Byron Nelson: Boy to Man

            After my exploration of the library in search of my last magazine article, I finally had a pretty good idea of where to look. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the library lately. Anyways, tracking down an article from the 50s or 60s was much easier than the 20s or 30s. Very quickly, I was sitting with a copy of The New Yorker dated October 13, 1954. I just so happened to pick up an issue that featured a profile on professional golfer Byron Nelson, so I figured I would engage myself in the realm of sports…again.

            I’ve found it funny this semester how almost anything can be related to coming-of-age. This article is no different. It begins with congratulating Nelson as PGA Tour Golfer of the Year, and then dips into Nelson’s childhood. Growing up, Nelson saw golfer Walter Hagen as his idol, and that is something that continued into his adulthood. Among some other details, the article shows how Nelson’s childhood experiences led to his development as a golfer.

            More than just reading the article, I want to explore the differences between the 20s magazine and the 50s magazine. First off, the feature article in the 50s was much shorter. I thought this was interesting, but it also lends to the idea that life was getting busier and busier, which is a trend that has clearly continued to develop. It made me wonder about the 50s. Today, we look at that time period and think of how slow paced they lived their lives. Did they look at the 20s and earlier and think the exact same thing? Just some food for thought.

            Anyways, probably the first and most striking difference that I noticed was the picture. In the 20s magazine, stick figure drawings and sketches were featured. Not the case anymore. There was a huge picture of Byron Nelson at the end of his golf swing taking up about a third of the page. I was definitely more attracted to the sight of the picture and more drawn to the article because of it.

            Overall, it’s interesting to look at the changes in the magazines from just a few decades, then to look at the current issue of ESPN the Magazine and be in awe of the vast changes. I can’t really imagine living and reading magazines without the extremely high resolution pictures, so this was a really eye-opening exercise to think about how print has developed.