On April 14, 1935 Ben Hogan married Valerie Fox, the ceremony being performed in the front parlor of the bride’s parents. Ben first met Valerie in Sunday school in Fort Worth in the mid-1920s, and they reacquainted in 1932 when he landed a golf club professional job in Cleburne.
On their first date they went to the movies and stopped at a lemonade stand on the way home. Valerie was quoted about that first date: “When we got home he said, ‘May I kiss you?’ to which I replied ‘I don’t think so, but thank you for a wonderful evening. I enjoyed it.’ I didn’t know that my sister Sarah was listening through the open window. As soon as I got in the house, Sarah started imitating us: ‘May I kiss you goodnight? I don’t think so.’ She did it so often in the few days that my mother had to tell her to stop.”
Ben’s mother, Clara did not attend the wedding as reportedly she did not get along very well with his wife at first. Clara did warm up to Valerie as she witnessed through the years the devotion the married couple held for each other. They never had any children even though Ben loved children. He did not think a child could be properly cared for when they traveled so much on the PGA Tour. After his semi-retirement in the mid 1950’s, it was too late.
Pictured are Ben and Valerie in 1947 at the Phoenix Open.
