Long game

Golfer’s scorecard includes 94 years and 9 holes-in-one

BY WHITNEY JOSEPH

Mitch Kaleel belies his 94 years on earth with his spritely step, his youthful charm and his contagious exuberance. He also has a way of keeping people spellbound with stories of his personal accomplishments and family history, or explaining how avoiding the five Ws — white sugar, white flour, white potatoes, white pasta and white rice — keeps him healthy. 

The good-natured nonagenarian takes his health seriously. Kaleel, one of the most accomplished golfers in Port St. Lucie, hits the links four times a week so he needs to stay in top form. On March 16, this agile athlete shot his ninth hole-in-one: An accomplishment few professional golfers can claim.

Hitting a hole-in-one is no easy feat — no less, nine of them. Golfing great Tiger Woods has hit 20 in his career while golfer Rory McIlroy has only scored two [as of this publication]. According to hio.com/americanhno-blog/tips-for-getting-a-hole-in-one, “Making a hole-in-one is undoubtedly difficult. For pro-golfers, the odds are stacked 3,000 to 1, while the odds of an average player making a hole-in-one jump to 12,000 to 1.”

“It’s a challenge, and I’ve always enjoyed hitting a ball,” Kaleel said. “I was pretty good hitting a baseball and I like hitting a golf ball.” He played town baseball as a youngster in Mendota, Illinois, where he lived fulltime until 1995. One reason he stuck with golf is because he likes variety. “A golf course is approximately 100 acres, and every golf course I go to is a different 100 acres,” he said. “If you play baseball or football, you’re playing the same course wherever you go.”

He should know. Kaleel began his athletic career on the baseball diamond. In 1949 while playing third base for the Earlville Bees, Kaleel “hit for the cycle,” stroking a single, double, triple and home run in the same game. Just 19, he was up five times during that game against the Seneca Chiefs, earning four hits and a place in the team’s record books.

His bat was replaced by a set of clubs 70 years ago, after his first marriage. “It’s one of my favorite things,” Kaleel said. 

To stay healthy his personal chef keeps his diet strict. “I get healthy food — no salt,” he said. “She stays away from that and comes once a week to prepare six meals, which I heat up. For breakfast, I have blueberries, grapes, bananas and walnuts.”

Kaleel says it takes work to stay fit. “I used to eat junk food, pizza, but I don’t eat that anymore and I feel a lot better. When I was told about the five Ws, I used to weigh 165 to 175 pounds; at one time I was 190. I [started observing the] five Ws and in a short time, I lost 20 pounds — just like that. Too many carbs are no good.”

DAD WINS

Kaleel now splits his time between Illinois and Florida. His Florida residence is at the gated Ballentrae community, which backs onto the Santa Lucia River Club, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course, where he golfs with friends like George Johnson, Warren Vanderbush and Gil Karle, all of whom witnessed his ninth coup. He occasionally tees off with his daughter, Lori Kaleel, who lives nearby. She says her dad is the more advanced golfer.

“I’m OK; I’m not bad,” she said. “It’s not that I’m not good — but he’s so good. He’s a great teacher and teaches me, which helps so much. It’s a very frustrating game, golf. You can hit a really good shot and then, nothing.”

Lori thoroughly enjoys golfing with her father. “I love it, it’s the best, going with dad. I take videos of it. People will stop, come over and ask for lessons. Everyone knows him. They’ll say, ‘Tell the celebrity I say hi.’ This kid at the driving range, the other day, came over and asked him for a lesson. 

“My dad’s a student of it; he studies it; and I would say he has a passion for it. It’s the only game that he’s completely enamored with. Basketball, no; football, no; golf, absolutely.”

Interestingly, Kaleel said if he had the opportunity to play football, he would have jumped at the chance. But fate had other plans for this golf grandmaster. “I was lucky; I would have loved to have played football, but I never got to because we didn’t have a team at my school,” he said, musing about how he’s remained relatively uninjured. “You don’t see many golfers when they get old that are in bad shape. The town I live in now in Illinois, we have guys who played pro football who are only in their 60s who can hardly walk. Some of them are dead; one guy has been in a nursing home for 10 years, who was a fullback for Minnesota.”

Kaleel reflected on his good fortune — even having attended events like The Masters — considering his father emigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon at 17, in 1905, not knowing the language or how to read or write. Yet he managed to become a success by selling needles and thread door to door, from town to town, walking miles in between. The elder Kaleel built an empire of men’s clothing stores, 90 miles outside of Chicago. Now, 119 years later, by working hard as owners of Kaleel’s Menswear stores, the family has kept the American Dream alive. 

PERSPECTIVE

Today in his 90s, Kaleel enjoys a life of leisure, doing what he loves. He has two successful children: Lori is a retired public-school teacher and David, an attorney in Illinois. He’s surrounded by friends and admirers who line up to golf with him. Ever grateful, Kaleel spoke of lessons learned from his father.

“I feel good about what he taught us — don’t buy something unless you have the money and always save money,” Kaleel recalled. “I always had more money than what I bought and that was before credit cards. My dad never had a bank account and always put his money in coffee cans. He had enough cash to buy a 200-acre farm, for about $100 an acre. He had $20,000 in cash that wasn’t in a bank. My dad had nothing — he planted corn and beans on 200 acres in Illinois.”

Kaleel has never forgotten his family’s struggles, his father’s arduous journey to the U.S. or how hard he worked to attain success. In 2018, Lori traveled to Syria to see her familial homeland. In addition to the deep connection with her ancestral land, Lori is clearly devoted to her father and delighted to speak of the many ways in which he continues to impress her and those around her.

“I am beyond proud of my dad, and so thankful that he’s here for six months out of the year,” she said. “The best way to say it is, he’s a gem. He’s so kind; he’s generous. There’s not anything — no, there’s nothing he can’t do.”