Golf has been called a gentleman’s game. Sarg Fontanini was a golfer. And a gentleman.

“He was a great man,” five-time Iowa Amateur champion Mike McCoy said Monday. “And the perfect gentleman.”

Fontanini, a Des Moines golf icon and the first amateur from Iowa to play in the Masters, died Saturday night. He was 96, but his golf was ageless.

He won tournaments in eight straight decades, including four Des Moines City titles and two Sani Invitational crowns. Fontanini first shot his age in 1981, the year the father of five retired as a food broker.

But the moment that remained etched in Fontanini’s memory was playing in the 1957 Masters. He qualified by reaching the quarterfinals of the 1956 U.S. Amateur.

“That was probably my most memorable experience in golf,” Fontanini said in a 1997 interview.

Bob Boxwell of Des Moines played countless rounds of golf with Fontanini at Willow Creek. He said Sarg, who was still able to play this past summer, never talked about the Masters unless he was asked.

“He never bragged about anything,” Boxwell said. “I’ll tell you, he was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever played golf with. One super guy. And a terrific golfer.”

Fontanini was 1 year old when his family left Italy and came in Des Moines. He was introduced to golf as a caddy at the Wakonda Club in Des Moines in 1929, earning 50 cents a round. He won more than 80 tournaments during his playing career. Fontanini was inducted into the Iowa Golf of Fame in 1995.

“He was a very sweet person,” said McCoy, who idolized Fontanini as a youngster. “He was so happy in life. When he played, he was fiercely competitive. Obviously, he had talent beyond belief. But he always had a smile. In today’s world, where egos are so big, Sarg was humble and down to earth. They just don’t make them like him anymore.”

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