When on those occasions the stars align and you discover that there is a touch of perfection in this world after all, the warm smile goes a long way toward offering comfort on bitterly cold days and reinforcing your love of the people who enrich golf.

To know that Dick Connolly will receive the Francis Ouimet Award for lifelong contributions to golf makes such perfect sense that you can only bemoan the fact that the evening won’t take place until April 21. Which is OK, because there are winter conditions to rid ourselves of and patience to be exercised so that golf season is even more appreciated.

But to circle Monday, April 21 for the annual Ouimet Banquet takes on added enthusiasm because of the man who’ll be honored. By whichever measurement you care to use, Dick Connolly is the face of golf’s largest golf dinner in the country and if you were to line up the hundreds of students who have benefited from the $15 million in scholarship funds since this event was taken to another level 28 years ago, their thanks would be owed first and foremost to this incomparable man who learned as an 8-year-old that golf could unleash endless joy.

“It’s still the most important job I’ve ever had, for the education it offered me, for the people it introduced me to,” said Connolly, who started as a caddie at Woburn CC, some 12 miles northwest of Boston. He caddied and later moved over and became part of the superintendent’s crew, in all working 15 years at Woburn CC.

“The experience was priceless.”

What was also priceless was learning of Ouimet’s legend, from the 1913 U.S. Open triumph as an amateur, to remaining a huge figure in the world of golf, to giving his blessing to what he thought was his greatest triumph – the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. Connolly has never forgotten the financial assistance he received as a Ouimet scholar who went on to secure a Holy Cross education.

Even as his career as a manager of investment portfolios for more than 50 years flourished (just last year he retired as the Managing Partner of The Connolly Group at Morgan Stanley), Dick Connolly never forgot his humble roots, his golf course jobs, or especially the scholarship money.

Philanthropy is part of his DNA and what he has meant to the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund – and by extension, to hundreds and hundreds of young men and women who have been awarded financial assistance – is awe-inspiring. It would be honorable enough if Dick Connolly chose to maintain a presence with the charitable fund that helped with his college tuition; only this incomparable man chose to go much further. He opted to be a pillar of the organization, serving through the years as Director, Trustee, and President.

Dick Connolly would tell you it has been a labor of love but there is a layer of wonder to his story that sits at the heart of his legacy.

That he really only had one sports hero he looked up to while growing up and his name was Arnold Palmer is no surprise. “The King,” as Palmer was called, was beloved by so many golf fans of Connolly’s era.

But the fact that Connolly came to develop a business relationship with Palmer and eventually became a trusted financial services confidant to the four-time Masters champion . . . well, it speaks volumes for Connolly’s character and dignity that he was so deep in the inner circle.

“I idolized him and consider myself fortunate to have just had the chance to shake his hand, let alone be close to him,” said Connolly. “I think the three most important people in golf history are Francis Ouimet, Bobby Jones, and Arnold Palmer.

“Not the greatest major champion, mind you. For my money, Jack Nicklaus is still the greatest major champion. But Francis, Bobby Jones and Arnold were the three most impactful people in golf.”

Dick Connolly's love affair with golf began as an 8-year-old and continued for 15 years at Woburn CC. To this day he'll tell you it was the most rewarding job he's ever had.

Years after Palmer’s legendary PGA Tour career had come to an end, he remained such an icon and the people’s champion that he always said yes to requests to play in PGA Tour Champions tournaments. One annual stop was at Nashawtuc CC in Concord, Mass., not far from where Connolly and his wife, Ann Marie, lived. Naturally, it was a comfortable fit into Palmer’s schedule and what grew out of this trusted friendship was a request that would change the direction of the annual Ouimet Banquet.

Up until 1996, the banquet was a small affair but in 1997 Connolly, whose financial group would be the presenting sponsor, went to Palmer with a request. Would he accept the first Francis Ouimet Award for Lifelong Contributions to Golf and be guest speaker at a lavish dinner at the Sheraton in Copley Square?

“Arnold’s answer was emphatic. He said, ‘I’d be honored,’ ” said Connolly.

Immediately, the response from the local golf community was overwhelming. From a moderate-sized hall the banquet would command a ballroom that could accommodate more than 1,000 guests. Connolly was most proud of the way the Ouimet Scholarship Fund supporters pulled it off, but what will forever stick in his mind was the pre-banquet discussion he had with the honored guest.

“Arnold said, ‘Let’s have a drink’ and then he proceeded to ask me how often I saw my doctor. I told him once a year. He nodded, then suggested I could make it twice a year.”

The discussion went on and it was before that year’s banquet that Connolly learned of the prostate cancer that Palmer was dealing with. He would leave the following morning for treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis.

“That’s the kind of man he was,” said Connolly. “He came to help our scholarship fund when he was sick and never let on to anyone.”

Bless Palmer’s uncanny aura, he graced our earthly world and remained an integral part of the golf community for another 19 years before he passed at the age of 87 in 2016. His friendship with Connolly was sealed forever and never to be forgotten by the former Woburn CC caddie is Palmer’s impact on the annual banquet.

In the aftermath of ’97, when invites went out to golf legends to accept the Francis Ouimet Award for Lifelong Contributions to Golf “they all knew that Arnold had accepted and they were going to, also,” said Connolly. Thus did the list of honorees include Gene Sarazen, Jack (and his wife, Barbara) Nicklaus, Ken Venturi, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Curtis Strange, Ben Crenshaw, Johnny Miller, Nick Price, Annika Sorenstam, and Juli Inkster.

And in three months, a room packed with 1,500 people will stand and salute Richard Connolly Jr., not because of his golf resume, but for the deepest soul, strongest spirit, and most charitable aura this incredible scholarship fund has ever met. "It's humbling. I'm totally flabbergasted," he said.

To honor the game’s greats is special. To pay tribute to those who represent relentless kindness and charitable grace is glorious.