OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The 8th Annual McKenzie’s Moment Celebrity Golf Invitational was held Saturday, April 18, 2026, at the Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club.
McKenzie’s Moment is a Marion County-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has raised and donated nearly $4 million back into the community, supporting mothers, babies, and families in need through impactful programs focused on maternal wellness, infant care, and school safety initiatives, offering hope and opportunity. The field for the tournament included athletes and personalities. 352today caught up with Basketball Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore and Professional Golfer Jim Thorpe at the star-studded event.
Jim Thorpe
Professional golfer Jim Thorpe acknowledged the influence of his family, his mother and father and 11 siblings. He had seven sisters and four brothers. As a child, Thorpe had a dream, and that was to be successful. He watched how hard his parents worked, serving as an inspiration.
“I promised them when I left home, after graduating from high school, I would take care of them,” said Thorpe. “In order to do that, it was going to be either football or golf.”
He went to college on a football scholarship at Morgan State University, but the sport’s physical toll was challenging. Thorpe’s brother Chuck was already on the PGA tour, and he made the decision to focus solely on golf, working on his game and winning several amateur and state tournaments. That success would lead to Thorpe entering some golf tournaments in Europe, where he won couple of tournaments. However, it would be a golfing legend that would encourage him to aspire toward loftier goals.
“I met a guy named Gary Player,” said Thorpe. “He said to me, ‘Why aren’t you playing on the PGA Tour?’ I said, ‘Man I’m not good enough.’ He said, ‘Not good enough, you just beat me in the tournament. I’m top five in the world.’ I came back went to Q(Qualifying) School, gave up football, qualified, and here I am.”
If he would’ve taken the game more seriously, he would’ve won more, as he was a very weak putter, he said.
“I did get lucky enough to win 21 professional golf tournaments, plus the mini tour, but I could’ve worked much harder,” said Thorpe. “When you’re young you don’t know. I knew my game was good enough, but I had to put all of the pieces together.”
In 1985, at the Western Open, an amateur, Scott Verplank, beat Thorpe in a playoff. The loss made Thorpe work a little bit harder on his game. He would end up finishing fourth on the year-end money earnings list.
“He got the trophy, but I got the money,” said Thorpe. “And two or three weeks later, I ran up against a guy named (Jack) Nicklaus in Milwaukee. I had trotters and pacers, standardbred horses. I went from Milwaukee to Chicago. I played on Saturday. I shot a beautiful round of golf, like a 62 or something. I get in my car and drive to Sportsman’s Park in Cicero. I drove down there to watch one of my horses run in a stakes race, finished second, drove back and I got back to Milwaukee about 4:30 or 5 o’clock in the morning. I looked at the tee sheet, and I can’t find my name. I said, ‘what in the world did I do wrong?’ I finally looked at the bottom or the right page, and there’s Jack Nicklaus, Jim Thorpe and Gene Sauers. I got nervous, with all the people to pair me with, Jack.”
Thorpe talked to a couple of reporters, who weren’t able to find him on Saturday afternoon, and they asked him how he felt, and he explained that he was a bit nervous being paired with the best player on the PGA Tour. His caddie said to him the only ones who know that we can win out here are the two of us.
“I thought about it, the nerves went away, and I end up beating him,” said Thorpe. “I finished first in Chicago for the pros, beat Nicklaus and I won Tucson Match Play.”
After his outstanding 1985 season, Thorpe would eventually have wrist surgery, but on the horizon was the Champions Tour. He was good friends on the tour with J.C. Snead, who told Thorpe, the guys who were finishing ahead of him on the PGA Tour were going to continue to do so on the Champions Tour.
“What I had developed in 1999 or 2000 was a work routine,” said Thorpe. “I elevated my game. I knew when I had seen the golf course out there, once or twice, I could win out there.”
Artis GilmoreÂ
Basketball Hall of Famer, Artis Gilmore, the A-Train, was born in Chipley, Fla., and attended high school in Chipley and later in Dothan, Ala., because schools were not totally integrated at that time.
“There were some really challenging issues in this country, and because of that, I ended up leaving Chipley and going about 32 miles away to Dothan,” said Gilmore. “And that’s when I graduated from Carver High School which was a non-integrated school.”
After graduating from high school, the future NCAA Div. 1 all-time leader in rebounds per game, attended Gardner-Webb before transferring to Jacksonville University, which proved to be a life-transforming experience for the five-time American Basketball Association all-star and six-time National Basketball Association All-Star.
“Gardner-Webb was a tremendous period of growth for me,” said Gilmore. “Integration and the lack thereof, changed my environment and my whole life. It was an incredible growth period for me.”
Gilmore had the distinction of being named not only the 1971-1972 ABA’s Rookie of the Year but also captured the league’s Most Valuable Player Award that same year. He was named to the ABA’s first team defensive team four times.
“I always focused on defense,” said Gilmore. “There was limited exposure as far as opportunity of being able to see the individual professionals in the NBA during those days on television. The times when you watched Philadelphia and Boston, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, they were my idols. I spent quite a bit of time with both of those guys as individuals, and sort of patterned myself, especially after Bill Russell, the great defensive player that he was.”
Arguably the proudest moment of Gilmore’s career came when the Kentucky Colonels won the ABA championship in 1975.
“It was a great combination that Hubie Brown, the head coach, was able to put together, and it was certainly accelerated by Hall of Fame Coach Hubie Brown, as he was able to make those things happen,” said Gilmore. “Ellie Brown and John Y. Brown were great owners. They wanted a championship and they were able to get it.”
When the ABA merged with the NBA, it was an adjustment in Chicago because they had only won 24 games the year before, said Gilmore, who was the first player selected in the dispersal draft by the Chicago Bulls from the Kentucky Colonels. “They drafted Scott May, the college player of the year (from Indiana University). They went undefeated that one year (1975-76) and won the (NCAA) championship. Scott got sick. We didn’t have all the personnel in place, after having only won 24 games the year before.”
Gilmore received so many plaudits during the course of his career, however, there is one accomplishment that he’s most proud of.
“Everybody loves a winner,” said Gilmore. “Winning the ABA championship in 1975 was a tremendous plus.”