"That was the whole purpose of going back to school," he said, "to defend my state championship and make All-Met four years in a row. [Otherwise] I would have stayed [home-schooled] and spent time with my dad, because there's no telling how much longer he'll be around. . . .
"If I go to school, it's five, six hours, and then there's practice. I don't want to come home and hear that my dad passed away and I wasn't there to see him."
Joe Gross, right, a two-time Maryland golf champion, is off the La Plata high school team and no longer enrolled at the school after a year that included a stroke suffered by his father Joe Sr., left.
(Katherine Frey - The Washington Post)
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But the suspensions from school ended his high school golf career. He could make the one-hour drive to College Park to watch the state tournament today, but that is doubtful.
"In his shoes, he might be embarrassed," said La Plata sophomore Daniel Barnas, Gross's closest friend on the team. "He doesn't want to watch anyone take his title."
Gross said he is committed to proving that his best golf is not behind him. He hopes to play in several junior tournaments this winter and reacquaint himself with recruiters.
People are "telling me that I've screwed up or have to go to community college or junior college," he said. "It's not a good feeling, but I'm not going to let it break me down. I've got to get out and show people that I'm still the golfer that I was before, when I was breaking 70."
Gross said he has begun meeting with a psychiatrist. When he tells his story, he prefers to tell it backward, starting with today, a life with a sick father and no golf; and then moving on to his school missteps and poor judgment; and finally on to his state championships and times bonding with his father during practice rounds or on nine-hour drives to tournaments.
"That way I get to the good stuff at the end," he said.
