Column: Long history at Firestone, 1 man who's seen it all

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Deemed to be too young and too small for work, Paul Lazoran turned to walk away when the Firestone Country Club pro told him he could sit in a corner of the golf shop and clean clubs for $2 a day.

That was 1951. Lazoran was 9. And he never left.

He was there in 1954 to watch Tommy Bolt win the Rubber City Open, the first tournament at Firestone. He was the caddie for Arnold Palmer, his hero, in the 1964 World Series of Golf, and for Gary Player the following year when Player won the four-man exhibition and paid Lazoran $2,500, enough for a down payment on a house.

He drank beers into the night with Nick Price when the 26-year-old from Zimbabwe won his first title in America.