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it was, and when the Germans began fring rockets at us, I could tell whether it was a V1 or a V2." To this day, he still suffers from claustrophobia, though there are times in his life when he has wished he were still safe asleep in his shelter. "My sister and I were visiting our grandmother in Coventry," he recalls. "When the raid started, we went to the cellar. It was much smaller than the shelter our father had built at home, but it proved to be strong enough. The house was hit and razed. It caused the three stories to collapse on top of us. Thankfully, the rest of the house was empty, as everyone was out serving as airraid wardens. We were unhurt, but scared." Even now as Wright, in chase of and gaining on his eighty-frst birthday, recalls this experience, his voice belies the depths of the horror of the event, though he tries to cover it with humor. "My sister, Susie, who was six, was more afraid than I," he explains, "and I spent most of my time "I spent six years of my youth sleeping in a solidly built air-raid shelter." trying to comfort her. We had plenty of oxygen, so we lit candles and listened to the sounds from above deep inside the beautiful wine cellar. Unfortunately, I hadn't acquired a taste for wine at the age of eight, or we could have had a party because we weren't rescued for a couple of days." When Wright and his sister were rescued, their father tried to shield them from mayhem and ruination of what will forever be known as the Coventry Blitz. His efforts fell a bit short of the mark. John Bentley Wright went into that cellar as an eightyear-old boy and returned to Luton as an old, wizened eight-year-old man. His experiences left indelible marks that age hasn't been able to completely erase. T STO P TH E P R E S S E S Golf professional Tony Jacklin (second from left) joins Ben Wright (third from left) and others for the opening of the Great Harbours Cay golf course in the Bahamas. Ben Wright with the late Pat Summerall in New York. Ben Wright at the altar of St. Michaels Cathedral, where he was christened as a child in 1932. The cathedral was shelled in bombing raids in 1941. Two years later, Wright's grandfather gave him a mashie, a golf club that would be a major tool as he shaped his life going forward. He managed to lower his handicap to fve at the age of ffteen and was rapidly becoming a "phenom," but it wasn't as a player that would drive him to success in golf. It was a day that never should have happened. "I was in the service in 1953 and I was based near enough to Carnoustie to get to the course and watch the [British] Open Championship. I had to watch this American, Ben Hogan, play," Wright says with a sly grin. "So, I left the base early in the morning to watch this golfer the Scots named called the Wee Ice Mon. Of course I was AWOL, but I was there. "Hogan absolutely boggled