GEORGE GALANIS

I was out of town when the official announcement of George Galanis' retirement was published. We will truly miss him. It will be the Court's and Gallup's loss.

This March, I will complete 25 years of service as a golf professional in Gallup (my first 12 as a contractor and the last 13 as a city employee), so by the time I met George Galanis during his mayoral campaign in 1991, though we had not met each other, we had known of each other for nine years: he was well known in town for his public service and the offices he had held, and, the golf course was beginning to be more on the public's eyes, and for that reason, myself. At the time, he was running against two other public servants of great respect, Harry Mendoza and Dan Gutierrez, both of whom had served or were serving in the City Council and other elected offices. George won and ended up serving four two-year terms.

By 1993, he ended up taking up the game. He not only wanted to know more about us, our facility and our golfers, but also about why the game had become so popular and what was so difficult about it: "Come on! You mean chasing a little white ball is fun? It can't be that difficult!" In some ways, he felt it was his duty to learn more about the game and our facility, so he could make the right decisions.

By doing so, the "golf bug" really hit him. He begun taking some lessons (none of which he ever followed as he has always done things "his way") and begun to come with his old time buddies, Frank Sandoval, Tom Salas and Billy Silva. You're talking about a group that could have fun at truly "hacking" a ball around the golf course!

By 1995, I had proudly become part of "his circle" at the golf course, a friendship that we wisely kept at "arms-length" and only at the golf course until after he left office.

Always fair and not wanting to put anyone on the "spot", Not once in his tenure, did he ever "push his weight" around to get any favors at the golf course, not once did he ever come and not pay his fees or take advantage of his position (for years, he even bought a membership that he hardly used). When issues concerning the golf course came around, if he had any questions, he would give me the courtesy of a call to find things out from both sides; something I related to since in my business, I have to do the same in a dispute, find both sides of a story when there are rules discrepancies between golfers (as another local golfer, still in an elected office, judging and trying to make the fairest of calls was always his true calling)

I played many times with him. Personally, the worst he ever did to me was to scratch my new driver (darn it George!) when he "borrowed" it to hit the popular "sky shot" many beginners do when trying to hit far; and, of course, many times he "stole" a couple of new Titleists out of my bag when he ran out of balls in his bag. At glance, George seldom played with the truly serious golfers, preferring to play with golfers more of "his speed", but since he did play with me and others of the serious type, I came to realize that he wanted to show all people that golf could be fun and that the circle of his friends were truly important to him, these were people whom he thought were fair and of serious commitment to his beloved Gallup.

"Come on, Alex. Did you ever play for big money with George?" You bet!... "Big, Very BIG $$$"... But "Play Money" of sorts. In his group we had a deal, "talk big, pay small". Literally. We played for hundreds, even thousands of dollars, but the deal was that "The most money that will exchange hands will be $10.00 (In fact, even the $10.00 was too much many times, as we ended up paying or getting paid whatever change the loser had in his pocket... that's it!) We can go brag that we beat each other for $1,000.00, but only $10.00 will ever change hands."

And brag he did, I guarantee it, even if you ask him now, he never lost a bet. I cannot count how many times we "forgave" each other hundreds of dollars. If only to needle me and get a laugh out of friends, I don't ever recall hearing a humble account of any our matches from his mouth. Even when he lost, he felt that he won, particularly when he won the last hole's on a press to "lose less".

On the golf course, he never lost a ball, he just did not go look for them. If he hit a stray shot, he'd tee up another ball and hit it. He was the master of the HUSOF's ("Hit Until Satisfied Or Frustrated"), which in many cases, is better than a mulligan (one year, he got 500 used balls for his birthday!). In the end, those rounds were truly fun. Now that he is gone from all political offices, I can say that. I have nothing to gain and much to keep... a lifetime friendship and many memories to remember.

All that said, many will understand the following statement: we always knew exactly what to expect of each other in every area and we always knew that the name of the game was to have fun and being fair. Which brings me to the following:

Many times in my columns, when speaking about the meaning of the game and the influence on people, I have stated that golf, more than building your character, it reveals it!; playing golf with George (he now only plays two or three times a year), was always "Golf is Just a Game" times, and I truly learned of his outstanding character, and as they say, "you can take that to the bank"...

"Alex, you are just saying that because he is your friend". No, I am saying this because I came to know him first, not as my friend, but as YOUR friend... a friend of golf.

George, HAPPY RETIREMENT!