He'll draw little fanfare.
Back in the day, however, Cesario was the talk of the town.
Cesario hobnobbed with the big names in golf and Hollywood.
The 77-year old Cesario, now retired, was one of the nation's premier golf club makers - the best golfers in the sport and the most popular of celebrities came to him for his craftsmanship.
"I could take a block of wood and turn it into a golf club," Cesario said. "Very few people had that talent back then. Being a club maker, they sought me out."
Golf has long since looked to metallic materials for its golf clubs, which provide much more fierce results.
But when wood was in, Cesario owned the sport.
"I had a good career in golf," Cesario said. "My claim to fame is wood. They took craftsmanship out of it when they went to metal."
Cesario was so good, his work so influential in the sport, that he was named an Honorary Life Member of the Southern California Section of the PGA of America in 1984 and was inducted into the Professional Clubmaker's Society's Clubmaker's Hall of Fame in 2000.
"That was quite an honor," said Cesario, who was featured in a Sports Illustrated article about the lost art of club making. "There is good company there."
Cesario ran "Mario's Golf Shop" in Redlands from 1963 to 1997. It was the weekly trips to Palm Springs, however, that changed his career. Golf in the desert drew not only the best golfers in the game but celebrities and even politicians.
Cesario made golf clubs for most of them.
Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason and even President Gerald Ford, to name a few.
"I always had a shop in Redlands and I was the only club maker in Southern California," Cesario said. "But everyone went to Palm Springs. I exposed myself to the world of golf when I got there."
A few of them stand out, like Sinatra.
"He was not much of a golfer," Cesario said. "I played in his tournament a few times. What I did for him was put a lot of loft into his club, that way he could get the ball into the air. It was like a 2-wood instead of a driver. He didn't play much golf at all."
Cesario's work with Gleason was done all by phone.
"He didn't travel, only by train, so meeting him was hard," Cesario said. "I remember when my wife took his first call. He told my wife he was Jackie Gleason and she said there is a guy who says his name is Jackie Gleason. I took the phone and asked "who the heck this really is."
After clearing things up, Cesario and Gleason agreed on the type of club and when it would be done.
"I told him it would take time, about four to five weeks, and he said it would be no problem," Cesario said. "But he called me every day for a month. He said he didn't want to bug me but was just asking how things were coming along. It was real funny."
But Cesario's most prized memory is the work on a club he did for President Ford. Cesario included the Presidential Seal on the head of the club.
"Of all the work I did, of all the clubs I made, that club is the one that I really remember," Cesario said.
Cesario has provided samples of his work and other memorabilia for a display at the Redlands Country Club.
It's at the RCC that Cesario is known for shooting his age. Cesario has shot his age six times - most recently carding a 77 earlier this year."
"That's a real accomplishment," RCC Golf Pro Paul Dietsche said. "It says you are continuing to improve your game. And it's a reward for hard work."
Cesario has shot his age several times at RCC.
"Mario is a student of the game," Dietsche said. "He works at it all the time."
Reach Ed via email, call him at 909-793-3221, or find him on Twitter @TheFactsEd.
Source: http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_21076194?source=rss
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