They called Gus Andreone the Night Rider. The colorful nickname was bestowed upon him as a 15-year-old caddie at Pittsburgh’s St. Clair Country Club because of his willingness to loop for a member named Dr. Goldman in the day’s last, feeble light.
For years, the caddie yard was the academy from which underprivileged students graduated into the game. Andreone’s family was so poor that his shoes had holes in the soles. One time, to quicken the pace, he picked up the doctor’s ball with his toes and advanced it some 50 yards. Dinner was calling.
“He had no idea,” Andreone recalled.