How He Played the Game: Ed "Porky" Oliver and Golf's Greatest Generation

Review\nJohn Riley's masterfully told tribute to Porky Oliver is a long overdue celebration of not just a golfer but of the legion of players who deeply understood the meaning of service—to country and to the game. Riley's research affords us the chance to walk around in that golden era of Hogan and Nelson and Snead. Thanks to these pages, golf's greatest generation is made greater by adding Ed "Porky" Oliver's name to that rare roll call.
-Tom Coyne, New York Times bestselling author of A Course Called America\nPorky Oliver finished second in all three United States major golf tournaments. One of the most colorful players to ever play the game, a book on his life was long overdue. Oliver had many accomplishments, but his greatest impact was his role in attracting fans and helping to popularize the golf tour. Thanks to this book you will see Hogan, Snead and other greats of the game as you have never seen them before.
-Peter C. Trenham, Philadelphia PGA Historian\nJust finished reading How He Played The Game. A book about the life and career of Ed "Porky" Oliver. Porky played the tour when I was playing and running the tour. He was a great guy and good friend. John Riley got it right as I remember Porky during those times. His writing style also gives you insight into many other players who had significant careers that were considered prominent players at the time and have been forgotten. Dave Douglas being one of them. A good read well worth your time.
-Joe Black, author of A Few Good Golf Stories\nRichly detailed and thoroughly researched, Riley's book is a warm and appreciative biography. It is also a good history of the middle period of the PGA tour, meaning after Walter Hagen and other notables of the 1920s and early 30s, and just before the impact of television expanding public interest (and money) in the sport. This book deserves a place on avid golfers' bookshelves, next to Al Barkow's Golf's Golden Grind and Getting to the Dance Floor and Curt Sampson's Hogan.
-Fritz Schrantz, Golf Columnist, The Cape Gazette\nAs each year takes us further away from the pre-Palmer years when the PGA Tour was trying to shape itself into a premier sport, it is doubtful that many of today's tour players have any appreciation for the players who labored year after year to make it work. This book will help anyone come to appreciate them as life on the tour is retold in tracing how Oliver's career played out alongside his fellow tourists. More than 60 years after his passing, it's refreshing to see Ed Oliver have his name in a book that gives him his due besides being known for an oddball nickname.
-Cliff Schrock Bookshelf (former Contributing Editor, Golf Digest)\nDuring the Great Depression, Ed Oliver rose from the caddie ranks to become one of the leading professional golfers in the world. Provided an initial stake by three country club members who saw his potential, he found himself facing golf legends like Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen. Within a few years he was beating the best of a new younger wave of professionals led by Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and Jimmy Demaret.
Then, just weeks after overtaking Hogan and Nelson to win the prestigious Western Open, he was suddenly pulled into the U.S. Army with an early draft call, long before his golf tour competitors joined the war effort. He served longer than all of them, losing more than four and a half of his best athletic years. Following the war, he rebuilt his game and drove from coast to coast battling to make a living and support a family of six against the now dominant Snead and Hogan and a new wave of champions like Lloyd Mangrum, Cary Middlecoff, Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer.
Although his long absence took its toll, Oliver still regained his standing among the best and was named to three Ryder Cup teams. He drew large galleries wherever he went, and in 1957 a Sports Illustrated article called him “the most popular player on