COURTESY PHOTO , LEONARD SHAPIRO
Chamberlain Hill was only 11 years old at the time but will forever remember the knee-knocking day he first played golf with his new 65-year-old friend , Ben Gale . Or , as he still calls him 20 years later , “ Mr . Gale .”
They first met after Chamberlain ’ s mother , Rhonda Hill , had a casual chat in church one Sunday with Ben ’ s wife , Debbie . Rhonda happened to mention that her young son recently had taken up golf and seemed to enjoy it . Debbie insisted that Chamberlain just had to meet her husband , an enthusiastic player for most of his adult life .
Not long after that , Chamberlain and Ben played together for the first time at Ben ’ s home course , Loudoun Golf and Country Club in Purcellville . Chamberlain , a somewhat shy , reserved Black sixth grader , and Ben , a much older and louder retired white cattle farmer , were truly something of an odd couple .
“ I ’ ll just never forget how nervous I was ,” Chamberlain recalled recently about that first pairing . “ I wanted to play well so badly , and Mr . Gale could tell how nervous I was . The first two holes , I was terrible and getting visibly frustrated . He came over to me and started to calm me down . ‘ Chill out ,’ he said . ‘ Try to enjoy yourself .’ On the fourth hole , I made a birdie . And that definitely calmed me down .”
It was the beginning of what would become a lasting friendship . Sadly , it ended this past October 30 when Ben Gale died , succumbing to the cancer he ’ d been battling for several years . He was 84 , and many months later , 30-year-old Chamberlain Hill , living in recent years in Ohio , said he still has to fight the impulse to pick up the phone and dial his friend ’ s number .
“ We would talk about everything , and we disagreed about a lot of things ,” Chamberlain said . “ I was a young Black kid and he was this old white guy ; but because we both loved golf , we were able to hit it off . I know it looks a little weird . Some people would probably look at it like he was my mentor , or that we had a grandson-grandfather relationship . No , we were just friends . We clicked right from the start . That ’ s all it was .”
HELPING HAND
Still , Ben Gale was particularly proud of Chamberlain . He always spoke with great admiration of his young friend ’ s considerable personal and professional accomplishments — in the classroom , on
“ I was a young Black kid and he was this old white guy ; but because we both loved golf , we were able to hit it off .” — Chamberlain Hill
the golf course , his marriage to his college sweetheart , the young couple ’ s adorable little girls , now 5 and 3 , about Chamberlain ’ s already accomplished career as a marketing executive with Learfield / IMG , a well-known national company heavily involved in the business of college sports .
When they first met , Chamberlain was a fifth grader at The Hill School in Middleburg , a widely respected junior kindergarten through eighth grade independent school Chamberlain had attended since age 5 .
Andrew Stifler , one of his teachers and also a friend of Ben Gale , described Chamberlain as “ just a great kid . I had him in my seventh-grade math class . Good student . Always prepared . Loved golf … To him , Chamberlain was just a kid who loved the game and wanted to do something in golf . They were truly friends .”
Tom Northrup was head of school during Chamberlain ’ s entire time at Hill .
Chamberlain Hill and Ben Gale met thanks to a chance church meeting between Hill ’ s mother and Gale ’ s wife .
He , too , recalled him fondly , and also admired his unique relationship with Gale .
“ I didn ’ t really know Ben , but I did know Chamberlain ,” Northrup said . “ And I ’ d heard about this older man who had taken an interest in him and was helping to support his interest in golf . It ’ s just been a great story .”
Chamberlain ’ s parents divorced when he was at Hill and money was tight . But Gale arranged for the youngster to have a junior membership at Loudoun Golf , and frequently took him to play at ninehole Millwood Country Club , another course he belonged to in Clarke County . They lived not far from each other in the Middleburg area , and Chamberlain said he spent many hours “ just hanging out ” at Gale ’ s home .
After graduating from Hill , he was accepted to Woodberry Forest , an all-boys prep school in Orange with an excellent reputation academically and athletically .
. org M ARCH / A PRIL 2021 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 27