WATCH: This video of Jack and Barbara Nicklaus dancing will warm your heart
Jack Nicklaus won 18 major titles, but on Tuesday his wife, Barbara, picked up a major honor for herself.
Barbara was presented with the 2019 PGA Distinguished Service Award, the PGA of America’s highest honor, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. Jack won the award in 2000, and Barbara became the first sole female to win since Patty Berg in 1995.
The award honors those who display leadership and humanitarian qualities such as integrity, sportsmanship and enthusiasm for golf. Barbara is the chair and co-founder of the Nicklaus Children’s Healthcare Foundation and has helped it raise more than $100 million in the last 15 years.
Want to join many in congratulating my wife Barbara on @PGA’s Distinguished Service Award! Delighted she was celebrated tonight for a life truly dedicated to helping others. Barbara is the most selfless, giving, caring person I know!
— Jack Nicklaus (@jacknicklaus) November 6, 2019
She is & always will be my First Lady of Golf! pic.twitter.com/7Tf2GB4PMH
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“Golf has given Jack so much, most importantly it has been our vehicle to attempt to give back to the game he loved when I met him and the game that I now love, cherish and support,” Barbara said. “We always want to be successful, and I don’t mean as in only wealth and power, but in finding meaning in our lives, testing our capabilities and hopefully making the world a better place for having passed through it. Jack and I feel so blessed to be able to help others, particularly children. We pray that our life’s work has made a small difference as we have tried to give back through this phenomenal game even though we could never give back as much as we have been blessed to receive. But, we won’t keep trying.”
Perhaps the most touching moment of the night came when hardly anyone else was around. Jack and Barbara, who have been married since 1960, danced to Can’t Help Falling in Love in the convention center ballroom. You can check out the video below.
Guess Mark Twain left a few good parties last too when he said:
— Jack Nicklaus (@jacknicklaus) November 6, 2019
“Dance like nobody's watching;
love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening;
live like it's heaven on earth."
Or he knew someone like my wife Barbara!
Thanks @PGA for fantastic night for our family! pic.twitter.com/F4Xd925Yzg
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