Richard [Nicholls] Harison / Harrison - Onondaga and Oswego ...

It is interesting that whoever wrote the above reference referred to him has Richard Nichols Harrison, because his mother was Jane
Nicholls, the wife of George Harison {Prov. GM]. There was also another Richard Nichols Harison, who was the son of Richard
Harison.
At any rate I think you may now perceive my growing interest in the matter of Richard Harison.
I have considerable more information on this, but have not found any absolute statement in the Masonic records that Richard is the
one for whom I have this other information, and vice verse; no mention in the ‘other information’ that he was a Mason, but the
parallels and common relationships between the two ‘Richards’ tend to support that they were one and the same. I had hoped that
in there would be more in the Library to help to nail this down.
Again, thank you for ongoing assistance in my strange desire to explore such matters,
Fraternally yours,
Gary
http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/masters07/news/story?id=2815885
Harison rebounds from accident, ready for Masters
Starter Phil Harison, rebounding from a terrible accident, hopes to be on the first tee for his 60th tournament.
by Nick Seitz, Golf Digest
The Masters is the youngest of the four major championships but can seem the most traditional.
Phil Harison (he speaks of all his "double-r cousins") has been a highly visible fixture in the tournament's cultural heritage since
1948 as the chief starter on the first tee. Tall and dapper and official-looking in a white dress shirt, tie and member's green jacket, he
greets each player, gives him the plain white scorecard and, after checking his watch that keeps the official time (no logoed clock at
Augusta), announces him in a no-frills style. He doesn't use a microphone.
Harison, 81, was looking forward to working his 60th Masters this April. He hinted during the 2006 tournament that the milestone
might mark his farewell appearance, but late last year a horrific car-truck accident shrouded his Masters future. After emergency
surgery to fuse two vertebrae, he remained in intensive care for a month before making dramatic improvement.
"I have every intention of being back on the first tee," he says. "I love it."
Harison has plenty of stories from 59 years at Augusta National.
That spirit enabled Harison to win money from Ben Hogan, who one
day gave him four shots. Harison said that might be too many, but
Hogan said no. Harison beat him. They played again the next day.
Harison got no shots.
He made holes-in-one playing separately with Jack Nicklaus and
President Eisenhower, on the fearful fourth and 12th holes. And
Harison played with Bobby Jones the first of many times as a teenager.
"I kept making putts from here across the room. I wasn't nervous -- I
was enjoying the day so much. Toward the end Mr. Jones said, 'You
have a good round going. I'm proud of you.' After that I didn't finish so
well. Shot 75."
Harison's style on the tee is in keeping with the restrained -- some
would say reverent -- Masters atmosphere, unique in modern big-time
golf. He presents Tiger Woods the same way he introduces a rookie. In
a deep-fried Southern accent, his voice barely raised but audible in the respectful quiet, Harison says simply, "Fore, please. Tiger
Woods now driving."
When Arnold Palmer teed off for the final time in the Masters, in 2004, Harison's inflection did not change, though he played with
Palmer the first time Arnold visited the course as a young amateur, and has known him well ever since. (Harison told the pros in the
shop afterward that Palmer would never win the Masters, only to see him do it four times.)
Waiting to tee off, many players are too tense to talk. Harison never initiates conversation but readily provides it when prompted.
Charles Coody, a past champion, enjoyed bantering with Harison. "This was in the days when the club would sneak the first tee
back a yard or two each year," says Coody, who won't play this year for the first time since 1963. "It got to where it had moved back
about 20 yards. I could tell by relating it to features on the clubhouse. I said, 'Phil, I need to ask you a question.' He said, 'Sure,
Charles.' With a straight face I said, 'Have you moved this tee box back or the clubhouse forward?' It became a joke between us."
Harison was raised at the other end of the first hole, in a large house visible for years behind the green. It was the only property the
struggling young club was able to sell in its Depression-era attempts to develop real estate on the spacious grounds. He rode his
bike on the course as a kid. The house since has been torn down and the property sold back to the club.
As a high school student, Harison was recruited to fill in at the Jamboree, the club's annual member-member event, and at 16 won
it. He's believed to be the youngest ever to do so.
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