The Endowed Scholarship giving the game a try. “A friend of mine kept trying to cajole me into playing the game,” Gardner said. “I had no interest and didn’t think it fit into my schedule as a young father. He took me to his course and from that moment on, I was infected with the golf bug. It has been a love and hate relationship ever since.” GARDNER HAS BEEN A MEMBER at Green Valley Country Club for more than 30 years and actively participated in its cad-die program by taking a caddie throughout the years. He said caddies are a vital aspect of the history of the game and a player’s experience. “A caddie is valuable on so many levels,” Gardner said. “When I have a caddie who can read greens well at a course that I am not familiar with, he or she will shave a bushel of strokes off my score. I appreciate young kids who are out trying to make some cash in the summer. Caddying is a tough job, and you have to respect their effort to make money and be around the game.” While Gardner isn’t from Philadelphia, he’s from New York City, it’s safe to say he made a strong impact on the city and its surrounding communities. When you turned on the television for the evening news and saw Gardner, you placed a prior-ity on that familiarity. Just like the city of Philadelphia, he always stood tall in good times and in bad, and you could always count on him. All important qualities of great caddies. “For me there are a few fundamental traits that someone can have that are the most important,” Gardner said. “They are honesty, empathy, kindness and the desire to get an education. Education is a huge part of becoming a valued and competent member of society. If there is anything I can do to further that, it is my honor to do so.” Jim Gardner By Dalton Balthaser T HE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA opened its arms with a warm em-brace to Jim Gardner. Now Gardner is returning the favor to caddies in the City of Brotherly Love and beyond. Funded by the friends of Jim Gardner, The Jim Gardner Endowed Scholarship is presented to a caddie who attends Columbia University (Gardner’s alma mater), Univer-sity of Pennsylvania, St. Joseph’s University, Temple University or Penn State University. Dan Hoban, a caddie at Llanerch Country Club who attends Penn State, is the recipi-ent for the 2024-25 academic year. “It’s important for me to give back because the Philadelphia community gave me so much,” Gardner, 76, of Villanova, Pa., said. “I couldn’t have anticipated the experi-ence I had for more than 46 years at WPVI-TV. The city gave me so much more than I gave it, and I have been living in constant gratitude to the community that I served.” Gardner began working for WPVI-TV in the summer of 1976 and would serve the Philadelphia community for the next 46 years, primarily anchoring the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. His impact was so profound that the studio from which the Action News 30 Gardner made his first ace at BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., earlier this year. broadcasts take place is called the Jim Gardner Studio. He was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 2003. The game of golf wasn’t a priority for Gardner. It took him almost 40 years before Visit the GAP website at www.gapgolf.org for all the latest news and notes
GAP Magazine 2025 Spring: Page 30
