How Did Daisy Golf Balls End Up On The Moon?

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Availability may vary by market. And we return to our American stories. Up next, a story that started in Rogers, Arkansas, a truly beautiful town and the home of Daisy Outdoor Products and the Daisy Airgun Museum, which is truly out of this world. Here to tell the story is Joe Murfin, the chairman of the board of that aforementioned museum.

Take it away, Joe. When I learned this story in my career with Daisy, I used to really love to talk to older people who were retired from the company. I felt I could learn so much from them and so much of what we, as a company, thought we were doing was new in a way had been done before or we could benefit from their experience.

And so I would tap into that knowledge base a lot. And I started calling people and saying, you know about these astronauts with Apollo 14? Yeah, Alan Shepard came here to Rogers. You knew that? Oh yeah, I had lunch with Roosa. I said, you know, there's two golf balls on the moon. Yeah, I knew that. I said, why have you never told me this?

Because I didn't think it was important. In June of 2015, while I was still serving as vice president of the public relations for Daisy, I was contacted by a gentleman with an estate company in Fort Smith, Arkansas. And he told me about a 103 year old woman who had passed away and her estate was going to be liquidated. There was going to be a sale. And it was one of these estate sales where everything's full price today.

But if you come back tomorrow, it's 20% off and by Friday, it'll be half price. And so I was familiar with those. I liked that kind of sales.

I like old things and antiques. And he started talking to me about items that he'd found in this woman's attic that were Daisy related and bore the name of Jack Powers. And I knew Jack Powers to have been a vice president of public relations for Daisy for a long time. He joined Daisy in the 60s and he worked there until he actually passed away. And we kind of, he and I, this gentleman with the estate sale and I made the connection that probably this woman was a relative of Jack Powers and that Jack had at some point in time decided he'd leave some things with her to store as he moved on in his career. But this gentleman wanted us to buy things from him and I immediately told him we're a non-profit, that we don't purchase things, we'll accept your donation.

But the more he talked and eventually the more photos that he emailed to me, the more interested I was in acquiring some things. One of the things he had was a very early Instinct shooting kit that was made for a promoter of Instinct shooting by the name of Lucky McDaniel. And it was made by Daisy but it was barely identified as, you know, it's the Lucky McDaniel shooting kit and then on the back somewhere very small, Daisy Manufacturing, Rogers, Arkansas. It wasn't a Daisy branded item. I'd heard about it, I knew what it was worth and so to kind of establish a relation with him immediately, I said I like that Lucky McDaniel shooting kit, we'd like to acquire that, the book value is this and that's what I'll pay you for, even though it's got a water stain on the front.

And I just kind of set the tone that I'm willing to do something for you if you're willing to work with me on some of the other things. There were a lot of photographs, there were a lot of books, there were a lot of magazine covers with famous people's pictures on them that were autographed to Jack Powers, this Daisy public relations VP. There were even some Crossman air rifles, Crossman's a major competitor of Daisy. I knew somebody at Crossman and I said I'll tell you what, I'll even help you if you'll help me with some of these other items and be fair with me. There was a kind of like a salesman's display case, a wooden case, red velvet line with a half dozen beautiful Crossman guns in it and I said I've got a buddy at Crossman, he, like me, is interested in history, let me contact him.

I'll have you a phone call by this afternoon of somebody that can appraise those for you and or would like to buy them for Crossman. And so we began to work together on this but some of the things that really caught my eye were more unusual things and they caused me to go to the president of Daisy and say you and I need to be pickers this week and we need to go down and see this sale and see these items because I really don't know what I'm getting into but they belong to Jack Powers and they're from the 60s etc. And one of the most intriguing things was a photo of the entire Apollo 14 crew. It had all three astronauts signature which I've talked to people who say that a lot of times they'd take these crew photos out but only one astronaut would make an appearance somewhere so Alan Shepard might sign it or Edgar Mitchell or Stuart Roosa but very unusual for all three of them to be there and all three of them to sign these photos like this but they did.

