I kissed Mandela’s feet:Gary Player

The legendary South African golfer Gary Player revealed that the first time he met Nelson Mandela; he got on his knees and kissed the former political prisoner's feet.

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December 9, 2013. The legendary  South African golfer Gary Player recalled that the first time he met Nelson Mandela; he got on his knees and kissed the former political prisoner’s feet.

 

The 9-time Major Champion was speaking at the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City, said Mandela’s ability to inspire with compassion left him amazed then – and still does.

 

Player reminisced the moment when he was invited to meet Mandela at his office in Johannesburg after the anti-apartheid leader’s release after 27 years in prison.

 

[highlight] I knelt down and I kissed his feet and I said, `I have never kissed anybody’s feet in my life,’ and I said, `I have so much admiration for you [/highlight]

But he didn’t expect to do what he did, Player said.

 

“I knelt down and I kissed his feet and I said, `I have never kissed anybody’s feet in my life,’ and I said, `I have so much admiration for you.’ I said to him, `It is remarkable, how can you not have revenge?”‘

 

“You have got to start a new life and forgive and go ahead,” Mandela had replied to him.

 

Player had great regard for the former South African president and Nobel laureate Nelson Madela, who died on Thursday at 95.

 

“It was very tearful for me, because when you think of a man that has gone to jail for all those years for doing the right thing, not the wrong thing, it is hard to comprehend that a man can come out and be like that,” Player said. “He was an exceptional man.”

 

From that first meeting, Player and Mandela would cross paths regularly as the golfer, one of South Africa’s greatest sportsmen, worked with the president on charity projects.

 

Once, Player remembered with a big smile, Mandela landed at a charity tournament in a helicopter to lend support.

 

“I had to meet him when the helicopter arrived and open the door. Now I had been around him all these years raising money for young black children and I opened the door, and he says `Good morning Gary, do you remember me?”‘ Player recalled, imitating Mandela’s unique rasping voice. “Just wonderful.”

 

Player said that though he never saw Mandela swing a golf club, he knew that the anti-apartheid leader “realized the value of sport” and even followed Player’s career overseas while he was imprisoned by South Africa’s former racist regime.

 

“He said to me, `When I was in jail, I used to watch you playing.’ He was very complimentary,” Player said.

 

 

 

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