Author Archives: Michelle Hiskey

By Michelle Hiskey

Two of Atlanta’s top professional golfers will end the 2011 season by starring in atypical competitions this weekend.

You’ve probably heard of Matt Kuchar, who will tee off Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in the Tour Championship.

Kuchar, who lived in Brookhaven before moving to St. Simons a year ago and starred as an amateur while attending Georgia Tech, knows his scores at East Lake will also count toward the FedEx Cup – the PGA Tour’s prize for season-ending points playoffs.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, Rosie Jones of Sandy Springs will be leading the best American female pro golfers into the Solheim Cup against all-stars from Europe. This team match play (modeled after the men’s Ryder Cup) will take place at Killeen Castle in Ireland starting Friday.

By Michelle Hiskey

We are collectors.

My penchant for stuff traces to my maternal grandmother, whose home was filled with Roseville pottery, Depression glass, Hummel figurines and salt-and-pepper shakers. These items reflected her ideas of pleasure, beauty, home and comfort.

Her scrap iron and metal business (a.k.a. junkyard) in Twin Falls, ID was dropoff point for spare metal collected on the home front to help fight World War II. This collection reflected her community’s identity as small-town Americans marshaling every last resource for freedom’s sake.

Since 9/11, I have collected intangible souvenirs. These are words, memories and observations that, in my life as a writer, represent my stock in trade.

By Michelle Hiskey

University of Georgia football fans, what do you know about your first opponent, Boise State? Don’t say their No. 5 ranking, or their famous blue field. Everyone knows that.

Teams are like people – you can’t truly know them unless you know where they’re from.

We in Atlanta with roots in Idaho know that Boise State represents a culture as solid as their famous vegetable and as wacky as their indie star Napoleon Dynamite.

Take Frank Zang’s invitation to “go beyond the blue” field at Bronco Stadium. Zang used to work in Georgia Tech’s athletic department, and now serves as Boise State’s communications and marketing director.

By Michelle Hiskey

When a kicker comes on for a field goal or extra point, a football game takes on the feel of a dive meet or golf tournament. All eyes are on one athlete, and scoring the points are almost all on him. In all of sports, kicking is one of the most mentally demanding roles.

That scenario is never easy for a coach like Clay Cox, in his 10th year training the kickers at Greater Atlanta Christian. He’s nervous, remembering when he kicked at their level for Western Carolina. On the sideline, he can only hope he’s prepared them well enough to succeed.

On Friday night at Avondale Stadium, his butterflies were “100 times worse,” he said. The kicker was his oldest son.

By Michelle Hiskey

One connection, 20 years, 30 million tons of food for the hungry.

John Smoltz couldn’t remember the full name of the guy he met on a golf practice range in the early 1990s, who set him on a course to help Atlanta feed its hungry.

“Scott, and I don’t remember his last name!” he said, looking down with a scowl you might remember not so long ago when Smoltz was on the mound for the Atlanta Braves. “I do know it was almost like, weird, because I didn’t know him that well and I had so many of these causes thrown at me. I didn’t have anything like cancer that affected my family, and I wanted to get behind something that would make a great difference.”

By Michelle Hiskey

How many of the combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will pick up a new sport, turn professional and win three of that sport’s most prestigious trophies?

That far-fetched fairy tale happened to an Atlanta soldier drafted into Vietnam. In the foxholes, Larry Nelson heard guys talking about golf. When he returned to Cobb County, he set about becoming the best – and did it.

This weekend, as Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek hosts the PGA Championship (golf’s final major title; the Masters in Augusta is the first), Nelson’s remarkable career is a fantastic shadow story from that same course 30 years ago.