ExclusiveJoe Montana, McEnroe, and Trump: Stories From Mark Soltau

Hello and welcome to Bay Area Innovators. Today, we continue our discussion with Mark Soltow. Those players tended to talk more to the guys who'd been around, who they knew and they trusted. And fortunately, I was one of those guys. Mark has spent his entire career being surrounded by celebrities in the sports industry as well as entertainment. A lot of presidents play golf, and I met both Bushes there, Gerald Ford there, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump. The interesting thing is, he made a hole-in-one in the tournament. And there were about five or six of us who interviewed him and talked to him about his hole-in-one. Whatever reason, he remembered me many years later. And I reached out to him, and lo and behold, he responded to me. So it's just one of those things you never know. Today, we continue our discussion with him on these topics. Mark, welcome back. Well, thank you for having me. Well, I want to change gears and talk about John Montana. You have an interesting chapter in the book about your impersonating him. Yeah. I would love to hear that story. Well, you know, when I first started covering the 49ers, he was a rookie from Notre Dame and kind of a long shot to make the team. But he was a phenomenal athlete and a great competitor and made everybody around him better. First couple of years on the team, the team was lousy. They brought in Bill Walsh to become the coach and some other people around him. Some great players, as it turned out, like Ronnie Lott and Dwight Clark and Jerry, you know, they kept adding to their talent. And finally, in 1981, you know, they broke through and they won the Super Bowl in 1982. Joe was always kind of a prankster, easy going, but when it came time to play, there was no better competitor. And he always kept his cool, almost always, no matter how dire the situation. And so, naturally, he became a fan favorite. The team started winning and, you know, they wound up winning five Super Bowls, four that he was involved with. And I got to know him well, being around him almost every day and learned that he was a golfer and took him golfing a couple times. And we just got along very well. And plus, I had been there when the team was lousy and had never burned him. You know, never been overly critical, as I was with all the players. And so, when they got good and other riders jumped on the bandwagon, those players tended to talk more to the guys who'd been around, who they knew and they trusted. And fortunately, I was one of those guys. In 1984, they won the regular season and made it to the Super Bowl, which that year was played in 1985 at Stanford Stadium. And I was covering the 49ers and went to high school right across the street at Palo Alto High. So it was a dream come true for me. And I knew a lot of people around Stanford, which was hosting the Super Bowl. And one of the guys at Stanford called me and said, Hey, I don't know if you know about this, but on the Friday before the Super Bowl, they're going to do a mock Super Bowl at Stanford Stadium. They're going to use a fraternity from Stanford. They're going to dress them in Miami and 49er uniforms. And would you like to go out there and do a story on it? They're going to have referees, the ABC announcing crew will be doing a mock broadcast. They'll have the cheerleaders out there. They'll have scoreboards going, you know. On the stadium? In the stadium. The regular stadium. And so it'll be just like a game. And so I said, yeah, that sounds great. You know, he goes, well, let me check into it. I think I can get you in. And I was the only writer that knew about this. And the guy called me back and he goes, ABC said okay. And while that process was going on, I started thinking, well, if a fraternity is going to imitate the 49ers, maybe they'll let me play. And so I called the guy back and I said, any chance I could play? And you played football before? I did. And I said, you know, so I could write a story about what it was like to actually go through this. And the guy goes, well, I don't know. He goes, probably not, but let me call. And he said, who would you want to be? I said, Joe Montana. I said, I got to be this. I was a high school quarterback in college in intramural football. So I wasn't, you know, horrible, but obviously I was no Joe Montana. But to my shock, the guy called me back and he goes, ABC said okay. So that Saturday or Friday afternoon, they said, be at the stadium at 2 o'clock. You know, here's your pass to get in. And I go down to the field and here it is. I mean, ready for a Super Bowl, you know, just a transformation. And I mean, it was mind-blowing. And the field was lined, you know, with all the color and the teams. And they had all the lighting in. And they brought in a big scoreboard. And the officials were on the field. So we all got jerseys. And I got number 16 red. And then they had a whiteboard. And they showed plays that they wanted to run, that the 49ers would run, so that I could, you know, do those plays. And they could test their camera angles. And then you could look up in the press box and see, which was open, and you could see Frank Gifford and Don Meredith and Howard Cosell, who were