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<\/p>\nOne day, in early 1995, Kyle McDonough had a catch-up conversation with an old buddy.<\/p>\n
A star center for the University of Vermont hockey team from 1985-89, McDonough was establishing himself as one of the best players in Norway\u2019s top professional league at the time. On the other side of an ocean, the friend was making waves in his own line of work and wanted to share some good news.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember that movie that we talked about?\u201d Adam Sandler asked McDonough. \u201cWe\u2019re filming it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Set to shoot in Vancouver that summer, the project starred Sandler as a washed-out hockey player who becomes a world-class golfer after learning that his lone on-ice skill \u2014 a booming slap shot \u2014 translates to the tee box. It wasn\u2019t a huge commercial success upon its February 1996 release, grossing less than $40 million in North American theaters. But \u201cHappy Gilmore\u201d proved pivotal for Sandler on his path to becoming one of the most bankable, beloved presences in comedic history, starring in projects that earned more than $3 billion at worldwide box offices and signing a recent Netflix deal worth $250 million for four films \u2014 including the hotly anticipated \u201cHappy Gilmore 2,\u201d which debuted last week.<\/p>\n
And it all might have never happened without the elementary school classmate from New Hampshire known to Sandler as simply \u201cMcD,\u201d the guy who inspired the original \u201cHappy Gilmore\u201d on a Manchester driving range some five decades ago and remains a close friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to talk to Kyle McDonough?\u201d Sandler said at the start of a conversation with The Athletic, a day before the sequel\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best. The king.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDonough and Sandler first met in the early 1970s, when Sandler\u2019s family moved from New York to Manchester, N.H. Sandler was 5, McDonough was six months older.<\/p>\n
They were tight from the jump; McDonough and another friend, Sandler said, walked him to school each day \u201cjust so I could feel comfortable.\u201d That scored McDonough major points with Sandler\u2019s mother, Judy.<\/p>\n
\u201c(McDonough) was talked about in my house like (he) raised me,\u201d Sandler said.<\/p>\n
McDonough came from a family of athletes: Older brother Hubie wound up playing 195 NHL games for the Kings, Islanders and Sharks. Their father, also named Hubie, \u201cwas a coach of everything,\u201d Kyle said.<\/p>\n
The family, Sandler said, would drive around Manchester in an old Volkswagen bus filled with sports equipment for seemingly every occasion \u2014 and it showed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny sport we did, Kyle became better than everybody,\u201d Sandler said. \u201cBest baseball player. Best football player when we were screwing around. Best hockey player by far. Could do the most chin-ups. Could do the most push-ups. Was jacked when he was 8.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just the biggest stud and the nicest, humblest guy in the neighborhood. \u2026 My family loved Kyle\u2019s family. The whole family loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody liked Kyle more than Stan Sandler. When Adam was about 12, a conversation between father and son turned into a discussion about the latter\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go, \u2018I dunno Dad, I was thinking maybe a pro baseball player,\u2019\u201d Sandler said. \u201cAnd he goes \u2018\u2026Nah. That\u2019s not gonna happen. You\u2019re too slow. It could happen for Kyle McDonough, though.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Yeah, I know (that) could happen. Maybe for the both of us, man.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Nah. Just Kyle.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Adam Sandler and Kyle McDonough pose recently in jerseys from Frisk Asker, one of McDonough\u2019s overseas hockey teams. (Courtesy Kyle McDonough)<\/p>\n
It made sense, then, that McDonough was invited along for one of the Sandlers\u2019 early trips to the local driving range when Stan was just starting to get into golf. The first time McDonough stepped to the tee, to hear Sandler tell the story, was all it took for the seed of a movie premise to plant itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was hitting them as a young kid far enough for everybody at the range to turn their heads and go, \u2018What\u2019s he doing that I\u2019m not doing?\u2019\u201d Sandler said.<\/p>\n
