He was putting on the 17th green on Pinehurst No. 1 on March 14, 2002 — hoping for par — when he blacked out, suffering a heart attack.
But he was revived with the help of a handy defbrilator. And on Friday, he putted out on the 17th hole and teed off on the 18th, symbolically finishing his round from one year ago.
“It was probably one of the more exciting mornings I’ve had in the last year,” he said afterwards while enjoying a cup of coffee in the country club’s snack room, the 91st Hole. “The mere fact — to walk on a green and putt — it was very exciting.”
It was a beautiful morning Friday, a little chilly, and Leavee enjoyed being out among the pine trees hearing the birds singing.
“Any day I can breathe is a good day,” he says.
Everywhere Leavee went, people recognized him and shouted hellos. Leavee drove a golf cart out to the 17th hole, putted, then walked over to the 18th hole, took a few practice swings and then hit his shot.
The ball landed a little to the left of the fairway and snuck into a bunker. Leavee refuses to let things like that get him down.
“I believe in overcoming challenges,” he says.
He’s had a lifetime of overcoming challenges. Now at 86 years old, Leavee has lived through four other heart attacks, a triple by-pass surgery and the implantation of a pacemaker/defibrillator.
“My heart is obviously not in good shape,” he says.
Leavee won’t let that stop him from playing golf. He played twice a week before last year’s attack.
A year ago, Leavee’s golfing partners, Regis Emmerich and Joseph Raba, were watching Leavee putt when he collapsed.
“Everything went black,” he says, “and that is the last that I remember.”
He woke up five days later at Wake Hospital in Raleigh. Though he doesn’t remember what happened, his partners quickly came to his aid. Raba had recently learned cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and he quickly applied it to Leavee.
Emmerich ran for help. The Pinehurst Country Club was prepared. The club began training employees in CPR and operation of a defibrillator in 2000. (The country club now has about 180 employees so trained.) There are defibrillators on the golf courses.
One of the employees, Harry Caperton, took one of the defibrillators and ran to where Leavee had dropped. Using the paddles to shock Leavee, he managed to keep him breathing.
While Leavee was unconscious in the hospital, his wife, Evelyn, stayed with him. They are members of Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church in Southern Pines.
Their pastor, the Rev. Grady Perryman, came to see him and deliver a message. Leavee was still unconscious at the time and doesn’t remember what happened, but he’s heard the story.
“He told me, “You can do it, Ray. You can do it. You can come back. Of course, you don’t have to come to church on Sunday.’” Leavee says.
Unbelievably, Leavee said back to the minister, “I’ll be there.”
Today, Leavee has a box attached to his chest and wired to his heart. It’s shaped like a Zippo cigarette lighter, and it regulates his heart rate and can give him a shock in the event he suffers another heart attack.
Leavee gives thanks to all those who helped him pull through — his wife for her patience, the doctors, the church and the entire community.
Leavee, his wife and their dog, Riley, now go visit other people who are sick and shut-in. They’ve formed a group with about 25 other people dedicated to helping others. He wants to spread the message that helped him get back out on the golf course.
“’You can do it, Ray,’” he says. “We all need that, don’t we, in our lives.”