calling the game. And they were doing a fake broadcast. So sure enough, we start doing it. And it's basically flag football. And we were told, no tackling, no hard hitting, just the play ends when the flag comes out. And they'll stop it whenever they want, if they want to change something. So we got the ball first. And on my first play, I slip going back. And I throw this terrible pass. And it almost gets intercepted. And the guys that I'm playing with from the Stanford fraternity look at me like, oh boy, this is going to be awful. And then I calmed down. And I settled in and threw a few touchdown passes. And on one play, an overzealous Miami lineman blitzed me. And right as I was getting ready to throw, he hit me right under the chin and broke my glasses. And I still have a video of it. It's so funny. They send us all videos after. And you can see my glasses flying through the air and me. Even though it's supposed to be flag football. Yes, going sideways. But long and short of it is we had a phenomenal time. We did it for a couple hours. The 49ers won that day, my team. And the next day, I saw Montana at the last press conference. Before the game? Before the Super Bowl. And I said to them, hey, Joe, I just want you to know that the game's in the bag. And he called me salty. And he goes, what do you mean, salty? And I go, we had a little mock Super Bowl game yesterday. And I imitated you. And we won. So no worries. You got it. And he looked at me like, what? He just laughed. He basically put up with me and said, OK, good to know. And sure enough, the next day, he had a phenomenal game. 49ers won. And he was the MVP. And so I went into the locker room after the game, like I always do. And I found him. And he saw me. And I went over and gave him a little bit of a hug. And I go, I told you you were going to win. And we both, we still laugh about that. That's an awesome story. Now, you have covered not just sports, but there was a lot of celebrities that were involved with the sports. Yes. And you mentioned in your book that you actually met five presidents through your coverage. Now, tell us just a little bit about it, because this sounds amazing. I mean, it's amazing enough to meet one president, but to meet five of them. Well, one thing about golf, which I learned more and more, is it's a great connector sport. And a lot of presidents play golf. And through the years, I covered the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, now called the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, on the Monterey Peninsula. And many times, presidents or ex-presidents who played golf would be invited, and many of them played. And I met both Bushes there. I met Gerald Ford there, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump. Big golfer. The interesting thing is, Trump, the one year that he played, he made a hole-in-one in the tournament at Spyglass Hill. And obviously, he wasn't the president then. He was just a hotel guy in New York. But he held a press conference outside what is famously known as the Tap Room, a little restaurant. And there were about five or six of us who interviewed him and talked to him about his hole-in-one, just as a note in our stories. And he was going on and on, and for whatever reason, he remembered me. And when I went to work at Golf Digest, many years later, I did a story where I wanted his input about the greatest courses he'd played in his lifetime. And I reached out to him, and lo and behold, he responded to me. So it's just one of those things you never know. I would say one of the biggest things I learned in writing, and I still practice today, is never burn a bridge. You just never know. And I think that's something anybody who gets into this business should always remember. No matter how frustrated you get or inconsequential you think maybe that meeting might be, I kept a Rolodex when I was young. I always kept phone numbers whenever I could get them, because you just never know. Pebble Beach is probably one of the most premier golf courses in the world. And you had experience there with Nathaniel Crosby as well, through different tournaments. Anything you can share about that? Sure. Well, Nathaniel was Bing Crosby's youngest son. Bing obviously hosted the tournament at Pebble Beach for many, many years, and really is the father of the Pro-Am. Back in Rancho Santa Fe, California, he wanted to find a way, because he was a golfer, to help struggling professionals make some money. And so he would invite celebrity friends around Hollywood to Rancho Santa Fe for a few days and bring in the pros. And they would team them up, and he'd put up a little purse for the pros. And that's how the Pro-Am started. Pro-Am, Pro-Amateur. Correct. And he moved it to Pebble Beach. And so, for many, many years, it was the most popular tournament in the world, other than a major championship. And my father played in it probably a dozen times, and I caddied for him a few times. And then when I met Nathaniel Crosby, Bing's son, we hit it off. He won the U.S. Amateur in 1981 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, which I covered for the examiner. And we got to be friends, and a few years later, he invited me to be his partner. And so that was a thrill of a lifetime. And