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 Lisa Scott in front of a statue of her great-uncle at Riviera Country Club (Photo: Eddie Meeks) But Hogan also has a strong tie to Southern California, mainly because of Riviera Country Club, where he won three consecutive tournaments in 1947 and 1948, including the U.S. Open. Hogan’s other Southland connection is his great-niece, Lisa Scott, who created his foundation. Scott lives in the same neighborhood as Riviera —Pacific Palisades — with her husband and two children. Scott, whose grandmother was the sister of Hogan’s wife, Valerie, saw Hogan nearly every summer while growing up. But though she ate dinner in his home and was his guest many times at the private club he belonged to, it took her a long time to realize just who great-uncle Ben truly was. “When I was really little, I understood he was somebody and that he played golf,” she said. “And when I got a little older I saw ‘Follow the Sun’ (the 1951 film based on his comeback after a life-threatening car crash), and I’d brag that my great-uncle had a movie about him. But I don’t think I understood his true significance until after he died.” As a private person who disdained celebrity, Hogan probably wouldn’t have signed off on the idea of using his name to raise money, even for charity, Scott said. But after his death, Valerie contemplated starting a foundation. “But I think she felt it would be a bit too much for her,” Scott said. When Valerie died in 1999, Scott began dealing with memorabilia and photo requests for the Hogan estate. The idea of a non-profit foundation that could use her great-uncle’s name and legacy for good causes was appealing. “But I really had no idea where I could even start to create it,” she said. “It took a while for the idea to take form.” Over time, she met enough people who supported the idea that she felt it was feasible, and she launched the Ben Hogan Foundation (benhoganfoundation.org) last year with a mission to preserve Hogan’s legacy, promote the game, provide health care and educational opportunities for those in need, and offer support for America’s military. The foundation is raising money to build the Ben Hogan Learning Center for the First Tee of Fort Worth. It has also raised money to send children with acute asthma to Camp Broncho, a therapeutic and educational summer camp. The long-term plan is to hold charity tournaments across the country, with Los Angeles being a key spot, said Scott, whose goal is to give the foundation a national profile within five years. Regardless of her link to Hogan, she knows that will take work. “I wouldn’t say the fact I’m Ben Hogan’s great-niece means I walk into a room and it’s like the Red Sea parting,” she said. “But a foundation in his name is a bit easier to get known than, say, the Lisa Scott Foundation.” Scott’s work has led her to a deeper appreciation of her great-uncle, an appreciation that was solidified last year when she took golf lessons at Riviera. “To think that he excelled at such an incredibly difficult sport made me appreciate him all the more,” she said. |
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