One day, in early 1995, Kyle McDonough had a catch-up conversation with an old buddy.
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’s 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.
“Remember that movie that we talked about?” Adam Sandler asked McDonough. “We’re filming it.”
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 — a booming slap shot — translates to the tee box. It wasn’t a huge commercial success upon its February 1996 release, grossing less than $40 million in North American theaters. But “Happy Gilmore” 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 — including the hotly anticipated “Happy Gilmore 2,” which debuted last week.
And it all might have never happened without the elementary school classmate from New Hampshire known to Sandler as simply “McD,” the guy who inspired the original “Happy Gilmore” on a Manchester driving range some five decades ago and remains a close friend.
