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On April 8, 2004, the first day of play in the
Masters, Bruce Edwards lost his battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou
Gehrig's Disease. Anyone who knew Bruce also knew the significance of this
date. In almost 30 years of caddying on the professional golf tour, the Masters was
always his favorite tournament.
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 Bruce suffered with a
progressive form of ALS for sixteen months. When he was diagnosed at the Mayo
Clinic, he vowed to fight the disease as long as he could, and he continued caddying for
Tom Watson until November 2003. He saw Tom through a Senior Tour major victory at
the JELD-WEN Tradition in August 2003, but perhaps the most inspiring moment came in June
at the U.S. Open, when Tom shot a sizzling 65 on opening day. The galleries cheered
equally for the golfer and caddy, and cries of "Bruuuuce, Bruuuuce" were heard
on every hole. Though his muscles were weakening, Bruce continued to tote the
50-pound golf bag up and down golf courses, 18 holes a day. Everyone who saw Bruce
carrying that bag, weakened by the effects if ALS, was moved. As the disease
gradually took away Bruce's ability to speak, Tom Watson's voice grew stronger. Tom
spoke out for Bruce and the 30,000 Americans diagnosed with this incurable disease every
year. Tom promised his friend and caddy that he would help find treatment and a cure
for his disease.
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 Bruce's
career as a caddy on the golf tour and his relationship with Tom Watson became the subject
of a best-selling book, Caddy for Life, by John Feinstein. It was the
culmination of a friendship that spanned decades. John first met Bruce in 1981 at the
Memorial, the first professional tournament John covered for The Washington Post.The young
reporter approached Bruce hoping to pick his brain for a few minutes. Those minutes
turned into a few hours, and John walked away with enough story ideas for the whole week.
While writing Caddy for Life in the last year of Bruce's life, John, too, became an avowed
foe of ALS. After Bruce's death, John with the help of Tom Watson, developed The Bruce
Edwards Foundation, dedicated to supporting research to find a cure for ALS.
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 The primary fundraising vehicle for the Foundation is the annual Bruce Edwards
Celebrity Golf Classic, held at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills,
Maryland. The first
tournament, held in September 2005, raised almost
$450,000. Since then, more than $2.5 million has
been raised for vital research. John and Tom are both recipients of the "Partner in
Collaboration" award from the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins
for their dedication to raising money for ALS research.
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The Bruce Edwards Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit corporation with no paid staff. All proceeds from the annual golf
tournament and all donations go directly to the research and medical facilities it
supports. The primary beneficiary of all donations is the Robert Packard Center for
ALS Research at Johns Hopkins. All donations to the Bruce Edwards Foundation are
tax-deductible.
Click
here for a list of the Board Members of the Bruce Edwards ALS Research FoundationPhoto credit: USGA |
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