At 24 years old, Sean Fister tried golf for the first time and in his first round of golf, he drove a par 4 in the air at 334 yards. It wasn’t long before golfers were talking about how unusually far he could hit a golf ball but then a few were quick to point out that he wouldn’t stand a chance against the big hitters on TV.
Eager to prove the doubters wrong, he went to work on the craft of long driving with the same approach he did as a pole vaulter and set his sights on a new goal...to be the best.
Sean entered his first long drive qualifier tournament and advanced to the regional finals where he also won, advancing to his first world championship.
After 6 years of failing to qualify to get back to the world championships, Sean finally found his way back and finished 5th. The following year, he won the coveted title as the longest hitter of a golf ball in the world. This was the beginning of a record setting and Hall of Fame career that almost never happened. He just refused to quit. In all, he competed in 33 world championships and became the only American to win 3 world titles in history.
Sean set high school and regional pole vault records and won a State Championship in Missouri.
Earned an athletic Scholarship to the University of Florida and within a year became the top pole vaulter and Javelin thrower on the Gator Track Team with an official personal best of 17 in the pole vault'. In his first official track meet as a Gator, he won the pole vault and javelin and in his final regular season at Florida, was undefeated in the pole vault.
Sean set numerous high school, college and stadium records. Some still stand nearly 40 years later.
Sean was selected by the U.S. Olympic Decathlon Coach to train for the Olympic Trials in decathlon. Later that same year, his Olympic dream ended in a pole vaulting accident, suffering 2 fractures in his back.
Family produced 7 professional athletes in 4 generations:
Grandfather, father, uncle and brother played Professional Baseball, nephews-Tyler and Ben Hansbrough played in the NBA
and Sean in golf.
4 siblings earned athletic scholarships to college in Baseball, Tennis and Track.
Sister Tami was 1978 Miss Missouri.
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