Hitting 70, Nicklaus still knows his major title: Papa Bear

He goes by many names.

The Golden Bear.

The greatest golfer ever.

Or, similar to Elvis, as just plain Jack, because no surname is necessary among the game's aficionados.

Through Jack Nicklaus' adult life, you've been as likely to find him at a kid's or grandkid's game as on the golf course. (Getty Images)

Around the family homestead in West Palm Beach, Fla., he answers to another tag altogether -- and it means more than any other moniker.

Jack W. Nicklaus, who celebrates his milestone 70th birthday on Thursday, answers to Peepaw. With 21 grandchildren, he hears that nickname more than any of the others, which is just the way he likes it.

For decades, he's not only had the touch of Houdini with a club in hand, he had the balance of a Flying Wallenda when at home. Nicklaus perfected perhaps the greatest balancing act in sports history.

"The reason I turned pro was to be the best I could be at a game," Nicklaus said, a few days before he entered his eighth decade above grass. "I also put that as my second priority. I always looked at my family as my first priority and it took precedent over golf. I have kept that priority over the years."

Unlike a particular golfing figure who became infamous in the past few weeks for paying their family responsibilities lip service while they were smooching every female they could find when away from the public eye, Nicklaus still walks the walk. Bad hip, bunions and all.

When it comes to family, Papa Bear means business. In fact, any day now, daughter Nan O'Leary's phone will be ringing.

"It's funny, but each spring, he calls and says, 'I need the boys' football schedule,' so he can plan his work schedule for the fall," said O'Leary, one of Jack's five children.

Nicklaus' employees are under standing orders not to schedule any work-related outings, appearances or golf-course site visits during periods when the Grand Slam-winning grandfather has games to attend. For decades, Nicklaus has been such a regular sideline fixture, the other parents don't blink anymore. He's just another doting grandfather.

"Whether it is football, basketball, volleyball, soccer or whatever, he was always just Nan's dad, Jackie's dad, Gary's dad," O'Leary said, naming two of her four brothers.

Nicklaus won a record 18 professional majors among his 73 PGA Tour victories. His hosannas have been sung from the rooftops by experts and peers for decades. But few are aware that as a parent, he's always been a scratch player, too. Nobody's patriarchal scorecard is posted on the tour website, and it's hard to apply a yardstick to paternal success. Screw the quantification -- he was quite possibly more successful as a dad than as a player.

"I don't think he truly gets the credit he deserves, either my mom or my dad, for the work he puts in," his daughter said.

She ought to know. Just like her dad, Nan has exactly four sons and one daughter. With four of his children still living in the Palm Beach area, the Nicklaus cubs are everywhere. With 21 grandkids, maybe we ought to be calling him BlackJack.

The stories about his commitment to his family date back 40 years. While playing in the fall at Disney World in nearby Orlando, he was flying home between rounds on Friday nights to watch his sons play football. The juggling act didn't seem to affect him much: Starting in 1971, he won the first three Disney titles in succession.

"Obviously, one of his fortes is the ability to concentrate and keep those steely blues focused," said Nan, 44. "That's just an ability he's always had."

Despite his busy schedule, Jack and Barbara Nicklaus never hired a nanny. I'm not naming names, or even claiming that there's anything wrong with having some backup as a parent, but one fixture in the world top 10 has used two nannies to help ride herd over his family -- and he doesn't have nearly as many kids as the Nicklauses.

Two months ago, grandson Nick O'Leary's football team at Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer High made it to the Florida 4A final. So the old man rented a bus and filled it up with 58 friends, family members or parents of other players and tooled up Florida's Turnpike to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Nick's team -- as you might have guessed, his full first name is Nicklaus -- won its first state title 42-14.

"Oh, we had a blast," Nan said of the magic bus. "Great game, too."

Her dad has had great game for years. In fact, last weekend, he teamed with Tom Watson to win the Senior Skins Game in Hawaii. While it isn't an official event and is staged mostly for fun, it is sanctioned by the Champions Tour, which means the Bear has now won a professional tournament in seven different decades. Playing against a field of pros, he won the 1956 Ohio Open at age 16. Moreover, how many other guys won their first (1962 U.S. Open) and last tour titles (1986 Masters) at majors?

But we aren't here to relive or revel in the championships. That's just the grist of his professional identity.

"It may sound silly, but golf was never that important to me," he said earlier this month. "Obviously, somebody will take that out of context and say it's not important to me. Golf was, but I played a game because I liked it and I played it for the sake of the game. I played it because when I played that game, the competition, the charge that I got from it excited me to be really good at something. It excited me to be able to focus on something, something to work at, something that filled my life with excitement."

Then he came home, put away his clubs and became Superdad. Unbeknown to most, Jack always made time, even at the peak of his powers, for each of his equally busy kids. While the four Nicklaus boys got most of the attention publicly -- Gary became a tour player and eldest son Jackie caddied for dad at his memorable victory at the 1986 Masters -- Nan didn't get left out. Far from it.

Nan usually accompanied her father to the British Open, where they often went shopping together and visited countries all over the continent, including Spain and France. It was their special time together.

"That was our little trip together, though I wouldn't say it was a shopping spree every time, unfortunately," she laughed.

Even after she left home to play volleyball in college at Georgia, her parents somehow found time to attend games in Athens, firing up the family jet for the flight up from South Florida.

"Hey, he earned it," she laughed.

No doubt, and for flying high on many fronts.

So, while the world is equal parts enraged and amused by the familial train wreck involving the player most likely to supplant Nicklaus as the game's greatest golfer ever, the Bear's not likely to surrender his title as its most diligent, high-profile dad.

At 70, he's proof that children and championships are not mutually exclusive terms. In fact, prioritizing them in that order worked out pretty well, didn't it?

"My focus was on my family," he said, "and golf was just a part of my life."