Some Golf Photos We Found in Walter Iooss's Basement

Photography by Walter Iooss

Tiger Woods Carlsbad, CA 1999: “I was attempting to recreate the famous Hy Peskin shot of Ben Hogan from 1950. Tiger’s caddy wasn’t that pleased with my efforts”

In 1960, Sports Illustrated gave a 17-year-old kid his first photography assignment—the same year he graduated from East Orange High School in New Jersey. Two years later, that kid, Walter Iooss, shot his first cover for Sports Illustrated. Not too bad for someone who shot his first roll of film at the age of 16, with a camera his father had bought for him.

Fast forward a few hundred thousand rolls of film and several decades later, and you have Walter Iooss walking above a treasure chest of some of the most iconic moments captured in sports and cultural history—his basement doubles as his photo library. This basement might be one of the best places on earth where you can sip tequila and listen to stories of his time shooting everything from Jimi Hendrix to Muhammed Ali to kids playing stickball in the streets of Cuba.

Lee Trevino in Clemmons, NC July 1974: “Waiting to tee off”

By the way, don’t forget that just this year Whalebone Magazine watched Walter almost sink a 150-yard chip shot to win a new car. The gentleman has a smooth swing and style that has gained him fans in many of Sports Illustrated‘s swimsuit supermodels, professional athletes, and iconic editors he has shot and worked with over the years. A lifetime of accomplishments aside, it is Walter’s apparent pure love of sports that makes him and his work so relatable. We have a feeling that even if Walter was a world famous pianist from New Jersey, we know he would still not miss Game 7, still go to every single Super Bowl, and would definitely be geeking out at the chance to go to Augusta for a private round.