My Kenny Rogers Story You Won’t Believe

Like so many of you, I awoke on Saturday morning to the news of Kenny Rogers' passing.  I knew he had been in poor health for some time, so this did not come as a surprise.

Immediately, I thought of the conversations Debbie and I had with him over the years.  Let me just say, if you had a bad interview with Kenny Rogers, you were THE ONE.  He was always so gracious and funny...just a prince of a guy who made our job so easy.

Then I thought of the music.  So much iconic music.  Everyone has a favorite, I couldn't narrow to just one.  So I'll go with "She Believes In Me," "Crazy," and the only hit he ever wrote, "Sweet Music Man."  It is a haunting song that tells the story of a man who sacrificed everything for the music.  As he wrote it, I can't help but think its autobiographical, and the fact that he was married 5 times might bear witness to its authenticity.

Then I thought of my brush with infamy at Kenny Rogers house...and he wasn't even there.  Let me explain.

We were working, doing a radio morning show at Kicks 99 in Augusta, Georgia.  It was while working there that my golf addiction began to take hold.  I know, big surprise...a golf addict in Augusta. <g>  Anyway, the two biggest golf cart manufacturers were based there at the time:  EZ Go and Club Car.

One of the service guys with EZ Go was a faithful listener who called one morning and asked what I was doing after work (this was LONG before our son was born, and Debbie and I were always looking for ways to spend time apart)?  I told him, "Nothing, why?"

"Grab your clubs, I'll meet you at The Cracker Barrel, you're going on a service call with me."

"Dude, what do I know about servicing carts?"

"Just shut up and meet me, you won't be sorry."

So I did as I was told and as we left Cracker Barrel's parking lot, I said, "Ok, what's up?"

"We're going to Athens to Kenny Rogers house."

"What...why?"

"You'll see when we get there."

About an hour and a half later we pulled into a gate and headed up a long driveway.  On either side was what looked like a  meticulously  manicured municipal golf course with a crew working on it and absolutely no golfers in site.  Ahead in the distance appeared to be a large, ranch-style clubhouse.

That's when it was explained to me that the "clubhouse" was "The Gambler," Kenny Rogers' house and we were there to check the electrical charges on his dozen or so golf carts in the cart barn (he was hosting a family tournament there in the next week), then we were free to play the course.

Come to find out, Kenny Rogers had many hobbies in his life.  Well-known is his love of photography.  He also was also a huge sports nut who at different times in his life voraciously played both tennis and golf.

The story goes that when he purchased the house and land he said, "You know...I think I can build a par 3 here."

So, he did.

Then he said, "I bet I can squeeze in a par 4."

And he did.

A par 5 came next and this continued until low and behold he had about a 6000-yard golf course surrounding his home.  Now, it's one thing to build a golf course.  It's another to maintain it.  And this course was beautiful.  As I think about it now, I believe I remember it being only 16 or 17 holes, but who cares?

So we arrive at the house and I'm jacked!  I'm also sweating...more on that in a second.  We go in the back door and run into Kenny's publicist sitting at her desk.  She and the EZ Go guy knew each other, so there's was no question as to why we were there.  She informed us Kenny was away on tour, but we were free to play the course as much as we wanted after we were through, you know, to make sure the carts were holding a charge.  She then turned to me, sweating like Albert Brooks in "Broadcast News," and asked, "Are you alright?"

I had consumed about 6 cups of coffee and two sausage bisquits that morning on the air and hadn't bothered to go to the bathroom as I was in a rush to get there.  "Is there a bathroom I can use?"

"Of course!   Just around the corner, first door on the right."

When I opened the door, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  Everything in the bathroom was gold.  EVERYTHING.  And hanging above the sink, flush in the wall, was a TV.  Now this was the mid/late 1990s, so we're talking tube TV in the wall.  Impressive.

I quickly got over my awe as nature's call was now POUNDING.  I could not get out of there fast enough.

We played that golf course twice.

And I never went back into the house.

I could never bear the embarrassment of being known as "The Radio Guy Who Blew Up Kenny Rogers' Bathroom."

Years later, I told Kenny that story and he laughed like I was the funniest man who just said the funniest thing in the world.

So Kenny, God speed.  Thanks for making our job easy with your professionalism.  Thanks for making our lives better with your songs.  And thanks for not holding my destruction of the ambiance of your golden throne room against me. <g>