THE ED MCMAHON - JAYCEES QUAD CITIES OPEN 1975 - 1979

The Ed McMahon-Jaycees Quad Cities Open was a PGA Pro Golf Tournament held at Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley, Illinois. Today it is known as the John Deere Classic at TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois. Tonight Show celebrity Ed McMahon hosted the tournament from 1975 through 1979. The tournament itself was started in 1971 by founding members of the Crow Valley Country Club as the Quad Cities Open, a satellite tournament sanctioned by the Chicago District Golf Association and remained on shaky grounds through 1974. Two problems facing it were the small purse of $75,000 (falling well short of the $125,000 PGA required minimum) as well as the timing of the event. It was held opposite the British Open to give the players who failed to qualify for that event a place to play. The hurdle to overcome was the fact that it was difficult to attract major name players since the majority of big name golfers were already committed. McMahon gave instant name recognition and credibility to the event. The tournament gave Ed a chance to give his name to a major golf outing as was the trend with Hollywood celebrities. In 1975, Ed McMahon was a socialite on the greens, greeting and chatting with fans at each hole. By the end of the tournament he was already planning for action the next year. Ed realized that the Quad Cities, anchored by John Deere, Case, Caterpillar and International Harvester and hard hit by the downturn in the farm economy, needed to something to look forward to, something to call their own. He reasoned that if the area had a world class event then it would be the start of something to build on. Immediately he made plans to contact his celebrity friends and ask them to join him in 1976. McMahon went so far as to contact ABC's mega-power Roone Arledge as well as NBC to see if television coverage could take place. $100,000 was already guaranteed for 1976. This was one of the smallest purses in the PGA but considering the tournament was almost canceled three months before the first McMahon QC Open due to lack of funding, this was something to build on. The next year came forward and Ed McMahon delivered. The amount of stars who came to the Open were the greatest showing of Hollywood in the farmland since 1950 when Roy Rogers and John Wayne came to the area for the world premier of Republic Picture's The Rock Island Trail. Ed's friends Jerry Lewis, Bobby Riggs, McLean Stevenson, Stan Musial, Bernadette Peters, Tom Sullivan and others arrived to liven up the event. This was no small event because many stars were taping for their programs and movies during the summer months. Disappointingly, Bob Hope, whose passion for golf was equal to his love of performing, was not able to attend. He was meeting the Queen of England at The White House during that time. Not to be outdone, Hope did appear the following year to a frantic fury of fans who came to see this Hollywood giant. The celebrity edge left many wondering if the 22,000 strong turn-out was more for watching the professional golf players or for the celebrities themselves! Many others appeared during Ed's five year run including Bruce Jenner, Telly Savalas and Fred MacMurray. Some of these names may sound a bit trivial when mentioned three decades later but it must be remembered that these were A-listers during the mid 1970's time frame. McMahon was clearly the driving force in front of the Quad Cities Open. His passion was clear when he was quoted by The Daily Dispatch on July 7th, 1976. "My style in life has been to set myself attainable goals and then go after them and its been the way I've been successful," he said. "This is just one more goal. I'm gonna make this a h*** of a golf tournament and I think the evidence is just the growth from one year to the next. I think its going to kind of perk up the community," he added. "I think the community will lift its head a little higher and a little prouder. Its nice to be sitting at home if you live in the Quad Cities and hear somebody talk about your community on television. It certainly didn't happen to my knowledge before I got involved (with the Open) but (television celebrities are) talking about it now and there will be more and more talk about it." Ed was right on the money.