because, at that point, his father had passed away, he and his brother Harry became co-hosts for a while of the tournament. And that meant that they would want him, TV, CBS would want him to be at Pebble Beach on Saturday, which was their big telecast with all the celebrities. And so, to do that, you would start in a certain rotation so that you would wind up on Saturday of the three courses they used at Pebble Beach. And so, the first day, we would play at Cypress Point Club. And I was, at that point, about a 4 or 5 handicap. And the second year we played, we were having a good tournament. We got off to a very good start. He was playing well, I was playing well. And we got to the world-famous par 3, 16th hole, which is 230 yards over the ocean. And it always backed up because people waited to hit. And there was a big hillside behind the tee, and there would be hundreds of spectators who would line up there waiting for the celebrities and the big pros to come through. And we were right in the middle of them. And so, when it got to be our turn to hit, Nathaniel looked at me and said, I want you to lay up to the left. Don't go for the green. Meaning, you would take an extra shot? Correct. Playsafe. You get a stroke here, we're doing well, don't take any chances. And I told him to go pound salt. I said, I didn't come here to lag. I'm going for it. And he was mad. And I said, I don't know when I'll come back. I'm playing well, I'm going to go for it. So, he was really mad. And so, I took a 3-wood out. And I was really nervous because there were the most people I'd ever been around to play in front of. Celebrities on top of it. Yeah, and my hand was literally shaking as I teed the ball up. I almost couldn't pull my hand away, I was shaking so much. That's how nervous I was. And then I collected myself and I hit a... It's still the best shot I've ever hit in my life. I hit a beautiful 3-wood over the water and landed on the green and rolled about 15 feet away. And I got a lot of applause and people on the tee were high-fiving me. It was kind of an out-of-body experience. And as I walked off the tee, the players behind us, who were waiting to hit, were sitting on the end of their bags, as they usually do when they wait. One of them was Lanny Watkins, who was one of the best players on tour and was leading the tournament. And he was looking down at the ground, sitting on the corner of his bag. And so, as I walked by him, I kind of looked at him like, he's got to say something, right? Like, great shot or way to go or, you know, something. And as I walked by, he never looked up and he said, routine, huh, pal? And it completely deflated me. I mean, just like pulled me out of my little dream. And I looked back at him and almost walked off the cliff into the ocean. Completely shook me. Meantime, you know, as I'm walking, people are waving and yelling nice things. I totally blocked that out, because he had completely deflated me. I bet you don't regret taking that shot. You don't regret and, you know, you didn't want to play the safe one. No, no, I mean, I would do it again. It's a good choice. It's an amazing choice. But the funniest part about all this is that a couple years later, they had the US Open in San Francisco at the Olympic Club. And a friend of mine arranged a golf game the Monday after the tournament at San Francisco Golf Club, another wonderful course, and invited me to play. And he said, I'm going to bring Lanny Watkins. He was a friend. He wanted to play. I said, great. And, of course, all I could think of was I got to ask him about Pebble Beach, see if he remembers when he, like, you know, criticized me or didn't compliment me. And so finally on about the fifth hole, I said, hey, Lanny, I go, you're probably not going to remember this, but do you remember that 18, that Crosby at Cypress Point where, you know, one of the amateurs hit a really nice shot. You were waiting on the tee and knocked it on the green, and people were clapping. And it happened to be me, and as I walked off, you said, routine, pal. And he looked at me and he goes, you know, Mark, he goes, I don't remember that at all. He goes, but it sounds like something I'd say. This Bay Area Innovators episode is sponsored by Peter Cassara Clothiers, an Italian menswear store that brings timeless European style with a modern edge to Sunnyvale and the Bay Area for over 50 years. From top Italian suits and shoes, the exclusive Tami Bahama line, they've got your look covered. Check out their website at PeterCassaraClothiers.com to find out more. And now, back to our interview. That takes me to one last player I want to ask you about, and then we'll go into some other things you're involved with, but John McEnroe, he's one of my favorite players, tennis players. He's not the best, but he's got seven Grand Slams. He's an amazing player. What makes him special is the way he would interact with the public. He was kind of rowdy, but he was just fantastic. Tell us, you know, you interacted with him, interviewed him, any experience that you can share. So before I went to work at Stanford in the athletic department, you know, but I'd been around Tiger, and I'd obviously followed McEnroe's early career. And when I heard he was coming to Stanford to