents of 22 grandchildren.
“You’ve
got to try to fill your life with love,” says Player. “I think that’s
the essential ingredient, because if you fill your life with
love you have respect for everybody, and then you receive love.”
Steirn’s
portrait of Player was taken on the small golf course on his farm near
Colesberg in the Northern Cape. It will be auctioned at
the end of 21 Icons South Africa and the proceeds donated to The
Player Foundation. Having a social conscience is important to Player,
who established The Player Foundation with Marc Player, Black Knight
International CEO, in 1983 to provide quality
education, nutrition, medical care and extracurricular activities to
impoverished children both in South Africa and elsewhere in the world.
Through the annual Gary Player Invitational charity series staged in the
US, Asia, Europe and South Africa, the Foundation
has raised more than $50 million for the cause.
“I
was very poor,” says Player. “I had a very difficult childhood with my
mother dying when I was eight and my brother going to war and
my father working on a mine. I can vividly remember saying as a
schoolboy, well, if I ever do well in life, one thing I’m definitely
going to do is help underprivileged people. This has been the great
thrill of my life — that I’m able to go around the world
raising money for underprivileged children and to see how much one
changes their lives.”
Twitter:
@21icons;
www.21icons.com and www.facebook.com/21icons.
21 ICONS South Africa
is proudly sponsored
by Mercedes-Benz South Africa, Nikon and Deloitte and supported by The
Department of Arts & Culture as a nation-building initiative.
Programme synopsis
Sporting
great and philanthropist Gary Player reveals to Adrian Steirn how he
almost did not take up golf – “the sport for sissies” and
why he has managed to his sporting talent into an international empire
that has benefited thousands of impoverished children.
PHOTOGRAPH DETAILS
Shot
on the Gary Player Stud Farm near Colesberg, Northern Cape, Adrian
Steirn’s portrait of Gary Player shows him standing in front of
a sign promoting the “Colesberg Open”, which references his beloved
hometown. Normally clad in his Black Knight golfing attire, on this rare
occasion Player agreed to dress in an old-fashioned golfer’s outfit.
On behalf of
21 ICONS South Africa
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