Friday, May 18, 2007

Great News Story from The Birmingham News

News staff writer

The Gunter family of Guntersville completed a sort of cosmic circle on Wednesday when young Seve Gunter met a golfing legend at Ross Bridge.

Seve, 18, is the son of Keith and Sallie Gunter and the brother of Taylor, 28.

When Mrs. Gunter was expecting her second child, she told big-brother-to-be that he could pick the name - fully expecting to be able to sway his choice to hers, which was Dalton, her father's name.

Not so fast, Mom.

Taylor was a golf fan in 1988 and one of the hottest names on the circuit was Spaniard Seve Ballesteros. His mind was made up. He insisted that his new brother would be named Seve.

"Mom gave me the choice of Dalton and two other names and Seve, but there was never any choice, really," said Taylor. "Seve stuck out to me. It's always been a unique name.

"I knew he wouldn't like it until he got older. He had to deal with it when he was younger, but he's all right now."

Seve, from Guntersville, not Pedrena, said his unusual name hasn't been a burden.

"Sometimes people would call me Steve or `Seeve,' but besides that it's been great," said the junior at Guntersville High, who is a member of the school's golf team and an academic scholarship winner from the University of Alabama.

The Bruno's Event Team set up a meeting of the two Seves on Wednesday after Mrs. Gunter wrote to executive director Gene Hallman explaining all the family's "ties" to Ballesteros.

Taylor Gunter shares Ballesteros' birthday of April 9 and Ballesteros won the Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic in September 1988 - on the day Guntersville's Seve was born.

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