FOR 27 YEARS I conducted the Guiding Eyes Golf Classic, an outing in New York that has raised more than $6 million [now more than $8 million] toward giving guide dogs to the blind. It's very worthwhile, because the dogs cost $40,000 each to raise and train. During the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center, a blind man named Omar Rivera was on the 71st floor of the north tower. Omar didn't think he could make it down through the crush of people, so he asked another man to save his dog, Salty. The man agreed, but the dog shook loose, retrieved Omar, and got them both all the way out. Some time later, at a Guiding Eyes gala at Rockefeller Plaza, Omar came forward and told his story. Toward the end, he said, "This dog came from Ken Venturi." I cry easily enough as it is, but I cried buckets that day.