Passages
November 20, 2009
The Cape Region lost a long-time golfer and significant contributor to the community this week.
Frank Abbott of Henlopen Acres passed away November 15, while with his family in Pennsylvania.
He had a long, productive life, and golf was a part of that life over a span of eighty years.
When we chatted a few years ago, Abbott told me how he first took up the sport.
“My father was advised by his doctor to play golf, for his health,” Abbott explained. “I went along, and beat him and his friends in my first round with a 105. Now I can’t score 105, but it’s still fun.”
Abbott continued playing through his college days at Villanova University, and joined Llanerch Country Club in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
World War II interrupted his engineering career, and Abbott served as a lieutenant commander on General Douglas MacArthur’s staff. When the war ended, Abbott went to law school, passed the Pennsylvania Bar, and began a long successful career with a major Philadelphia firm.
He stopped golfing for thirty years, but picked up the sport again in 1972. Abbott joined Main Line clubs such as Aronomick and Merion Golf Club, as well as the Seaview club in Atlantic City.
Abbott joined Rehoboth Beach Country Club in 1994, sponsored by his former law partner Kimber Vought, the former mayor of Rehoboth Beach, and built his new home in Henlopen Acres. Abbott admitted to having been “conned” by his neighbors into serving his new community in several capacities. After a stint at the Beach Club and on the town’s Board of Adjustment, he was elected to a commissioner’s seat in 1998. The 2006 election earned Abbott his fifth consecutive term.
Abbott once told me, “Golf is a wonderful game. You can play it whether you’re twelve or 87.”
He eventually grew too frail to play, however. He nonetheless enjoyed his last days in the area with a few of his close friends. He was a real gentleman, and I was glad to make his acquaintance.
Nice little scam
My email inbox this week included some remarkably good news.
Someone named Ashley Carter, from the U.S. Commerce Association, was proud to announce that my golf business, Hole By Hole, has been “selected for the 2009 Best of Nassau Award in the Golf Services & Professionals category.”
According to Carter, “Each year, the US Commerce Association (USCA) identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.”
She then gave me a link to a special code, where I could learn more about obtaining a special commemorative plaque for this allegedly amazing achievement.
Personally, I really don’t think this award was all that much to brag about.
First of all, I might be mistaken, but I don’t think there was any real competition for this award.
That’s because Hole By Hole is the only possible Nassau-area business that could fit into a Golf Services and Professionals category.
Second, the USCA likes to charge the award recipients for their commemorative trinkets. According to the Better Business Bureau of St. Louis, Missouri, the same company was recently trying to have businesses fork over $180 for a “hand-polished crystal.”
In other words, it’s a scam.
As one BBB official said in a July 2009 story about this company, “From everything we can find, this is just one more ploy to profit off the universal desire for recognition and approval. We are advising people to steer clear, unless they want to pay $180 for what looks to be a meaningless office decoration.”
Word to the wise.