Palm Springs · 1999
The tournament put them together in the frame. The relationships are why Benny kept the photograph.
Listen to Benny
Before the scorecard
NextLevel.com had become a company large enough to put its name on a hole at the Palm Springs Walk of Stars Celebrity Golf Tournament. Mercedes-Benz had supplied the hole-in-one prize.
That explains why the photograph exists. It does not explain why Benny kept it.
The primary record
Original narration · 3:21
The story behind the photograph
“It’s one photo, but it sure says a lot to me.”
The artifact
Left to right, as identified by Benny.
Owner of Gentlemen’s Choice in Las Vegas—and, in Benny’s memory, one of the finest people to call for sushi and a night of stories.
Founder of NextLevel.com, and very much the rookie golfer in this particular company.
Worked with Benny at Starnet and NextLevel. Son of Starnet chief financial officer Jack Carley.
Benny’s friend since age fifteen, later a colleague at Starnet and NextLevel, and still part of Benny’s working life.
The night before
Benny was the rookie. Rick and Scott were accomplished golfers. Wayne was, in Benny’s words, “the Swami of golfers.” Instruction began at the hotel, where practice balls went through an open patio door and into the pool.
Then came the rule Benny had apparently missed: dirty clubs were an embarrassment. Into the bathtub they went.
Tournament day
Mercedes-Benz offered a car for a hole in one. Benny remembers coming within roughly two feet—closer than anyone else that day, with professional golfers watching the rookie’s ball settle beside the cup.
The prize stayed. The story did not.
What remained
The scorecard is not what Benny remembers. He remembers the laughter, the people and the day they shared while NextLevel was becoming something large enough to have its own place at the tournament.
Wayne was the Las Vegas friend who was always ready for sushi. Scott shared the Starnet and NextLevel years. Rick had already been part of Benny’s life since they were fifteen—and remained part of it decades later.
Golf is simply the reason all four men were standing in the same light when the camera opened.
In Benny’s words
Transcript lightly edited for punctuation and readability. Benny’s original recording remains authoritative.