We don’t talk about it often enough, but we’re really proud of our "Clubs & Members" department in each issue. Managing editor Louis Marroquin does an incredible job of finding the famous, the not-so-famous, and sometimes the downright infamous among private club members and then weaving a tapestry of their diverse life stories. Readership surveys show that the brief-but-intimate, human interest profiles are among your favorite "reads" too. The members in these narratives illustrate that every private club is a unique community of people, their experiences, and their relationships. The stories encompass inspiration and perspiration, success and significance, joy and tragedy. Like any community, private clubs face the cycles of life, cycles that sometimes defy human reasoning.

Thus, I won’t be referring you to a page number for the scheduled story about John Cerutti, retired baseball pitcher turned television analyst for the Toronto Blue Jays and two-time defending club champion at East Lake Woodlands Country Club in Oldsmar, Florida. We wanted to recognize John for his achievements in sport and in life. But John died on Oct. 3 of natural causes. He was 44 and is survived by his wife, Claudia, and children, Daniel, Nicole, and Janine.

In the interview for the "Clubs & Members" story, John talked about his competitive nature and his latest avocation. "That’s one of the reasons I like golf so much. I can compete against the course, against friends, or other golfers," he said. That drive to excel also served him well in the TV booth for eight years as he worked to hone his relatively new craft of adding words to pictures.

John Cerutti finished the six seasons of his Major League Baseball career with a 49-43 record and a 3.94 earned-run average. But as Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey said of John’s death: "It goes to show how unimportant wins and losses are at a time like this."

Patricia Baldwin
Editor in Chief