Stan Sandler\u2019s hypothesis, both that day and as the years went on, was that McDonough\u2019s hockey skill and muscles \u2014 especially in his wrists \u2014 helped him immediately thrive with a club instead of a stick.<\/p>\n
McDonough continued golfing with the Sandlers. After losing his own driver, he once even borrowed Stan\u2019s for a long-shot competition \u2026 and won. But his legacy in the sport was cemented years later, when Sandler reached into their shared past and began crafting a script about a hockey player with preternatural driving talents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great story,\u201d said Tim Herlihy, Sandler\u2019s longtime writing partner. \u201cIt\u2019s great that there\u2019s a real-life Happy Gilmore.\u201d<\/p>\n
By 1994, Sandler was acting as a regular cast member on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d and already working with Herlihy on a second movie \u2014 even before their first, \u201cBilly Madison,\u201d had been released. If Sandler\u2019s pivot from television sketch comedy to feature films was going to happen, it needed to be then.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey probably wouldn\u2019t have let us make another movie if we waited until \u2018Billy\u2019 came out to start \u2018Happy,\u2019\u201d Herlihy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed to come up with an idea for a movie and we had nothing. So (Sandler) said, \u2018I actually went golfing with Kyle McDonough once. And he was whacking it. It was his first time ever playing, and he was hitting it farther than me. What about a hockey player in the golf world?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that was it. It was right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herlihy, of course, had already heard the lore about the McDonough brothers \u2014 he and Sandler roomed together at NYU, an easy drive for some of the latter\u2019s New Hampshire buddies. \u201cThey drank the town dry,\u201d Herlihy said. \u201cBut they talked about Kyle and Hubie like they were the superstars of Manchester. These guys were just legendary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Premiering in summer 1995, \u201cBilly Madison\u201d underwhelmed at the box office and with critics. But \u201cHappy Gilmore\u201d was far enough along for Sandler to break the news to McDonough. The film was shot in British Columbia, and McDonough made the trip. He spent a week watching Sandler on set and crashing with him at his hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going, \u2018I guess this is really happening\u2019,\u201d McDonough said.<\/p>\n
The movie went on to significantly out-earn its $12 million budget, guaranteeing Sandler and Herlihy more work. Over time, cable channels and DVD sales have turned \u201cHappy Gilmore\u201d into one of the most beloved comedies of its time \u2014 and made the name synonymous with a rage-case, alligator-wrestling golfer who takes a running start on his tee shots and winds up as if preparing to hit a one-timer on the ice.<\/p>\n
But the real-life and fictional Happy Gilmores are far from perfect analogues. McDonough\u2019s hockey resume is proof. At Vermont, he led the Catamounts in scoring three out of four seasons; helped the Division 1 program make the NCAA Tournament for the first time; and earned All-American honors as a senior. Only five players in program history have logged more career points, and one is Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis.<\/p>\n
Given McDonough\u2019s temperament \u2013 humble and mild-mannered, a coach\u2019s son \u2013 some tweaks were necessary for comedy\u2019s sake. Sandler pulled from the other hockey players he grew up with in Manchester.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were brawlers and ready to go and could knock back drinks, and I thought it would be funny to see that style of a guy on tour with the other dudes,\u201d Sandler said. \u201cI thought the reason my guy could play was because he bangs them so long that he had an advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that was Kyle. His first hit was always 80 yards longer than anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The price is wrong: Adam Sandler wears a Bruins jersey as he trades blows with Bob Barker in the original \u201cHappy Gilmore.\u201d (Universal \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