play, I knew the coach, Dick Gould, and I said, you know, I was writing for a smaller paper, and I said, you know, I know I'm a smaller paper, but I'm really interested in McEnroe. I just, you know, I'd love to sit down and talk to him. And Dick, being a great guy, said, yeah, I can set that up for you. And so on a Friday morning at 10 o'clock, he said, you know, be at the tennis facility on campus, and I'll have him here. So McEnroe shows up 45 minutes late, and Dick Gould is a stickler for punctuality. He was not happy. He kept looking at his watch, and even though John was the best freshman tennis player in the country, he was mad. Finally, McEnroe comes up on a bike with a backpack and disheveled hair, doesn't shave, and looked like he'd just kind of been dragged through a ball washer, really. And coach said to him, John, you're late. And he goes, I know, coach, sorry. And he goes, well, this reporter's been waiting to talk to you. Let's go. And so I went over and sat down on a bench, and John had no interest in talking to me. I mean, he would have rather gone out and stepped on hot coals than talk to me. And I could tell he was hungover and he'd had a late night. I don't think he'd gone to sleep. But I remember being a college kid and being up late and drinking and all that, and it was Thursday night was the night to go out and party around there, so clearly he'd been out late. And so I looked at him and I go, late night, huh? And he goes, yeah, you could say that. I didn't go to sleep. I go, I went to Chico. He goes, oh, you know. I go, yeah, I know. And that broke the ice. And so I said, look, I'm not looking to, you know, dissect you or anything. I just want to know a little bit about your upbringing and how tennis became your life and, you know, what, you know, how you have gotten so good and what is it about the game. Anyways, we started going through all that and he was great. And then I said, well, did you play any other sports? Turned out he played basketball and he was a point guard and he hogged the ball too much. He liked to shoot. And even then he had a hot temper and he got a lot of technical fouls and, you know, his whole sort of disruptive demeanor started back then. And our time quickly, an hour quickly went by and Dick came over and said, hey, John, you've got to go to class. And he thanked me. I thanked him. And, you know, I would have liked to have talked to him more. And he left and the coach came over and he said, he goes, how was he? And I go, coach, he was really good. I enjoyed talking to him. He goes, no, seriously, how was he? And I said, he was great. He gave me everything I wanted. I couldn't have asked for more. And he goes, he's a good kid. I go, I know he's a good kid. And that year he won the NCAA singles championship. Team won the team title. And he turned pro and he won Wimbledon. So he stayed one year. But, you know, I came to find out through friends that had gone to school with him that he played intramural football and basketball at Stanford. And, you know, some of his temper tantrums got him chased off the course or the football field or the gym. But he also, in his dorm, would play ping pong against anybody all night. He was a great ping pong player. And, you know, he'd take on all comers. And he, like a lot of kids who come to Stanford who are great at something, they find out so is everybody else. Maybe not sports, but engineering or art or music. And Tiger was the same way. They loved that. They loved being around other people who excelled. And John was like that too. And so I think, you know, you ask him today, if you ask Tiger today, they both say the same thing. You know, the time I spent at Stanford was probably the most memorable of my whole life. Yeah, he probably definitely did better in an individual sport than a team sport. Yeah, I know he is. You know, even some of the people I talked to who went there with him said he didn't play well with others. Although he did get along well with his teammates on the tennis team. He, you know, they had – every one of those kids was a great player. And McEnroe was not a prima donna. He, you know, encouraged other players and treated everybody the same. And because of that, you know, they had a very successful team and a program. And he stayed in touch with a lot of those guys. Did he seem to enjoy playing tennis? He definitely did. He did. But, you know, he even admitted later in life that part of his histronics, if you will, his temper tantrums, it was part of an act. I mean, he, you know, he was a little bit of an entertainer. And sometimes he took it too far. A lot of times he took it too far. Yeah, when he lost points or games. You know, whether it was against Connors or Borg or somebody, he knew – and he and Connors for sure had a back and forth. Where Connors would get upset and then he would get upset. And, you know, it was entertainment, really. Now they had phenomenal talent, but there was entertainment in there too. Well, Mark, thank you so much for your time. I still want to ask you about your current interest. It's Youth On Course. It's a non-profit that you're involved with. Please tell us about that. Sure. So about five years ago when I was leaving Stanford Athletics, I was kind of deciding whether