By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk
BOSTON – Not this weekend, but next, the PGA Tour will make its way to Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio to stage “The Memorial,” in honor of the greatest golfer of his time, Jack Nicklaus. The current World No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, will look to defend his title at the highly competitive event where Nicklaus, himself, presents the honors to the winner and is standing on the 18th green to shake hands and congratulate the PGA Tour pro who finishes atop the leaderboard.
While you might think Nicklaus’ tournament is a tribute to the military, it is actually a tribute to the great golfers who’ve contributed to the game. The official tournament site puts it bluntly, “to honor the memory of individuals living and deceased who have distinguished themselves in the game of golf.”
That’s pretty good, as you don’t have to be dead to be honored. A novel idea.
But “The Memorial” golf tournament nicely marks the start of summer while the federal holiday is to honor and mourn the military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Recognizing the holiday began in 1868 and was known as “Decoration Day,” suggested by Commander John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the American Civil War.
Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) which is a federal holiday in the United States, observed annually on November 11th. Both days honor military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Veteran’s Day coincides with holidays in several countries, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which also occur on the anniversary of the end of World War I.
While Memorial Day most years brings somber thoughts of the brave soldiers who fought and made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts and wars all over the world, this year, and in my mind, this Memorial Day 2025 will be dedicated to a selfless servant of his community who lost his life after a lengthy battle vs. illness.
But now, my customary zig-zag.
Carl Richard “Dick” Gumina passed away peacefully at his home, surrounded by his loving family, on April 5, 2025, at the age of 91. Mr. Gumina was predeceased by his wife of 61 years, Rosemary and his son, Carl “Rick” Gumina Jr.. His funeral Mass was celebrated at Holy Trinity Church in Upstate, New York on May 20th.
He is survived by a small army of sons, brothers, nephews, nieces and in-laws, and was the cherished “Poppi” to 12 grandchildren – Jamie (m Rob), Josh (m Jen), Ricky, Joey, Justin (m Emily), Tyler, Jack, Grace, Adriana, Christopher, James, and Katherine – and a proud “Great Poppi” to four great-grandchildren.
Christopher, James and Katherine are my nephews and niece, as I’m related to Mr. Gumina’s son, William (Buddy), through marriage.
Mr. Gumina grew up in Buffalo Bills territory – near Rochester, NY, and received degree from SUNY-Brockport and a master’s degree from Syracuse University. Professionally, Dick was a beloved guidance counselor at Pittsford Sutherland High School, (11 miles from his residence in Webster) where he spent nearly 40 years inspiring students.
The Rochester-area obituary notifying a legion of co-workers, students, neighbors and friends of his passing told a little more about a man who embodied the “Greatest Generation.”
“Dick was a masterful teacher in every sense of the word,” it read. “He shared his passions, including fishing, gardening, woodworking, and card-playing, with family and friends, though no one ever managed to beat him at euchre, his favorite card game. He listened with patience, loved unconditionally, and offered wisdom without judgment.
“Dick had a deep appreciation for the simple joys of life: classic movies and television (especially MeTV), loud laughter, and moments shared with those he loved. Though his presence will be profoundly missed, his legacy of love, laughter, and generosity will live on in the hearts of all who were lucky enough to know him.
And, a key item included that tells all of everything they’d want to remember:
“Showing the same selflessness in death as in life, Dick donated his body to the University of Rochester Medical School and, as a result, interment will be held at a later date.”
Yes, Mr. Gumina, the greatest of the Greatest Generation with 91 years living a life well done, as he served his important vocation , caring for his students and his family. And, in death, he is still teaching. And, while he can no longer enjoy everything life has to offer, he is doing what he can do and it’s saving lives.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks allowed three runs on three hits in a Red Sox loss to the New York Mets on Wednesday. By Friday, he’d had enough. Social media accounts via Twitter (x), Instagram, TikTok and others were filled with hateful messages and even some death threats to Hendriks and his wife and family. “This is almost a daily occurrence for almost everyone in this clubhouse,” said Hendriks Friday morning, prior to a (rained out) doubleheader against the Orioles. “That’s the upsetting part, and it’s not being controlled in the right way.”
Hendriks decided that no one else in Major League Baseball, nor the various social media companies was acting, so he took it upon himself to call attention to the issue, gathering the assembled media around his clubhouse locker and inviting local radio station WEEI to broadcast the entire discussion and Q & A session. The Red Sox owned TV station, NESN, later televised news clips.
“With the rise of sports gambling, it’s gotten a lot worse,” said Hendriks. “Unfortunately, that tends to be what it ends up being – whether it be Venmo requests (for money, presumably to reimburse gamblers for their debts), whether it be people telling you in their comments that I was like, ‘Hey, you blew my parlay. Go [expletive] yourself.’ … And then it’s, ‘Go hang yourself. You should kill yourself. I wish you died from cancer.’ That one kind of hit a little too close to home for me with everything I’ve gone through,” said the reliever who was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January 2023.
“This is something that is deplorable,” said Hendriks. “There needs to be some sort of punishment so that people can think twice before they start doing this stuff,” he said. “At some point, everyone just sucking it up and dealing with it isn’t accomplishing anything. We pass it along to MLB security. We pass it along to whoever we need to. But nothing ends up happening and it happens again the next night.”
TIDBITS & NUGGETS: Anyone want to buy former Celtics great Kevin Garnett’s Boston area (Concord, Mass) home? A pretty $5.9m will get the job done. Here’s the listing. Gotta love the plunge pool. … Washington Caps’ team captain and goal scoring machine Alex Ovechkin is the 2024-25 recipient of the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award, presented “to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey.” Messier solicits suggestions from team and League personnel to compile a list of potential candidates for the award. However, the selection of the winner is Messier’s alone.
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit the longest home run of his career, a 496-foot shot at Yankee Stadium in 2017. This week, interestingly enough, Judge just hit his shortest homer at The Stadium (326 feet).
ALL-NBA: There was little doubt as to the five members of the All-NBA first team as four of the five received the maximum (unanimous selection) 500 voting points in the media balloting and the other was an overwhelming favorite.
The unanimous choices were:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City
- Nikola Jokić, Denver
- Jayson Tatum, Boston
Tatum’s selection makes him the fifth Celtics player to earn at least four First Team honors, joining Bob Cousy (10), Larry Bird (nine), John Havlicek (four), and Bill Sharman (four). Tatum is the first Celtic since Bird (1980-88) to earn at least four straight selections to the First Team.
Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell joined the four unanimous selectees by garnering 61 first team votes. The next in line was second team All-NBA member LeBron James with 17 first team votes. Alperen Sengun of Houston fell 10 points shy of making the third team All-NBA.
Gilgeous-Alexander was named Most Valuable Player in the NBA earlier in the week.