Sports were never a big part of Bob Daubenspeck's life. In fact, he steered away from them.

"I played baseball in the East Butler Little League," the former Butler resident recalled. "My father drummed baseball into me. When I was old enough, I couldn't wait to get away from it."

Daubenspeck's grandparents, Henry and Mary Williams, owned the Woodbine Driving Range on Chicora Road when he was a child.

The grandchildren spent weekends retrieving golf balls there.

"That was our job," Daubenspeck said. "We did that for maybe five or six years."

Still, Daubenspeck never took up golf. He never took up bowling, either, despite being a pin boy at the old Penn Bowling Lanes in Butler.

"We'd bowl a couple of games when nobody was around. I used to hunt for golf balls at Hiland Golf Course and sell them for cigarette money," he said. "That was the extent of it (athletics)."

Until two years ago.

Daubenspeck and Helen, his wife of 37 years, relocated to Greenville, S.C., through a job transfer in 1970.

A Vietnam veteran, Daubenspeck, 61, became blind following open-heart surgery in 1997. He is a diabetic and a victim of Agent Orange.

"I went to a rehab school in Georgia and my trainer told me of all the activities available to blind people," he said. "He told me about winter sports, but there was no way I was skiing.

"He told me about the golf tournament and I figured I'd try it."

The golf tournament, which also includes bowling, is the National Blinded Veterans TEE Tournament, held annually near Iowa City, Iowa, around Labor Day. Daubenspeck competed last year and didn't win.

He went back this year and won both events, topping a field of 120 competitors.

"I was worlds better this year," Daubenspeck said. "They have golf pros out there who work with you for a couple of days. I really benefited from that last year."

Daubenspeck shot 3-over-par for nine holes. His high bowling score was 162.

Each golfer took someone with him - usually an experienced golfer - on the course to assist in directing the angle of the club for a drive or chip and for reading the greens when putting.

Daubenspeck's wife assisted him, but she wasn't a golfer.

"The people he was playing with helped me," Helen Daubenspeck said. "Bob could drive the ball well off the tee because he used to drive golf balls at Woodbine when he was a kid.

"It was the direction of the shot that was the problem. I spent a lot of time hunting for the ball in the woods. He said I was getting reacquainted with nature.

"Once he began hitting the ball straight, his scores dropped," she added.

The blind competitors receive no assistance in bowling, other than being told what pins are left standing for spare shots.

"You walked up there, threw your ball … and hoped to hear a good sound at the other end," Daubenspeck said.

He said he will continue to compete in the tournament every year "as long as I'm healthy enough and receive doctor's clearance."

Helen Daubenspeck lauded the tournament and the rehab center.

"They teach them that they can work around their disability and do what they want in life," she said.

"They ran an article in the paper down here and I've had a lot of blind people call me," Daubenspeck said. "If this gets them out there and active, I guess it's a good thing."