Whatever Happened To Jamie Hutton?

[EmperorPenguin]

I was looking back at some old golf tournaments on YouTube and found an interesting tournament that took place a couple years before I started playing golf back in 1990. In fact, it was the final round of the 1988 MCI Heritage Classic at Harbour Town GL. For some reason, the video featured Greg Norman and some kid by the name of Jamie Hutton. Here is the video in case you want to see.

 

 

The first thought in my mind was Who the heck is this kid? I did a little research and found this article.

2. Norman dedicates Heritage win to cancer-stricken boy

Seventeen-year-old Jamie Hutton was scheduled for a bone marrow transplant the day after the 1988 Heritage, but before the leukemia-stricken boy went to the hospital, he came to Harbour Town Golf Links hoping to see his favorite golfer, Greg Norman, and perhaps even meet his idol.

As it turned out, he did more than that. The group Thursday's Child, similar to the Make a Wish Foundation, sponsored a trip for Hutton and his family from their home in Wisconsin and also arranged for the teenager to meet Norman on the Saturday of the tournament.

The two enjoyed an instant rapport, and although the Huttons had planned to leave town Sunday on a commercial flight, Norman chartered a jet for them so that they could stay long enough to watch the final round.

Trailing by four shots going into the final round, Norman ate breakfast with Jamie, who gave him this simple advice: "Shoot a 64." With Hutton following him in the gallery and CBS telling the touching story of his new friend, Norman shot a 66, and that was enough to edge David Frost and Gil Morgan by a single shot.

Norman presented the winner's trophy to Hutton, who wore the tartan blazer of tournament committee member Paula Bethea to the closing ceremonies.

 

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/golf/article14426645.html#storylink=cpy

Subsequently I found another tournament, the 1989 GMO and found Greg winning another tournament with this Jamie Hutton kid again.

 

 

OK, so it makes sense to bring this kid to the tournament since Jamie is from Wisconsin anyway. I do have a few questions.

 

1. Where is Jamie Hutton today? Is he living a normal life now? Maybe someone from Wisconsin knows?

2. If Jamie is still alive today, is he still keeping in touch with his alleged "pal" Greg Norman, or was this some publicity stunt at the time?

 

I am very curious of this kid because I started playing golf in 1990 and I was an avid Greg Norman fan when I started playing golf. However, at the time I started playing golf the Jamie Hutton hoopla had been a couple years passed and back in 1990 I followed everything Greg was doing and not once had I heard of this Jamie Hutton kid until today. From what I understand, Jamie was 17 years old during the MCI Heritage back in 1988, so that makes him about 45 years old today--assuming he's alive.

[TimV]

This is all I could find. Apparently still alive as of 2015 anyway...

http://www.hhireb.com/uncategorized/did-you-know-april-2015/

[D Gilbertsion]

I just did a search because I'm about to share this story with my 6th grade students, here in Sonoma County, CA, who are studying the human body, specifically cells, cancer and the treatments available.  This story is of particular interest to me because I knew Jamie growing up.

 

When I was a boy growing up in Wisconsin, there was a classmate of mine who was competing with me for a spot on the 8th grade basketball team.  His name is Jamie Hutton.

 

Jamie was slower than me, smaller than me, and couldn’t shoot as well as me.  Jamie came in near last, or at least behind me, in every drill, practice or scrimmage we played in.  In fact, Jamie wasn’t even supposed to be in our grade!  He had been held back in 8th grade and was now competing with us, who were a year younger than him, and he was the worst athlete in the group!  Despite all of this, Jamie was awarded a spot on the team and I was cut.  I asked the coach, whom I respected deeply why this was.  Coach Hash didn’t give me a good answer but he did indicate that there were elements he could not talk about.  In response, Coach let me be the team manager and allowed me to participate in many of the team’s drills.  This turned out to be a wonderful experience as I kept the scorebook, participated in practices and really improved me, both as a player and a person.  But that cut did hurt and it didn't make any sense to me.

 

For years I tried to wrap my head around this and, later, I got an answer while watching TV.  A pro golfer, Greg Norman, was playing his rounds and the analysts told the story of a young man who was being given a gift as part of the “Make a Wish” project.  His last wish was to be the caddy for his favorite sports hero, Greg Norman.  The young man was living with a life threatening disease, luekemia.  And, as you may have guessed, that young man was Jamie.

 

Jamie had been diagnosed and treated in 8th grade and missed a year of school because of it.  Leukemia was considered a death sentence back then but, because of treatments developed around that time, his life was extended and he got to live out his wish.

 

I would love to hear how Jamie is doing and, perhaps, offer my apology for being an ignorant, selfish, kid that probably gave him nasty looks and such.  But I will add that it is good to know that, as of 2015, he was alive and well!

 

I wish you well, Jamie!  Reach out to me on Facebook if you happen to see this!

 

-David Gilbertson-