Golf: Atkinson dies year after Torrey Pines experience

Omahan John Atkinson died the way he wanted, being with friends and family, sharing stories, laughing.

“We all should be so lucky,'' said his brother, Kevin. “He had so many special moments and memories these last two years.''

Among those moments for Atkinson, 40, a nonsmoker who died Thursday of inoperable lung cancer, was playing a year ago this week in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge at Torrey Pines with celebrities Justin Timberlake, Tony Romo and Matt Lauer. Atkinson won a nationwide vote in the contest that was based on the premise that a golfer who shoots in the low 80s couldn't break 100 on a U.S. Open course.

“The memory of his kids holding on to their signs and the two of us walking up to the 18th green always put a smile on his face,'' Kevin Atkinson said. “How many get that experience and get that experience saved on videotape?''

John Atkinson shot 114. “I had a great time,” he said that day. “I had a certain score that I wanted to hit, but that wasn't going to happen. But I feel it's like life — you've just got to keep going.”

The Atkinson brothers had been planning to attend this year's U.S. Open Challenge, which is today at Bethpage Black on Long Island in New York. Kevin Atkinson said Timberlake called the Atkinson house after his practice round Thursday and expressed his sorrow.

John Atkinson's condition worsened in the months following the trip to Torrey Pines. The salesman for Bard Peripheral Vascular was hospitalized in intensive care for several weeks in May, but was determined to attend the wedding of one of his Westside High buddies, Scott Hazelrigg, on Memorial Day weekend.

“He not only came home and made the wedding, he went to the reception and a party the next day,'' Kevin said. “A few days later, he got to celebrate his son's sixth birthday.''

After another stay in intensive care, John wanted to return to his suburban Omaha home. So many of John's high school friends were there Wednesday night that Kevin said it seemed like a block party.

“He wanted to be very clear,'' Kevin said, “that he wasn't going home to give up, that he was going to stay fighting and he fought to the last breath.''

Other survivors include his wife, Lori; daughters Machaela and Andrea and son Christopher; and parents Ed and Ann Atkinson, all of Omaha.

“One of John's missions after his diagnosis was to live, and the other mission was to raise awareness,'' Kevin Atkinson said, “and he did both of those.''

Contact the writer:

444-1041, stu.pospisil@owh.com