Minnesota Golfer - Travel 2022 - 14

never run a golf tournament, and Ray had started the Two-Man,
Best-Ball at Tianna.
" When it came time to move the tournament, John Johnson,
the manager at Tianna at the time, was very, very receptive and
partial to Indian people. Over time, it's become more than a golf
tournament. It's an annual family reunion for Indian people
because of how well they are treated. "
The tournament was expanded to 27 holes when it was moved to
Tianna in 1975. The fields are capped at 130 players and some nonNative
Americans are now permitted to play.
Aitken, for good reason, has no trouble remembering when the
tournament moved to Tianna.
That's because he won it in 1974, the last year Blackduck hosted.
" To this day, Ed LeBeau still mentions that 1974 tournament to
me, " Aitken said. " He calls it, 'The Old Towel Trick' tournament. "
The '74 tournament was played in heavy rain. Aitken and LeBeau
finished tied atop the leaderboard with 78s.
" We go to the first playoff hole and there's standing water on the
green, " LeBeau recalls.
LeBeau had about a 7-footer. Aitken had about a 5-footer.
" I putted first and my ball kind of floated through the water
and ended up off to the side of the hole, " LeBeau said. " I guess
that gave Joe an idea. He takes out his towel and drags it down
the path of his putt to absorb the water. "
Aitken made the putt.
It's a golf tournament, but it's more.
It's Indian people renewing old
friendships and making
new ones along the way. " -JOE AITKEN
" I still got a newspaper picture of Ed and I together after that, "
Aitken said. " He's smiling, but he's not happy. After I made the
putt, he says, 'Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, you can't do that!' I says,
'Ed, I was watching TV over the weekend and there was a tournament
that got rain and they squeegeed off the greens. What's
the difference?' He said, 'Well, I'm going to protest.' Either way,
my name's on the trophy. "
It stings a little less for LeBeau that he did win the tournament
the year before. But only a little less.
GOOD TIMES, GREAT STORIES
" Many years later, in I think the late '80s or '90s, there was an
argument by some guys down at Walker, " LeBeau said. " And one
of them decided to call the pro at Bemidji Country Club and ask
him about, 'The Old Towel Trick.' And the pro says, 'As soon as
Joe's towel hit the green, he lost that hole.' So, there you go.
" It's funny because it kept coming up all the time. Even my
14
MINNESOTAGOLFER Travel 2022
Blackduck Golf Course
daughter finally said to me one year, 'Let it go, Dad!' So, hey,
we're both on the trophy. "
Speaking of the trophy, it's not the original one that Betty
Hawkins, the daughter of Tianna's owner, had made for Aitken.
That one disappeared in about 1986.
" We wanted a nice traveling trophy to put our names on and
be like the British Open, " Aitken said. " Ralph Day, my cousin
from Hayward, California, was real active in an Indian association
out there at the time. So, he invites Arnie Hawkins, no relation
to Betty, to come play. "
Arnie shot lights out.
" That was Arnie's only year playing, " Aitken said. " He won the
tournament, and the son of a gun took our traveling trophy back
to California and never came back. "
" So, I go to Betty and tell her the guy walked off with our trophy.
She said, 'Joe, I'll buy you another one, but this is the last
one you're getting. "
Aitken is laughing pretty hard at this point in the story. There
are so many fun memories filling his head. So many good times.
So many stories about strangers from all over the country and
Canada who became lifelong friends because every year they set
aside the second weekend in August for a special fellowship with
others initially connected only by their Native American heritage
and a burning love of golf.
" Unfortunately, everyone from the beginning is dying off, "
Aitken said. " But you look back on it and see how far it's come
from that handful of guys eating wieners and beans around a
campfire. It's a golf tournament, but it's more. It's Indian people
renewing old friendships and making new ones along the way. "
" I really think the stars were aligned perfectly for us when we
said, 'Let's organize an all-Indian golf tournament and see how
it goes.' "
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