late comedian has local connection

If the greens at Tahoe's Old Brockway golf course could sing, they would most likely do a rendition of Bob Hope's "Thanks For the Memories."

Hope, who died late Sunday night at age 100, often played at the Old Brockway course in the 1950s and '60s, said course owner and operator Lane Lewis.

"Hope always said he got his best shot of golfing at the Old Brockway," Lewis said.

According to Lewis, Hope made a second hole in a par 4 when the ball went over the green, hit a deer then bounced 2 feet away from the hole.

Lewis said it is also rumored that Hope played in the first Bing Crosby Golf Tournament in 1934.

"He loved playing at Old Brockway, that's for sure," Lewis said. "Before the Big 18 hit during the '60s and '70s, this was the place to play."

Hope frequented Lake Tahoe in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, taping TV specials and attending golf tournaments.

"Clearly, Hope had a Tahoe connection," Nevada State Archivist Guy Rocha said. "He wasn't a showroom celebrity here and he didn't have too many other connections, but the golf courses were a great draw."

Bob Bonino, general manager of the Tahoe City Golf Course, said Hope played at his course when Frank Sinatra owned the Cal Neva. Hope played in the 1950s with celebrities like Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Andy Williams and Dean Martin, Bonino added.

In the July 2, 1970 edition of the weekly section of the Nevada State Journal and Reno Evening Gazette, it was written that Hope was a special guest in the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Kings Castle and Casino (now the Hyatt), along with Miss World U.S.A. Gail Renshaw.

A few weeks later, Hope returned for the 20th annual finals of the Miss World pageant in the Camelot Theater. Buddy Hackett and Sinatra also appeared at the pageant.

"What does anyone like about beauty pageants?" Hope told the Evening Gazette on Aug. 28, 1970. "The excitement, the thrill. Things like that are important in the world. In our troubled world today, it is good therapy."

Hope also taped "Bob Hope's All Star Comedy Spectacular from Lake Tahoe" in 1977, when he was 73.

Filmed in Harrah's South Shore Room, the TV special featured Charo, Mac Davis, Ann Margret and Olivia Newton John.

In September 1975, Hope gave pro golfer Sandra Palmer some golf lessons as part of a CBS TV special, "Perry Como's Lake Tahoe Holiday."

Gary Zaskoda, stage manager for Harrah's Lake Tahoe, recalls the night he met Hope. It was a special show for the high rollers, he said. Hope packed the South Shore room and kept them laughing for nearly an hour.

"I got to meet him," Zaskoda said. "He was a nice gentleman, easy to get along with. He seemed like a regular person backstage and onstage."

At one point backstage, he remembers that Hope seemed tired. Zaskoda thought at the time that it was probably a combination of Hope's age and high altitude.

On stage, though, Zaskoda recalled how he had people rolling with his one-liners.

"You would have never guessed he was tired when he went on stage," he said. "He was his true Bob Hope self."

Hope told the Nevada State Journal in 1970 that he had grown accustomed to a life of traveling.

"Jet lag and I are old companions," he said. "You know, it takes me a while to realize that I am really tired. I have to kick back a while before it really hits me -- 'My God, this is really exhausting.' It sounds corny, but I really love this work. I'm comfortable with the pace."

-- Jeff Munson contributed to this story.