• 296 pages
• 7 x 10
• Softcover
• ISBN 978-1939710-482
• Copyright 2016

By Donald Holmes Lewis
Foreword by Barbara Nicklaus

On a cold winter morning in 1935, a nine-year-old boy huddled next to his uncle on a horse-driven wagon heading for the train station in Bitola, Macedonia. His destination was America and he’d be making the train and ocean liner trip all by himself. His father had sent for him, finally. His mother was dead. The boy’s name was Pandel Savic and this is his story.

He struggled to find his way as he grew up during the Great Depression in northeast Ohio. He fought for his adopted country as a Marine in the horrific battles of the South Pacific in World War II. He quarterbacked Ohio State to its first Rose Bowl victory in 1950. He married the woman of his dreams, started a family, and became one of Jack Nicklaus’ very best friends, learning the game of golf and growing into a champion in his own right. He took perhaps more golf lessons than any man who ever lived, many from the greatest players and teachers the game has ever known.

With his own personal brand of hard work and ethics, Savic built a small industrial supply business into the largest of its kind in the nation. 

As Chairman of the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, from its inception, Savic helped the event become one of the finest on the PGA Tour. Along the way, he developed close friendships with presidents of the United States, movie stars, sports figures, and an amazing gallery of unforgettable characters.

Most of all, through both tragedy and triumph, Pandel Savic pursued the American Dream. 

These are his stories, drawn from his unique and colorful memory. They are an important reflection of the country he loves and our universal hope for a better life.