PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Gary Player, one of golf's all-time greats, is 88 years young, but he remains very active.
He's part of the fabled Big 3 with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus and does not sit still very well.
WPTV anchor Michael Williams found that out when he had the chance to interview Player at his Palm Beach County home.
He mimicked part of his workout from his chair.
"Even today, I'm pushing 350 pounds with my legs," Player exclaimed. "I run the treadmill at max, I'm doing hundreds of sit-ups, and man I'm in shape."
Player then punctuated his statement with two hard slaps on an abdomen that sounded like it belonged to someone half his age. No wonder he earned the nickname "Mr. Fitness" long ago and long before fitness was a thing in professional golf.
Player won nine majors and more than 150 tournaments worldwide. He brings the same energy to the Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation.
He and his wife started the organization years ago with a school for underprivileged children near their estate in South Africa, Player's native home.
"I bought schools in South Africa and was involved in hospitals and churches, so this has been my joy because I experienced this and knew what it was like," Player said.
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His foundation has global reach these days, raising tens of millions of dollars to help children have a chance to thrive. The foundation also has major outreach across the United States, including financial support for "A Place of Hope" in West Palm Beach.
Vivienne Player succumbed to cancer in 2021, but the work goes on as passionately as ever to extend outreach.
"She died in my arms in Philadelphia, and the last thing she said was, 'Please keep the schools going,'" Player recalled.
The golfing legend has done just that.
"My legacy is due to the fact that I struggled like a junkyard dog as a child, that I understand what it is like to live in poverty," Player said.
He grew up to become a champion golfer and grew beyond the apartheid that once defined South Africa. A writer once put it this way, "(to) bury the racism he knew as a young man."
"I was scared to say anything that was not pro-South Africa because they had a system called 90 days," Player said. "They'd put you in jail for 90 days. People don't understand this. They say, 'Why did you do this, why did you do that.' They have no idea."
Player found a new voice, and Nelson Mandela would later come to praise his work to improve lives in South Africa.
"Through his tremendous influence as a great athlete, Mr. Player accomplished what many politicians could not," Mandela once wrote.
"Nelson Mandela, I worked with him for three years," Player said. "He was a son of God."
In his ninth decade, Player remains an energetic globetrotter, committed to charitable outreach, and always ready to share his reflections.
Regarding the U.S., a country that he came to love long ago, Player had this to say.
"America is ... the greatest country I've ever been. It's phenomenal, but I believe you give too much money to people who don't like you," Player said. "You should be doing more for the inner cities and for the children, because the youth of the nation are the trustees of posterity."
