October 1 is the 25th Anniversary of our annual LUV Classic golf tournament. This is a perfect time to flashback to the early days of one of Southwest Airline’s biggest Share the Spirit event. But before I do, a few words about the event. Over the past 25 years, the LUV Classic has raised $11 million in contributions for the Ronald McDonald House Charities—one of our primary corporate charities. Last year, Annie Hancock wrote about the early history of the Classic, and it is worth reading again.
For this Flashback Fridays effort, I am sharing some photos of the Classic’s early days, and you will be able to see Herb Kelleher in his unique “links couture.” But before we do, take a look at the photo above from the 1988 event. The woman across the table from Colleen Barrett to the far left of the picture is Annie. She will probably kill me when she sees this, but you can’t talk about the LUV Classic without talking about Annie Hancock who has nurtured the event into one of the largest fund raisers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Annie pours her heart and soul into each event.
Here’s Herb in the photo above watching his shot go down the fairway (hopefully) at the 1988 event. I don’t play golf so I can’t comment on his form.
For the next year’s event, Herb has swapped his pastel ensemble for traditional golf knickers. No word if the change in attire helped his average, but taken with the next photo, this seems to indicate a decline in golf course demeanor.
By the 2000 event, Herb’s golfing wardrobe was basic Northwest logger. There’s zero chance that the photo above was taken at the 2000 Masters in Augusta.
Even for the first event in 1986, volunteers were the key to the success of the tournament.
By 1989, there were considerably more volunteers, and we see Colleen with some of the volunteers for that year.
And I thought I would close with a picture of Colleen with Ronald McDonald himself. That obviously wasn’t some kind of clown weapon that he is holding in his hands because Colleen was unharmed.