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Tony Lema loved to party. So when the Mackle brothers and Deltona Corporation decided to honor the late golfer with a memorial tournament on Marco Island starting back in 1967, they kept that in mind.

For two days every year for 14 years, it was a VIP party.

The Tony Lema Memorial Tournament drew tour players, athletes and celebrities to what was then known as Marco Island Golf & Country Club, now The Island Country Club. Lema, a tour golfer who won the 1964 British Open, had been representing the club for a year when he died at the age of 32 in a plane crash.

"(The Mackle brothers) had a tremendous fondness for him," remembers Jim Stackpoole, who was the tournament director for all but the first Tony Lema. "They thought that he was well on his way. His personality and charm was going to be a huge selling point for them promoting Marco Island.

"When the tragedy happened, their instructions to me were 'This has to be as much fun and you have to bring as much joy to this event that you could possibly cause to happen, because that's the way he would've wanted it — a classy event that would be something he would love to take part in.' That's what we always shot for."

And every year it seemed, the Lema Memorial would hit the target. The tournament was usually played the Monday after the Jacksonville Open, and in later years after Doral, with a banquet on that Sunday night. The Deltona Corporation, owned by Elliott, Robert and Frank Mackle Jr., owned the hotel on the island, now the Marriott, so they had housing for everyone. The tournament also had access to a couple of planes to fly in celebrities if need be.

Who would want to come to Marco Island for such a thing? Anybody and everybody. From Peter Falk to Mickey Mantle. From Jimmy Dean to Evel Knievel. Joe DiMaggio, Ara Parseghian, Terry Bradshaw, Bob Griese, James Garner, Jimmy Demaret, and the Gatlin Brothers. Joe Garagiola was a regular as the emcee for the banquet. Ken Venturi and Gene Sarazen exchanged the announcing during the tournament.

And during its heyday, 20,000 people were there to watch it.

Furman Bisher, the legendary columnist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, once called it the "mini-Crosby" after the Bing Crosby Pro-Am (now the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am) in California.

"I still reminisce often and tell stories about it," Stackpoole says. "It was just something that grew and grew and grew in reputation."

Quite a collection of stars would play each year. But it was quite a collection of stars who made it happen.

Sarazen, "The Squire" who was one of golf's all-time greats, lived on the island and helped draw the tour players — Snead, Watson, Trevino, Lietzke, Finsterwald and Floyd to name a few. When Venturi moved to the island in the mid-1970s, "he just brought a whole new element," Stackpoole says. Falk, the actor from "Columbo," was one of those Venturi brought.

Griese, the Dolphins quarterback, also became a regular at the tournament, and talked many of his teammates, as well as head coach Don Shula, into coming. "He kind of became a co-sponsor of the tournament, almost," Stackpoole says.

And Garagiola, the former baseball player who at that time was a host of the "Today" show, helped provide many of the celebrities.

As the event increased in exposure, the nature of Stackpoole's job changed.

"My job became one of not recruiting celebrities, but having to select from who wanted to come," says Stackpoole, whose secretary, Barbara Klimas, also was instrumental in getting the event together ("I was technically the tournament director, but Barbara, she did all of the work," Stackpoole says.)

One year, Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers wanted to come and play, and also entertain at the banquet. He called up Stackpoole, whose 12-year-old daughter just happened to have walked into his office.

"I told him that we were full," says Stackpoole, who didn't realize how big the Gatlin Brothers were at that point. But his daughter did.

"My daughter starts jumping up and down in shock," he says. "'Dad, how could you do that?' "

"Barbara was cracking up. She said 'I assume you want the number?' Of course, we did. They became regulars at the tournament."

Garagiola would come in Sunday evening. Jackie Gleason's 15-piece orchestra was always the entertainment for the banquet. Garagiola, the band leader, and Stackpoole would sit down and go over what was going to happen.

"He knew what every celebrity could do, would do, and wouldn't do," Stackpoole says. "It was just incredible."

An incredible number of people also were needed to volunteer for security, parking, refreshment stands, etc. For whatever reason, school teachers became very popular volunteers. "I'm not sure how it happened," Stackpoole says.

Well, it got to the point where many teachers were missing from school that Monday of the tournament. According to Stackpoole, the School Board threatened suspensions. But a public outcry stopped all of that.

"They would call me each year and ask for the date of the tournament and it just became a school holiday," Stackpoole says.

In 1979, The King had to come and see the Lema for himself. Arnold Palmer had been invited for years, but had never made it down. In those days, Palmer usually was at his home at Bay Hill Club in Orlando.

It was the morning of the tournament and the early times had teed off. Stackpoole made a trip back in his office. There was a phone number written on a piece of paper sitting on his desk. It was Palmer's. Stackpoole called and Palmer's secretary answered.

"It's a beautiful day," Stackpoole told her. "We've got everybody in the world here except Arnie. She said 'He happens to be sitting right across from me.' This was 7:30, 8 o'clock in the morning. I said 'Tell him he's got an 11 o'clock to play with Frank Mackle.' "

"I'll be there," he hears Palmer say. "Have them pick me up at the airport."

Palmer flew his own plane, and flew it right over the golf course before he landed. "It wasn't hard to get the rumors circulating that he was coming," Stackpoole says.

There would only be one more Lema Memorial, however.

When the hotel was sold to Marriott, paying for rooms became an added expense. Other similar pro-ams had popped up on the state's East Coast. Finding a place in the tour schedule became harder and harder. And a dispute with the government led to some financial hardships for Deltona. On Nov. 19, 1980, Deltona announced there would not be another one. A total of $130,000 had been raised for the Marco Island YMCA and Boys Town of Florida during the tournament's history.

"That decision was very, very difficult for Frank Mackle Jr.," Stackpoole says. "It was a pride and a joy to him. We were very close to having it end after the 13th, but he opted to bite the bullet and have one more."