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0For all the awards presentations and Hall of Fame inductions last
month in separate ceremonies hosted by the PGA of America and
the South Florida PGA Section, none had the impact of the
inaugural Deacon Palmer Award. Not because of the title, though
anything in golf connected with the name Palmer, whether Arnie
or his dad, Deacon, is always something special. In this case, at the
SFPGA's annual awards program at Wycliffe Country Club, it's the
recipient,
Robert Bruno
, director of golf at of Frenchman's Creek
Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, who must be recognized.
And the award's criteria only begins to tell his story.
The Deacon Palmer Award: "bestows special recognition on a PGA Professional who
personally displays outstanding integrity, character and leadership in an effort to overcome
a major obstacle in his/her life."
BRUNO'S REMARKS
To hear Bruno's acceptance remarks – clear, concise, thoughtful and sincere – one would
never have suspected anything was wrong. Still the fact that they brought a microphone to
him at his table rather than ask Bruno to come to the dais should have been a clue.
You see, in 2012 Bruno was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). ALS has always been
considered as incurable but don't tell that to Bruno. "You have to overcome it or it will
overcome you," he said. Shortly after receiving what initially had to be horrible news, Bruno
started stem cell treatments at the University of Michigan and remains on several drug
therapies. The goal is to slow the advancement of the disease while striving to find a cure. He
is currently awaiting more stem cell surgery, likely before the end of the year.
In the meantime, Bruno has become a counselor and mentor to other ALS patients, his positive
outlook truly an inspiration to the members at Frenchman's Creek, his peers, friends and
family. On one recent trip to Michigan for what amounted to 10 hours of spinal surgery, Bruno
says he was asked by one of the doctors why he was putting himself through all of this. "Time,"
Bruno replied.
From all of us at Frenchman’s Creek we pray Robert has many years of “Time.” Congratulations
Robert, we can think of no one more deserving of this award!
JUPITER COURIER NEWSWEEKLY
An inspiring Robert Bruno
reprinted from the above newspaper except the last paragraph