Second big bear settles in at PGA National
Honda Classic spectators the first to view new statue.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — One of the most iconic photo spots on the Honda Classic golf course now has a near-exact replica in front “Yes, you are. True.”
“I don’t wear a toupee. It’s my hair, I swear,” the recording plays.
Huber ge n t l y p e t s t h e pen’s hair.
“Our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid,” the Trump pen goes on.
Huber responds: “Yes they are sir. Not no more.”
And of course, front and center: there is a life-size cutout of the President Trump that has received almost as much time in the spotlight these past couple of days as Huber himself.
Huber, during the interview, becomes concerned with white scratches on the lower body of the Trump cutout.
“You’ll be all right, sir,” Huber states. “I love this man and to have him in my house where I can give him a salute every single morning, which I do, that means a lot to me.”
Huber’s proud. And he’s only just begun his work for Trump — he hopes.
“I know he’s watching me,” Huber said. “I really would love to go where Donald Trump’s staff calls me for something. People have been telling me ‘be ready.’ If they called me right now I would say ‘it’s nice meeting ya.’ Vroom I’m out of here.”
He said he hasn’t been contacted by Trump or his staff yet.
Daughter: ‘I’m not as crazy as my dad is’
Huber is a father to 17-yearold daughter, Alyssa, and 5-year-old son, Gene. He has been married to his wife, Catherine, for about 18 years.
Growing up in Long Island, N.Y., Huber attended Connetquot High School, for three years. Then his family moved to Florida where Huber finished high school at Springstead High School, north of Tampa.
About 1994, the family moved to the Boynton Beach area. Huber’s held jobs at Publix, banks, and at the U.S. Post Office. Huber says he is an excellent bowler, sporting six perfect 300 games.
Alyssa Huber, who attends Park Vista High School west of Boynton Beach, first heard about her dad’s unique role at Saturday’s rally through a of the tournament’s host resort.
About t wo weeks a go, PGA National Resort & Spa installed a new, snarling bear statue named “The Glare of the Bear” at the bottom of the valet loop on Avenue of the Champions. Wyoming sculptor Ben Foster made the 7-foot-tall, 700-pound bear out of silicone bronze using the same mold as the friend, who sent her a photo on her phone. At the rally, after her dad spoke onstage, next to Trump, the president said “a star is born,” as the crowd chanted “USA! USA!”
“I was speechless,” Alyssa Huber said.
While her father navigated through interviews Monday, Alyssa sat in a nearby room and watched TV. She said she supports Trump, but, “I’m not as crazy as my dad is about him. I’m not really big with politics.”
The Hubers live in east Boynton in a gated community just west of Congress Avenue — a street populated with business offices, apartments and restaurants.
C a r l o s J e s u s , 2 5, l i ve s across the street from the Hubers. He has known Huber since he was about 10 years old, and the two share a bond over their support of Trump.
“If we were outside we would say ‘Hey, what’s going on with Trump?’” Jesus said of their past conversations about the president.
J e s u s , wh o s t i l l h a s a Trump/Pence sign outside his front door, said the president presents a “light” for the middle class. “We fight for what’s ours,” he said.
Hoping for an invite to Mar-a-Lago
In Boynton, Huber doesn’t follow local politics; doesn’t pay much attention to the city’s mayor. And he doesn’t go out much. He works selling cars from home.
Since November, Huber’s partnered in a car business with an old friend. The two run GT Motors. Huber takes the calls from his home, and the cars are in Bethpage, N.Y.
While Huber lives about 30 minutes away from Trump’s “winter White House,” Mara-Lago on Palm Beach, he has never been there. But he hopes for an invitation.
“Come on over for some shrimp cocktail huh? It’s wonderful to know that he’s not far away,” he said.
Thanks to his friend in New York, Huber has been to Trump’s golf course in Doral. The two spent the weekend there about a month ago.
But as for Trump’s other places, Huber just pretends. He posts on Facebook that he’s actually at one of the president’s properties.
“So it looks like Gene’s at Trump winery. I just do it because it’s a little joke I original Golden Bear statue at the 15th tee, the start of the notoriously difficult stretch of three holes known as the Bear Trap. It will be a permanent fixture.
The original statue — and by default, its replica — is a tribute to golf legend Jack Nicklaus, whose nickname i s The Golden Bear. The North Palm Beach resident redesigned the Champion say,” he said.
Hu b e r s a y s h i s s o c i a l media accounts have been populated with the public’s reactions to his encounter with Trump.
“The messages I’m getting from people around the country, it’s so inspiring. It brings tears to my eyes when I read stuff like that because I’m not realizing how much it’s touching people,” he said.
Past mistakes ‘don’t bother me’
While he welcomes the attention, he doesn’t unders t a n d why s o me me d i a o u t l e t s a r e s c r u t i n i z i n g hi s past . Boynton Beach police arrested Huber on a DUI charge about 15 years ago. Court records show he pleaded guilty in 2002.
“I made a mistake at the age of 31 and I learned from it. That’s it,” he said.
And more re c e nt ly, i n 2015, Huber, out of work, couldn’t pay his $11,000 Bank of America credit card bill. The company sued him, but the case was dismissed.
“Whoop-ti-do,” he said. “We paid it off. They find anything they can for negativity. That stuff don’t bother me.”
B e f o re Tr u mp, Hu b e r said he never felt passionate about a politician, or even a sports player.
“I didn’t care about trade, I didn’t care about pharmaceuticals how we’re getting ripped off, I didn’t care. I didn’t underst and about health care. I didn’t understand about anything. He taught me everything and about how ripped off we are and been getting,” he said.
Huber s a i d he doe s n’t trust the media, believes the president will provide a health care plan that will help Americans save money, and supports Trump’s plans to build a wall at the U.S./ Mexico border.
He believes Trump will be the best president in American history.
“Eve r y t h i n g h e s ay s I believe. If he says the moon’s going to turn purple, I’d believe it. That’s how much I believe in our president,” Huber said. course at PGA National where the Honda Classic has been played since 2007. A plaque affixed to a rock at the start of the Bear Trap contains a foreboding quote from Nicklaus: “It should be won or lost right here.”
G r e g S a u n d e r s , P G A National’s vice president and managing director, said taking a picture at The Bear Trap is one of the most popular activities at the resort, but the original statue is usually accessible only for members and guests. The new statue “gives everyone the opportunity to capture this iconic memory offered here at PGA National,” Saunders said in a prepared statement.
The cost of the new statue was not available.
One of the model Honda vehicles on display for the tournament was partially obstructing the view of the statue, which had a flow of traffic surrounding it. Honda Classic spectators posed for photos on the front lawn with the PGA National sign in the background, but few stopped for a photo with the new bear statue Saturday.
On the course, people lined up to have their photo taken with the original.
Millicent Pemberton of West Palm Beach and cousin Hank Anderson, visiting from Manchester, Tenn., said the Ted Babbitt new statue was all lit up when they came to PGA National late Wednesday.
Although it doesn’t evoke the same nostalgia as the original, they took pictures. “It was beautiful,” Pemberton said.