On the surface, Stan Humphries and Piper Jordan are galaxies apart. In his lifetime he will not understand how to go into the corners with three other players and come out with the puck, while surely Piper will never stand in a stadium in front of 75,000 screaming fans at a Super Bowl.

Humphries is Louisiana through and through and at 57 he is 40 years older than Jordan, a perky and infectious young woman from Hingham, Mass. Her town is Colonial history on Boston Harbor, his is Civil War and steamboats. Where Shreveport is crawfish and beignets, Hingham is lobsters and beet salads.

Connecting the dots might seem futile, only golf in its wondrous ways has the uncanny ability to unite so many of us within a world where we share the same sense of commitment to a game that consistently rewards us exponentially. Humphries does not know, and probably will never meet, Jordan, but while meandering through yet another stretch of sultry weather a week ago, my travels within a few days of one another brought me in contact first with Humphries, then with Jordan.

For the record, they share a passion for the game and represent in similar fashions what is so beautiful about golf, no matter their contrasting backgrounds.

Humphries twice experienced the Super Bowl as a quarterback, once as Mark Rypien’s backup in Washington’s win over Buffalo, then three years later as San Diego’s leader in a loss to the Steve Young-led 49ers.

Piper Jordan finds time in her active world for a love of golf. (Photo by David Colt of Mass Golf.)

Retired now for 25 years, Humphries stood in warm sunshine at The Kittansett Club in Marion, Mass., where he was competing in the U.S. Senior Amateur. Surely, such a genteel game as golf couldn’t ruffle this big footballer’s emotions, could it?

Humphries laughed softly. “When we all retire, there’s a part inside of us that misses the adrenaline rush. You just can’t cut that out of us,” he said. “But this . . . “ and his eyes scanned majestic views of Buzzard’s Bay and Kittansett’s windswept terrain on a sun-splashed day, “it puts me back in the arena and I love it.”

True enough, Humphries does not tee off with the ability to hand off to Natrone Means or throw to Mark Seay in order to salvage par. “And I don’t have to worry about Reggie White or Lawrence Taylor coming at me (from the blind side),” he laughed. “But don’t think for one minute I don’t have big-time nerves. I played in front of 100,000 (football) fans and didn’t feel out of my comfort zone. Believe me, though, I’ve got those competitive butterflies in golf.”

Jordan’s arena the day we met was even cozier and less stressful than Kittansett’s. Boston Golf Club in Hingham was hosting the annual John D. Mineck Junior Cup and truthfully my visit was for personal reasons. John, who tragically died in 2007 while working at BGC, of which he was co-founder, is simply the most impactful person who has blessed my world and every visit there rekindles memories of the spirit he had for golf, for life, for people.

Competing within the framework of a wonderful junior golf circuit, The Challenge Cup, which schedules and coordinates this John D. Mineck Junior Cup, Jordan was focused on each shot as it arrived. But as each swing was completed, she was earnestly focused on savoring the day, to simply being her effervescent self.

The young woman, it pleases me to say, “gets it.”

As much as Jordan plays golf for the competitive challenge – and she brings that to the ice, too, as a standout hockey player – never did this Hingham High School senior let the natural pitfalls of the round ruin her day. Her athletic talents when coupled with sterling academic standing has helped Jordan receive early acceptance to Middlebury College so, yes, there’s a great deal of pressure off her. (Not to mention a whole lot of validation and sparkle to the levels of her human qualities.)

But pressure is relative and just as Humphries could compare the nervousness he felt at the Super Bowl with the butterflies he took to the first tee of a U.S. Senior Amateur, Jordan could fall back on what she did a few weeks earlier at the Mass Golf Women’s State Amateur out at The Orchards.

Finishing 12th in the stroke-play portion, Jordan won, 2 and 1, in the Round of 32. Then she won again, 1 up, in the Round of 16 to find herself in the quarter-finals. That the magic was halted with a 3 and 2 loss to reigning champion Catie Schernecker didn’t put a dent in Jordan’s pride for she had enjoyed herself thoroughly and had competed admirably.

Jordan and a colleague from The Challenge Cup, Victoria Veator, acquitted themselves splendidly during the Mineck Junior Cup and unless you have walked 18 holes on as demanding a course as BGC and seen these young women show their power and finesse, well, you aren’t properly informed as to how much depth and strength is out there on their side of the golf world. It’s impressive.

And until you have spoken to a Super Bowl quarterback and heard him talk to the competitive fires that golf ignites within him – even at the senior amateur level – you might not be in position to accurately gauge the richness to golf.

The game has never been stronger, from juniors to collegians to mid-ams, to seniors – both on the men’s and women’s sides – and the desire to play, both recreationally and competitively, resonates emphatically throughout the ages.