to retire or potentially find a new career. But I wanted to stay around golf and I wanted to figure out a way to help kids. And so one of my friends from college, a guy named Paul Morton, who was a very close friend, his father had an idea in the early 2000s for a non-profit to try to bring more less fortunate kids into golf to connect them because he knew how important it would be to help them in later life, not only just to get out on the course, but to meet people and help it open doors. And so he passed away suddenly, and Paul and his brother Brian, who was also a good friend, kind of ran with it and got other members of the club they belonged to to support it. And then they got connected with the Northern California Golf Association and they started what's called Youth On Course. And this was in 2005 or 2006. And until 2015, it was mainly a Northern California non-profit to help kids get access. Now, five years later, or ten years later almost, we have 250,000 kids all over the world who can play almost 2,500 courses for $5 or less. So they just sign up with this organization? All they do is go on our website and sign up. It's a very minimal entry fee. And these kids can play public golf courses all around the world. What is the website? It's youthoncourse.org. And we are now just launching an expansion program to double our membership and the amount of courses you can play in the next five years. What's the age up to? The age is basically about five until 18. It's an amazing opportunity for kids. It's phenomenal. And we do now mentoring programs where we get our donors to play golf with some of our kids. We've done five or six of those that we're going to really ramp up so that these kids realize we're not trying to make you great golfers. We're trying to help you figure out what you want to do in life and maybe connect you with somebody who can help you, whether it's music or business or maybe even the golf business. And so we've had a ton of success with that. We offer college scholarships, internships, and it's a phenomenal program that's near and dear to my heart. I'm very passionate about it. We have so many success stories that I think it's something that you're only going to hear more of, and I hope people will check it out. So there's a selected number of golf courses that they can select from, and you have partnerships with all those golf courses. That's fantastic. It's a great opportunity for these kids, particularly the ones who can't afford to pay the heavy greens fees. And it also helps them come out with their parents or their siblings or their friends, and they can interact more. And for me, growing up, playing golf with my father, who introduced me to golf, changed my life. I talked to him more on the golf course than at any other time in my life until he got older. Now you're also working on a movie. Tell us about that, and that's going to be our ending topic. Yes. About a dozen years ago, a filmmaker from Santa Cruz named Clark Brigham came to me. He told me he was making a movie about a very famous golfer from Oakland named Tony Lima. His nickname was Champagne Tony Lima, because when he won, he would buy the writers Champagne in the press room. And he came up the hard way, single parent, didn't have much, was going the wrong way. And a black instructor moved into the Oakland area. His name was Lucius Bateman. And Lucius would teach all the young kids over there. He had a little driving range. He would teach all the young kids for free. And then he would hire some of them to work there. He was a very good player, but he had no access to golf, because blacks weren't allowed to compete in tournaments in the 40s and 50s. And so he taught a lot of these kids and took Tony under his wing. And Tony became a champion golfer, thanks to Lucius. And he won the British Open, the Open Championship in St. Andrews, and became the second most popular golfer in the 50s to Arnold Palmer, who became one of his best friends. So the film is about the relationship between Champagne Tony Lima and Lucius Bateman, which script is done, and we hope will be out in the next year or so. 2025. And then we did also a documentary on the evolution of minority golf, how it's changed, and how there are much more opportunities. And Steph Curry, Stephen Curry, has a foundation that helps young kids in Oakland eat, learn, and play. And he is so impressed with what we're doing that he's going to help produce this documentary with us, which we've already funded and will be out this spring. And then we have two more documentaries in the works as well. So when people ask me if I'm retired, I say not hardly. I'm busier than ever, and I'm more excited than ever about the things I'm doing. Mark, fantastic to have you here. Thank you so much for your time. Good luck with everything, and thank you for sharing amazing stories. And your book is here. We recommend it to our audience. I appreciate it very much. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Thank you for watching another episode of the Bay Area Innovators. If you have a suggestion for someone who should be on our program, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email at sfbay at epochtimes.com. Thank you for watching, and see you next week.