Ken Venturi

“My father taught me that the easiest thing to do was to quit. He'd say, 'It doesn't take any talent to do that.'”

“Retirement isn't so bad. Give me a tall drink, a plush sofa and a rerun of 'Matlock,' and you can have the rest. Matlock is my hero. He never loses.”

“My father was a man of few words.”

“When my father spoke, it was to say something meaningful.”

“I couldn't say my own name when I was 12.”

“The greatest gift in life is to be remembered.”

“I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.”

“People thought I was cocky because I didn't talk much. When I first turned pro, reporters asked me who was going to win. I'd say, 'I am' because it was the easier than giving some long, drawn-out answer.”

“Victory is everything. You can spend the money but you can never spend the memories.”

“I had a terrible stammering problem when I was young, and as a result I spent a lot of time alone.”

“There are two great rules of life: never tell everything at once.”

“The hardest thing in golf is trying to two-putt when you have to, because your brain isn't wired that way. You're accustomed to trying to make putts, and when you change that mind-set, your brain short-circuits, especially under pressure.”

“I began seeing my wife, Kathleen, while I was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.”