Charlie Rymer was 21 years old and an All-America golfer for Georgia Tech the first time he played 18 holes with Jack Lupton at Lupton's Honors Course.
"Even then I was a talker, I just couldn't shut up," said Rymer, who now earns his living talking up his sport on The Golf Channel.
"So sometimes when I was riding in Mr. Lupton's golf cart, he'd put me in timeout. I'd have to ride on the back of the cart for a few shots."
Rymer being Rymer, he'd too quickly ask Lupton -- who died Sunday at the age of 83 -- if he could get back in.
"No," the billionaire philanthropist would say emphatically.
After a couple of more shots, Rymer would ask again.
"No," was the repeat reply.
So how long would Rymer be banished?
"Until I made a birdie," he said with a laugh.
Those kinds of stories are being told all over Chattanooga today. When you lose the key to your city, you want to unlock as many memories of him as possible, determined to keep his spirit alive for generations to come.
But Rymer, who grew up in nearby Cleveland, wasn't back home only because of Lupton's funeral. He was the featured speaker for a $150-a-plate fundraiser for the NCAA Men's Golf Championship, which begins June 1 at The Honors Course.
"This dinner is to assist us with the cost of putting on the championship," said Matt Pope of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic department. "At least $100 from every plate will go to help us stage this event."
The first time the Honors hosted this event in 1996, Tiger Woods won individual honors. There may not be a golfer of Tiger's talent in this year's field, but Rymer said any golfer who reaches the Honors will never forget it.
"I played in the NCAAs four times," said Rymer, who played professionally for 10 years before retiring to the broadcast studio. "I never played well, but this is what you work for. No matter how they play that week, the golfers who get there will know how fortunate they are to play The Honors Course."
It's not just the golfers. More than 100 applications from folks wanting to volunteer to work the event have been turned down due to the overwhelming number of requests.
As Rymer said of the Honors as a property, "The folks who are able to see it on a daily basis, you sort of get used to it. From my perspective, at age 42, having been able to travel the world and see a lot of the best golf courses and best golf clubs in the world, you really understand what Mr. Lupton was able to do at the Honors. It is without a doubt one of the very special golf clubs in the whole world."
Most of Rymer's world today centers on Orlando, Fla., where The Golf Channel studios are located. Beyond that, he and wife Carol are raising two middle-school aged sons -- Charlie Duke and Hayden -- "And just getting them back and forth to the 18 sports they seem to play is a full-time job."
Nor have Rymer's last two trips to the Tennessee Valley brought much joy. His father died three weeks ago. Now Lupton.
"It seems like the only times I come home any more are to attend funerals," he said.
But the fundraiser was about golf, which Rymer knows as much about as anyone.
"To have the NCAA come back here for a second time, it's a great golf tournament on a great venue," he said. "What else can you ask for?"
Other than wishing you could be put in golf timeout one last time by the late Mr. Lupton, probably not much.