Hole in one makes Elway's birthday

By MARY EVERTZ

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 2, 2000

John Elway, the Super Bowl-winning former quarterback of the Denver Broncos, celebrated his 40th birthday Wednesday at the Westin Innisbrook Resort with his first hole-in-one.

Elway was in the Tampa Bay area for a big celebrity golf tourney (officially called the Dodge Shootout). The event was off-limits to the media -- that was, until Elway aced the 193-yard 13th hole on Island Course and it hit the national news.

"It's my highlight in golf," Elway said. "I hit a good 3-iron high at the hole. I didn't see it go in. I looked around and went to the hole and there it was. I had a hard time believing it. It's my first, and to have it happen on my birthday is special."

The event was a sports fan's paradise. Twelve-year NFL veteran Joe Theismann and baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench swapped stories with University of Florida head football coach Steve Spurrier. Former football star and now actor Ed Marinaro was seen on the course. The formal golf course dress code was waived for all-pro quarterback Jim McMahon, who opted to play the course in his bare feet.

After the round, an elated Elway went to the Loch Ness Monster pool to tell his wife, Janet, and their kids ( Jessica, Jack, Jordan and Julianna) that he'd made the hole-in-one. Jack, unimpressed by his famous dad's latest athletic accomplishment, looked up and asked, "Was Michael Jordan playing today, Dad?"

Union for Puckett

For 10 years producer Lorrie Haimes and Gary Puckett of the late-'60s pop/rock group Gary Puckett & the Union Gap were best friends. Romance ensued, and in May the two eloped. They were married May 18 in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

This week, her parents, Dr. Allen and Judith Haimes of Clearwater, have been in Puckett's hometown of San Diego for a party celebrating the marriage. A similar party is planned in Clearwater in early August, says her sister, Jakey Haimes.

Puckett formed his band in San Diego in 1967 and called it the Union Gap, after the town of Union Gap, Wash. The band was signed by Columbia Records, and at the end of 1967 started making hit records. They scored six Top 20 hits from 1967 to 1969 with their dynamic productions and Puckett's passionate vocals. Combined CD, tape and record sales now exceed 20-million units. Puckett has since gone on as a solo artist and has enjoyed success playing festivals, theaters and arenas around the world.

Among Puckett's greatest hits are Young Girl, Lady Willpower, This Girl is a Woman Now, Woman Woman and Don't Give In To Him.

Lorrie Puckett is currently accompanying her husband on his cross-country tour. When not touring, they'll live part of the year in Clearwater, the other half in San Diego.

Webb's City in song

Many who grew up in St. Petersburg from the 1920s through the early 1970s have been musically reliving the days of the "World's Most Unusual Drugstore"and its mermaids, dancing chickens and double-dip ice cream cones for a nickel. Webb's City, the Musical, which opened at Ruth Eckerd Hall last week and is now playing at St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater, has brought back a flood of memories for all who patronized the Sunshine City's grand commercial complex.

Sherry Webb Treadwell, Webb's granddaughter, who collaborated with author/director Bill Leavengood, planned to be in the audience Saturday night with 50 family members and friends.

"Uncle Doc" was what Treadwall affectionately called him, explaining, "He didn't want to be called "Grandfather' because he thought it was bad for his image." It was Webb who picked her name when she was born and who took her on special adventures to the inner sanctums of Webb's City after hours. She also liked to slide down the grand staircase of her granddad's Allendale home on the satin comforter he provided as a sled.

Treadwell recalls that when she married the note he sent with her gift instructed her not to make him a great-grandfather (or great-uncle).

Although Webb was paternalistic with some of his employees (some are buried with the Webbs in the family plot) he preferred to be an "uncle" to his grandchildren.

Treadwell and her brothers, James E. III, Skip and Troy, are the children of Webb's late son, James E. Jr., and his wife, Betsy (who was one of Webb's City's famous Poster Girls). Among those who planned to attend Saturday's performance were Treadwell and her husband, Randy. Others included their daughter (no, she didn't pay attention to Webb's request) Tiffany and her husband, Mark Lettelier, and son Brand Treadwell and date Angela Scofield. Also, brothers James E. Webb III and wife Sue of Largo with their son, James IV, and daughter, Jaime, of Gainesville; Skip Webb and wife Debbie of Largo and kids Lacey and Logan, and Troy and Sue Webb of Raleigh, N.C., with Ian and Chelsea.

At the zenith of the Webb's City era, Treadwell's dad and the late Fred Scott shared vice presidential duties and an office. When the operation was sold to a Texas group, Scott took the helm for a while as president. Joining the Treadwell group for the show was Scott's daughter, Jerie Cunningham, and husband Greg and their daughter and son-in-law, Staci and Sean Goodrich.

Sherry's late grandmother was Marie Bowers, Webb's first wife, from whom he was divorced after 12 years of marriage. Webb's second wife, Aretta Brooks, died in 1973, and his third wife, Dorothy Ondriezek, died last year. Webb died in 1982 at the age of 85.

A Wedding celebration

When former mayor C. Randolph Wedding took over the ballroom of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club on June 23 to mark his 40th anniversary as an architect, he presented the 400-plus guests in attendance with commemorative bottles of cabernet sauvignon. The "40 years" label had a composite of the many buildings that Wedding and his group have designed throughout Florida.

Wedding was the designer of the original Busch Gardens, and his dad, the late Charles Wedding, was the landscape architect for the project.

In St. Petersburg, Wedding has left a major imprint with the design of high-rise senior housing buildings such as Graham Park and John Knox Apartments, in addition to Bankers Life, SunTrust Bank, Florida Power (now ABR/Ceridian), All Children's Hospital and the Cloisters.

He was also the designer of Clearwater Square (now the Atrium).

Wedding's family roots are deep in the community. In 1905, his grandfather, also Randolph Wedding, established his landscape business in the area known as the Goose Pond. That site, which later became Central Plaza, is where Wedding has one of his next major projects in the offing.

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