At 91, this golfer is inspiring

He doesn't know why he's outlived everyone but his son, daughter and grandkids. He doesn't know if he's got some gene that just kicked in or what.

I asked him what he thought it was.

"It's all that good, clean living," he said, chuckling. "I don't smoke and I don't drink."

Seriously, however, he does remember when he quit smoking cigars some 30 years ago. He liked to keep those stogies in the pocket of his jacket. But when he'd visit his daughter, his grandson kept finding them and breaking them in half. He asked his grandson why and the kid told him he didn't want him to smoke them any more or he'd get cancer.

"I had a box in the cupboard I finished up and never smoked one again," Mancuso said.

Mancuso is inspiring. He's also lucky to live this long with such good health. Listening to him makes you feel real small complaining about a sore back or a little pain in the elbow. They had one guy in this tournament with Alzheimer's and they got special permission to go against tournament rules and allow a spouse to ride in the cart with him.

This kind of passion in people is something to be celebrated. Good for them.

It's also a challenge to the rest of us.

We gotta get all we can while we can out of these carbon-based units.

Good-luck, Mr. Mancuso, thanks for melting all my excuses.

e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com