Farewell to a pair of aces

By Gary Larrabee

The North Shore golf season was not a month old and we had already lost two very special people in Paul Zaido and Bobby Knowles, two forthright chaps deeply in love with the game and never afraid to express their opinions about it.

Zaido, a life-long historian and long-time member at Salem Country Club, died April 30 at the age of 68. He had been the club’s resident archivist in recent years and hopefully will have the club’s new “History Room” named in his honor upon its construction. He also played a major role in the club’s centennial year, 1995, and in 2001, when the Peabody course served as the venue for the U.S. Senior Open.

Ever notice the gorgeous course photos and the original Donald Ross hole diagrams that grace the walls of the clubhouse’s main hallway? That was Zaido’s project, which drew raves from the Senior Open field, including one Jack William Nicklaus.

I was a major beneficiary of his historical nature. Zaido was delighted to assist me in the research for both the Salem CC centennial book and The Green and Gold Coast: The History of Golf on Boston’s North Shore, 1893-2001. I will always be indebted for his contributions to those projects.

“Paul loved golf and tried to give as much back to the game as he could,” Patricia, his wife of 37 years, said. “He loved the beautiful places the game took him, but most important, the wonderful people he met every step of the way. He tried sharing the joy of the game with others.”

“The club owes Paul a great deal for all the work he did to organize our historical materials and his other club assignments, of which there were many,” added Dan Sullivan, Salem CC’s president in 2001 and 2002. “And he loved every hour on club matters over several years.”

“Paul was the classiest gentleman I ever knew,” said Larry O’Neill, the St. John’s Prep Dean of Students who coached the Prep golfers to five state titles himself and played a zillion rounds of golf with Zaido over the years. “The North Shore has lost a golfer in the truest sense of the word, a man who truly gave back to the game he loved.”

It is no coincidence that Zaido was buried on a beautiful site at Greenlawn Cemetery in Salem that provides a view of the 11th fairway at the adjacent Kernwood Country Club.

The Beverly-born Knowles, a raconteur of the highest order, was one of the top amateurs in Massachusetts and the country during his gravy years from 1949 to 1951. During that span, the Myopia Hunt Club member won the Mass Amateur, the New England Amateur, the French Amateur, was a U.S. Amateur semifinalist and played on the 1951 U.S. Walker Cup team. A little known fact was that he served on the Score Reporting committee at the Masters from 1960 to 1988. If you watch closely, you will see the bearded Knowles reporting scores on the 1986 Masters video that captured Nicklaus’ stirring comeback victory. Knowles died, at 88, at his retirement home in Aiken, S.C. on April 14.

Around Myopia, Knowles was best known for generating laughs and making golf games at the drop of a quarter.

“His death is the passing of an era here at Myopia,” Bill Safrin, now in his 24th year as Myopia’s head pro, declared. “When Bobby arrived for the summer, he was the center of attention. The club’s atmosphere changed the moment he made his first appearance on the grounds. He was a wonderful promoter of the game and, in his travels, a fine representative of the club.”

“He was a master of humor and a great player to boot,” offered Myopia member Jim Wykoff, one of Knowles’ golfing regulars. “His touched so many people in his golfing life and loved to teach the game as well. My wife, Jane, and I certainly benefited from his tips.”

Knowles, an extraordinary storyteller, will also be remembered for his uncanny ability to match Jack Lemmon joke for joke during the annual Myopia Fourball. The laughs just flowed naturally, as a classic photo of Bobby and Lemmon, which hangs in the pro shop, attests.

I will never forget Knowles making me laugh uncontrollably for minutes at a time while trying to interview him for The Green and Gold Coast. He would have made a great subject for my next golf book.

What Bobby Knowles and Paul Zaido gave North Shore golf cannot be accurately measured. But we can certainly savor and cherish their contributions. They shall not be forgotten.