SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Tony Soerries sends his regrets.
As a three-time champion of the Greater South Bend Men’s Metro Golf Tournament, which celebrates its 100th birthday at this Sunday’s final-round site Erskine Park Golf Course, the 55-year-old Soerries would have been eligible to play in this year’s event and participate in the celebration.
“I wish I could have come back, seen some friends and even played a couple of rounds up there,” the 55-year-old Soerries said while watching golfers play the 12th hole of Bentwater Yacht and Country Club behind his home in Montgomery, Texas.
“I miss those courses (Erskine and Elbel Park); they were fun to play,” lamented Soerries, who won his first Men’s Metro title in 1987 as a 5-foot-7, 130-pound, 18-year-old Clay High School graduate by shooting what still is a record eight-under 276 for a 16-stroke victory over past champion Jon Phillips.
Soerries later added two more Metro titles to his résumé in 1990 and 1991 while playing for Buddy Alexander’s Florida Gators and won two Indiana Opens (1996, 1997) after turning pro. As a reinstated amateur, he played in the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black and after turning 50 qualified for two U.S. Senior Opens — in 2019 at Warren Golf Course and 2022 at Saucon Valley in Bethlehem, Pa.
Back in its heyday in the 1980s, the Metro saw an average of nearly 300 golfers annually play. Entries have declined deeply since. Just as they did last year by opening the field to any male golfer who lived within a 25-mile radius of South Bend, tournament officials decided to invite any past champion, no matter where he lived, to participate.
“I wish I could have come,” Soerries continued.
“I wish I was healthy,” added Soerries who has been grounded by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. ALS is a nervous system disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It causes loss of muscle control. Eventually, it can control the muscles you need to move, to speak, to eat and to breathe.
Most people know ALS better as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” — it took the life of the Yankees great first baseman who played 2,130 consecutive games in the 1920s and 1930s. Gehrig was 37 when he died on June 2, 1941, nearly two years after his diagnosis. The disease has claimed others, most notably pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter (who died one year after his diagnosis), former Notre Dame wide receiver Pete Demmerle (who lived eight years following his diagnosis) and English cosmologist Stephen Hawking (who lived 55).
ALS also currently has a strong hold on former Chicago Bears defensive tackle Steve McMichael, who is bedridden but still hopes to travel to his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 1 in Canton, Ohio.
“First thing I always tell people — there’s no known cause and no known cure,” said Soerries, who got his diagnosis on Nov. 15, 2023.
A Florida teammate, Champions Tour veteran Brian Gay, put Soerries in touch with Steve Anderson of Renue Clinic, which conducts stem cell therapy for diseases. As the clinic’s inaugural ALS patient, Soerries spent 2½ months in Mexico receiving treatments with the stem cells harvested from the umbilical cords of mothers of newborn children. Soerries had three stem-cell injections 30 days apart, several IV injections of vitamins into his spine, and daily hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
“The disease is winning, unfortunately,” Soerries said. “I can walk, but very slowly. Mostly around the house, I use a little rolling walking aid which helps my balance. I feel like I’ve lost 90 to 95 percent of muscular strength in all muscles and that includes hands, fingers, arms, shoulders, legs, feet, calves. Basic things you don’t think about are pretty difficult for me. Brushing my teeth is tough. Range of motion with my arms — I can’t really get them over my head, so washing my own hair is tough and putting gel in my hair is tough.”
Helping him, though, is his loving wife Dana, who was a sophomore at Clay when they met his senior year in 1987. Dana loyally followed Soerries to Florida, but their marriage didn’t take place until Soerries had earned enough money.
“We’ve known each other for 37 years and now have been married for 21,” Soerries said, his voice cracking and showing his love for his wife and their only child, son Ty, who will enter college next fall.
“A lot of my daily functions are now challenging,” Soerries continued. “It’s not something I want her to do, but she’s doing it — clipping my fingernails, for instance — and not complaining. She is nothing short of amazing and as beautiful as she was when we first met. I definitely outkicked my coverage.”
Though he can’t golf, Soerries still watches. He got up early Sunday to follow the Open Championship won by Xander Schauffele, the gold medalist at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan whose hard work has produced two major titles this season.
“It keeps my motivation up and my hope for a miracle,” Soerries said. “I watch and sometimes imagine what it feels like to hit a really solid golf shot, a 6-iron right at the pine. I can still feel it.”
He knows, unfortunately, that those memories likely are forever in his past. But he’s not losing hope.