They also decided to play up what Herlihy called \u201cthe blunt instrument of the temper issue,\u201d which came naturally to Sandler. McDonough, on the other hand, never fought a coach at tryouts: \u201cI got cut (from a team), but not like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nor did he ever take off his skate and try to stab someone with it. \u201cWe have to draw the line somewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sandler\u2019s knock-kneed skating on camera was another differentiation point. \u201cGod, that was hard to watch,\u201d McDonough said.\u201d I tell everyone, \u2018(Sandler) took poetic license with that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to scout himself as a hockey player, McDonough, who was listed at 5-feet-9 in college, showed some of the humility that Sandler mentioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s quicker than he is fast. He\u2019ll beat you to that puck right there, but down the ice, it\u2019s not gonna happen. He skates a little funny,\u201d McDonough said.<\/p>\n
McDonough wound up playing overseas for 13 years. He piled up points across Europe \u2014 Denmark, Scotland, Sweden \u2014 but made his biggest mark with Frisk Asker in Norway\u2019s top league, scoring 33 or more goals in three of his six seasons there and leading the franchise to a championship in 2001-02 before retiring.<\/p>\n
The closest he came to Gilmore as a hockey player, McDonough said, was during one of those Norway seasons when he led the league in penalties. Naturally, he also won its scoring title.<\/p>\n
Every year, his students sniff out the Sandler connection. Typically, it doesn\u2019t happen until after Christmas. Then someone lands on the correct search results, or sifts through the entirety of the DVD special features on YouTube. And the whispers begin.<\/p>\n
For his part, McDonough leans in. Now a high school social studies teacher in Manchester, he appreciates the cachet \u2014 even if he refuses to directly answer their questions.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I) kind of play it off. I\u2019ll deny it,\u201d McDonough said. \u201cThey know that (Sandler) came from here, so it\u2019s plausible. All I say is, \u2018Someone had to go to first grade with him, right?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly 30 years after Happy Gilmore sank a circus shot with a hockey stick putter to win the gold jacket at the Tour Championship in the original movie, the sequel features a stronger hockey presence. Retired NHLers Sean Avery and Chris Chelios play a pair of bodyguards, credited as Henchman No. 1 and Henchman No. 2. Happy has four sons \u2014 all hockey players. He golfs in updated Bruins gear on the screen and, in character at last month\u2019s NHL Draft, announced Boston\u2019s first-round pick. That player, James Hagens, later met Sandler at the New York premiere of \u201cHappy Gilmore 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2226399532-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Adam Sandler meets Bruins draft pick James Hagens at the \u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u201d premiere. (Kevin Mazur \/ Getty Images for Netflix)<\/p>\n
The movie also attracted extra attention for its sheer tonnage of celebrity cameos and family-reunion vibes. Bad Bunny is Happy\u2019s caddie! John Daly lives in Happy\u2019s garage! Travis Kelce gets (redacted) by a (redacted)! Sandler\u2019s daughters! Herlihy\u2019s son! All pop up, in some fashion.<\/p>\n
So does McDonough, who made the final cut as a caddie for Charles Howell III. He attended the premiere, too, where he was particularly excited to talk to Judy Sandler. Stan Sandler passed away in 2003 at 68, three years after Sandler released a spoken comedy album called \u201cStan and Judy\u2019s Kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to say it, it\u2019s so clich\u00e9: (Sandler) is one of the guys,\u201d McDonough said. \u201cI\u2019ve never been with him where he said no to a picture. And it\u2019s everywhere. It\u2019s constant. It\u2019s so unbelievable. How he\u2019s stayed like he is, is just baffling. It comes back to Stan and Judy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the sequel\u2019s summer publicity rounds \u2014 Sandler mentioned McDonough\u2019s name on the Kelce brothers\u2019 podcast, for one \u2014 the whispers around the real-life Happy Gilmore might start earlier than normal when school begins on Sept. 5.<\/p>\n
Another recent development for McDonough: After more than 20 years on the bench, including for his former high school and current employer at Manchester Memorial, he\u2019s done as a hockey coach.<\/p>\n
Now, he coaches golf.<\/p>\n
(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen \/ The Athletic; top photos: Getty Archives, UVM Athletics)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One day, in early 1995, Kyle McDonough had a catch-up conversation with an old buddy. A star center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[690,88,427,385,1794],"class_list":{"0":"post-42984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}