In honor of a greatest guy

The second year of the Greatest Golfer of the Valley amateur tournament is exceeding our expectations.

We’re halfway through the juniors portion of the golf program this week, having completed play at Diamond Back and Tamer Win golf courses. This coming week, the caravan moves to Tam O’Shanter in Hermitage, Pa., before crowning a champ July 31 at Trumbull Country Club.

We will then put full focus on the adult Greatest, which is a three-day test of golf Aug. 26-28 at Mill Creek, Reserve Run, Trumbull and Youngstown country clubs and The Lake Club. “The Greatest Golfer” will be crowned in seven divisions.

Last year, we hosted 97 golfers, with many golfers signing up the week before play. This year, we are at 150 golfers with four weeks until tee time.

With this much success and momentum, perhaps God, strangely thinking “mission accomplished,” thought now was the best time to take The Vindy’s own Greatest golfer.

Former sports writer Pete Mollica was a great golfer. But he also was a great co-worker and person. He died Thursday after a battle with cancer.

Although he retired two years ago, he wrote when he was in town. His last story for The Vindy was four weeks ago — about golf, of course. He interviewed area teens for the Greatest tournament, treating their outlooks and feats with the same diligence as if he were talking to Paul Maguire, Ron Jaworski or Jim Tressel.

When we introduced the Greatest golf program last year, it involved me talking to lots of Valley golf people and getting them interested in showcasing their best holes and encouraging their golfers to take part in our year-end event.

It was new to them.

But The Vindy and its golf legacy were not new to them. That was due to Pete.

It seemed every other golf person I met last spring would have a Mollica golf story for me, and then ask, “How’s Pete?” It continued this past spring as well.

Pete was the Greatest Golfer before this project ever started.

He has lots of friends in golf. He has lots of friends, period.

In my line of work, people get measured in many ways — bylines, awards, columns, A1 stories, hits, tweets, blogs, followers, likes, etc.

Class and character are tough to measure, until you have to say goodbye to one who had both. Then you realize — what was difficult to count was always something you counted on.

When we got Greatest going in winter 2010, Pete was my first call — to learn what had been done historically and how this idea would be received.

When it came time to write about our first tourney last September, Pete said, “Todd, whatever you need.” Three of us were busy for 12 hours each of those three days. Pete — “retired Pete” — was one of the three.

This spring, when “Greatest 2.0” got rolling, Pete was the same: “Todd, whatever you need.”

Teens Kelly Fleming, James LaPolla and Curtis Bollinger were his last interviews. Although it was likely their first interviews, they came off as professional as Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy. That’s Pete.

The Greatest golf tourney celebrates Valley golf.

So did Pete.

It’s only fitting that we use the Greatest to celebrate Pete, too.

With the Greatest, we award equally seven golf skill levels.

But all participants recognize that one division — the Open Division — is truly the greatest of the Greatest. In that division lurk names such as Marlowe and Porter and Milton and Pico. These guys blast rockets off the tees, then float feathers around the pins. They are great golfers to watch.

Pete liked watching them last year, as did all the other competitors.

Now Pete will watch over them, and the winners will carry on his name.

We’re creating The Pete Mollica Trophy for this year’s Greatest. The trophy will go to the winner of the Open Division — honoring the greatest of the Greatest.

That’s Pete.

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes e-mails about stories and our newspaper. E-mail him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on vindy.com.