This one Apollo 14 was signed by all three and then down at the bottom on the mat around the mat area around the photograph it said to Jack Powers our most sincere thanks for the Daisy golf balls by Victor they're out of this world. So I talked to this gentleman at the estate sale company and we a state sale company and we arranged some general pricing on some of these items and I said but two things I need to acquire them before the sale starts I need to come down there Monday morning and I want to buy them you just told me what you were going to price these items at I want to pretend it's the following Friday when everything's half price. So that was my challenge to him and as most negotiations go we met in the middle somewhere on a pre-established handshake over the phone price on photos of Apollo missions with this wonderful statement on them that really intrigued me. The second thing I asked him is who you're dealing with and he told me the name of the family member and I said I need a phone number for them and I need to speak with them and then tomorrow I will come down and I will buy this this this this and this but nothing happens unless I talk to Jack Powers family member.

So he gives me the contact information of course he said you're not trying to go around me are you and I said no I'm dealing with you that's fine but I just want to speak to him. So I spoke to Jack's son I later would meet with him and have lunch with him but I asked that he immediately after he told me this story I asked that he immediately write me an email and send it to me because I actually feared what if he never comes what we were supposed to meet he's supposed to tell me this story I'm supposed to get to interview him but I need this story in writing and so he did that but you know my first question is so why are there daisy golf balls at all why do they exist and how do they get on the moon? And we're listening to a story within a story within a story and by the way what are daisy golf balls we're going to find out in a bit but by the way anyone who has ever done garage sailing or better still estate closings and estate sales oh my goodness this is the joy of a lifetime one I enjoyed with my mom for decades well into my 30s on Saturdays in Bergen County, New Jersey we would get out the Bergen record circle the estate sales and go on Saturday never on Thursday never on Friday always the last day and that's when you could make deals and find treasures. The story of the daisy golf balls on the moon and so much more for all of you who are collectors of memorabilia sports artifacts or anything else the rest of this story is for you we find out the answer to the question what are daisy golf balls for when we return here on Our American Stories. Hey you guys this is Tori and Jenny with the 902.1 OMG podcast we have such a special episode brought to you by NURTEC ODT we recorded it at iHeartRadio's 10th poll event Wango Tango did you know that NURTEC ODT Remigipant 75 milligrams can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango it's true I had one that night and I took my NURTEC ODT and I was present and had an amazing time here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends this episode was brought to you by NURTEC ODT Remigipant 75 milligrams life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family but thankfully NURTEC ODT Remigipant 75 milligrams is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults so lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed soon millions will make medicare coverage decisions for next year and united health care can help you feel confident about your 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questions and then finally you can start getting the rest you need no more sending emails to the wrong people no more putting your car keys in the dishwasher talk to a sleep expert at mattress firm and unjunk your sleep today visit a mattress firm store near you or go to mattressfirm.com and we continue with our american stories and the story of daisy golf balls on the moon when we last left off joe murphin of the daisy airgun museum in rogers arkansas was telling us about learning of an estate sale unlike any other the seller had tons of unique daisy products including a photo signed by the astronauts of apollo 14 with a thank you note written on the bottom made out to jack powers a former daisy pr executive intrigued joe managed to get in contact with jack bower's son to figure out the story behind the photo let's return to joe so why are there daisy golf balls at all why do they exist and how do they get on the moon and he began to tell me a most interesting story his dad right out of college his first job was a executive director of the american sport fishing institute in washington dc so a young man just out of school takes his first job wants to impress his boss moves somewhere in virginia near washington dc he's renting a townhouse with he and his wife and there were six identical townhouses side by side and he's trying to impress his boss in the new job and he works late at night so he comes home after dark he throws open the door and says honey i'm home and a gruff voice says i'm not your honey and i think you're in the wrong townhouse luckily no one was injured and as a matter of fact both of them laughed about it both of them said well let's get our wives and put on a coffee pot of coffee and let's get to know each other we're next door neighbors it was a humorous incident but that chance meeting became a lifelong friendship for these two couples as their futures unfolded this gentleman's name was al chop he was the head of project blue book for the air force his job was to investigate ufo and alien sightings and al went on to become the vp of public relations for nasa and his voice could be heard in the control booth mission control for all of the apollo missions it was al chops voice that you heard so that was his career path jack powers left the sport fishing institute went to crossman air rifles which explains why a daisy executive in a relative's home an hour away would have a collection of crossman guns and then from there he left crossman and came to daisy he did a tremendous job at daisy and from people i've talked to that knew him