Babe's Story

The Annual Babe Gantt Golf Tournament started with a wish to honor our father’s memory even in his passing.  We created the Babe Gantt Scholarship with the proceeds from the first golf tournament in 2014.  Our goal was to combine his love of golf and education to give a college scholarship to a young man and woman from Granite City High School, Madison High School, and Edwardsville High School.  It is held at Legacy Golf Course in Granite City which is perfectly fitting as this tournament has become Babe’s legacy.

Babe Gantt was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in January 2012.  His symptoms started with his legs giving out while standing, pumping gas, or golfing.  He went to several doctors for a diagnosis, but the CT scans, MRIs, and blood work all returned normal.  Babe would not accept the fact he may never know what was causing the weakness in his legs.  Finally, after one final test at Barnes, he was given the diagnosis of ALS. 

Babe never complained about the diagnosis or asked, “why me?”  He was determined to do everything his way, as was his fashion.  That March, while Babe was still able to do some of the driving, we took a family trip to Oklahoma and Texas to visit relatives.  Babe had a wonderful time, yet it was bittersweet as we knew it would be the last time visiting those places as a family. 

Due to Babe’s growing immobility, he and his wife, Pat, decided to downsize from a two-story house to a single-story Villa.  Babe was the foreman of the move, including cleaning out the house.  You cannot imagine the number of golf balls we came across that Babe had kept over his 20 years of playing.  Every single one of those golf balls made the move.  He was consigned to only watching golf instead of playing near the end.  So, we invite you to join our Annual Babe Gantt Golf Tournament, and with your help, Babe’s legacy will continue.

Sincerely,

The Family of Babe Gantt