Golf legend Gary Player reportedly filed a lawsuit in Palm Beach County against his son and grandson for allegedly selling his memorabilia.
After Player filed a complaint in May against his son Marc Player, he filed another lawsuit in November against his grandson, Damian Player, The Palm Beach Post reported Wednesday. Damian Player allegedly sold or helped sell many Rolex watches to a buyer in Florida and solicited buyers for memorabilia held in a South Carolina storage facility, The Palm Beach Post reported.
“I would like to draw the public’s attention to the fact that several trophies and other pieces of memorabilia that form part of my legacy have been put up for auction by my son and ex-manager, Marc,” Player, 87, tweeted in August. “These items belong to me and I have taken action to recover them. I have placed no items for sale—whether by auction or otherwise.” (RELATED: John Daly’s Latest Warm-Up Routine Is Proof That He’s The Most Naturally Gifted Athlete In All Of Sports)
A statement on the unauthorized sale of Gary Player trophies & memorabilia. pic.twitter.com/2tilBplJOL
— GARY PLAYER (@garyplayer) August 8, 2022
Gary Player files lawsuit against son, grandson for sale of memorabilia: https://t.co/uG4UGM6w65 pic.twitter.com/cuicGuqptH
— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) December 22, 2022
Court filings show that some of Gary Player’s trophies and other memorabilia were auctioned off or sold in 2021 for a total of about $600,000, two years after the business relationship with his son had severed, The Palm Beach Post reported. Marc Player had been his father’s manager for almost 20 years up until then.
Gary Player had assigned the rights to trademarks, likenesses, logos, and images to Marc Player’s entities, but had rescinded them after learning his son owed him $5 million, according to The Palm Beach Post.
“Only with the greatest reluctance and after many years of trying to avoid this did Gary have to enforce his rights in this way,” Stuart Singer, Gary Player’s lawyer, told The Palm Beach Post.
Marc Player’s lawyer, Darren Heitner, said that Gary Player’s claims are “baseless” because Marc had worked with Christie’s London to catalogue almost 300 items from his father, Golf Digest reported. Even though these items were sold to a billionaire in South Africa, Marc did not receive payment. Marc’s parents “validly gifted” the other items to their son, according to Heitner.