he was just the ultimate pr guy he had a rolodex with names of famous people in it with their direct home phone numbers of politicians and hollywood actors and actresses he he just knew everybody and he was constantly ripping articles out of newspaper and magazines writing a note firing it off to these famous people letting them know that he'd seen what they'd done and there were at those times during the 60s and 70s there there were famous people appearing in daisy ads and there was a little bit of a hollywood connection where daisy developed guns and holsters because there were a lot of western movies being made and things like that so jack powers was very well connected and he would go down and visit al chop and his wife in florida to watch launchings of space vehicles and rockets and then he'd be introduced to the crews and to the astronauts and he would ask them to come to daisy he would ask him to come up and meet our people and walk through our factory and all these astronauts knew about daisy or it had an air rifle when they were a kid and so they did this that's how the photo ended up in rogers arkansas that's how the photo was signed but still you know why are there golf balls on the moon well daisy was owned during that time by a company called victor comtrometer and victor comtrometer made adding machines and when the handheld calculators started flooding the market in the united states and they were not inexpensive at that time but they were plentiful and they worked a lot better than a mechanical adding machine did this adding machine company decided that they needed to diversify their holdings so they built a recreational products group they purchased the company's daisy head and lures and fishing equipment herbal toys valley manufacturing which made exercise equipment nissan gymnastics which made gymnastics equipment bear archery very famous archery old archery company burke golf equipment who did business as a dba of pga golf and the Worthington ball company which made golf balls so immediately victor asked the Worthington ball company to stamp a bunch of golf balls with the victor name don't know the exact number of these i i like to think it was very few but some of them then they would stamp the other side with bear so it says victor bear archery victor earl you know victor burke you know whatever the other company's name was and so there were golf balls stamped with victor and daisy and these golf balls weren't sold in any store they were just given out the president of each of these companies or the executives at each of these companies would take them out play in the chamber city tournament you know here's the sleeve of my golf balls why don't you trade why don't you play these you know so in 1961 alan shepherd became the second person and the first american to travel into space 10 years later in 71 he commanded the apollo 14 mission and became the fifth person and the oldest person to walk on the moon and the crew of the apollo included shepherd edgar mitchell and stewart rusa so knowing that shepherd was an avid golfer jack powers just made the suggestion al chop why don't you take some of these daisy golf balls that say victor on one side daisy on the other and get alan shepherd to hit him on the moon knowing that alan shepherd wanted to do that by the way i i think i know that i think it was mitchell that threw a javelin on the moon so there have been two sports played on the moon that we know of but the most famous is is shepherd stepping out onto the moon and he's wearing a space suit that makes him look like the michelin man he can barely get his hands together and he had taken an excavation tool with him which he was supposed to have and then each astronaut was allowed to take a personal item with him some of them would take a watch with them and shepherd took a golf head and he tapes it or attaches it somehow to this excavation tool he drops the golf ball on the surface he takes a one-handed swing and said that one went miles and miles and miles actually it probably went two to four hundred yards because there is some atmosphere and there is some gravity on the moon and so it doesn't just go out into space forever it actually does drop so it was it was a long shot but it wasn't miles and miles and miles by the way the crew were never allowed to divulge the brand name of anything they took into space and i i've done a little bit of research on it it was interesting how they selected the flag that went to the moon they actually would send out six employees tell them to buy a flag bring it back tear up all the packaging get rid of all the tags on the flag and then one of those flags was selected so no one can ever claim we made the american flag that's on the moon it's so randomly done that no one knows but this was a personal item but shepherd was you know instructed never to divulge what brandy hit and he never did if you just search for this on the internet you'll find uh my information and my story that i've developed over these golf balls you'll never find one by shepherd where he divulges the brand name you'll find people that speculate that he liked this golf ball i saw him play that golf ball it was probably one of those my question was of the son of jack power so how do you know and he said two ways number one my father told me every day i put those golf balls on the moon secondly when my father would challenge me and tell me to do something and i'd say you can't make me do that he'd say i put two golf balls on the moon if i can do that i can make you mow the yard it's not like alan shepherd ever said it it's that my dad did it and he was said he was very proud of a lot of things he did for daisy he was very proud of his career of the people he knew and associated with but he was most proud that he put them on the moon and a special thanks to katrina hind for capturing the audio and a terrific job on the production by monty montgomery and a special thanks to joe murphin for sharing the story his museum is the daisy airgun museum it's in beautiful rogers arkansas and this may be the ultimate pr stunt that nobody knew about that's the joy of this one except the guy who did the stunt himself the story of the daisy golf balls on the moon here on our american story