Gators and golf: A deadly mix unless you’re very, very lucky
I see Gators on the courses of Florida all the time. This guy was lucky.
Al Miller still can’t figure out what went wrong. He was just doing what he loves, then it felt as if he’d stepped on a high-voltage wire.
Something slammed him to the ground. Miller looked between his legs and came face to face with an alligator.
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He’s not your average Al Miller. This one is the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame. He coached Philadelphia in the old North American Soccer League and the U.S. National team in 1975.
Miller and his wife retired to Lake Wales, Fla., three years ago. He’s 75 but plays golf like a 25-year-old.
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The yellow golf ball rolled into a pond. Miller walked over and peered into the water. He spotted a couple of white balls but left them alone.
After the short search, Miller turned and started walking toward the green. He never even heard the monster emerge from the deep.
“He blindsided me,” Miller said. “I thought I’d stepped on a hot wire because it was such a shock.”
The gator got him by the left leg and started thrashing. Miller was jerked into the air and landed on his back. The gator chomped down harder and started pulling his prey toward the water.
“It was incredible pain,” Miller said.
The bank of the man-made pond drops sharply after a couple of feet. The other players in the foursome rushed over. They tried to pull Miller back in a tug-of-war right out of a horror movie.
“I felt like I was fighting for my life,” Miller said. “If he got me over the ledge, it was all over.”
He was halfway in the water. Once a gator gets a death grip, it almost never lets go. But for some reason, Al’s gator suddenly decided he’d had enough.
Read more:
http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2012-05-05/florida-gator-attacks-golfer-al-miller-us-soccer-hall-of-fame?eadid=EL/SICOM&sct=hp_t2_a16#ixzz1u2bpHilD
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