It’s Not Hard to Warm Up to Muffin Spencer-Devlin

I’m an unabashed fan of Muffin Spencer-Devlin.

When I learned this week she’s been named grand marshal for next month’s annual Gay & Lesbian Pride Celebration in Irvine, I immediately, and impulsively, called her on the phone. I say “impulsively” because I’d never met Spencer-Devlin. And, like most reporters, I never call for an interview without preparing first, or formulating a few questions ahead of time.

But I called Spencer-Devlin at her home in Laguna Beach without a thought in mind about what I wanted to ask. I just spit it out that I was a fan and how great it was that she’d been chosen for this honor. She took it from there. After all, how could someone named Muffin not be incredibly nice?

If you don’t know the name, Muffin Spencer-Devlin, now 42, has played on the women’s professional golf tour since 1979. She’s won a few tournaments and got some publicity early in her career because she is a former actress and model. This season she made major sports headlines by being the first tour member to acknowledge that she is a lesbian.

I first saw her play at a tournament in Palm Springs. She’d sprayed her drive into the right-hand rough well beyond the gallery ropes. Instead of berating gallery watchers for not moving out of her way for her next shot (as some on the men’s or women’s tours would) she said something about being so wild that day we might want to clear out. Her self-deprecating humor brought the crowd’s cooperation in moving.

Such acts of kindness go a long way to impress me. I found myself pulling for her as one of my favorites week after week. Spencer-Devlin had some good years--she made more than $133,000 in 1985--very good money for those times. But in the early ‘90s she hit some lean years on tour. What most didn’t know was that Spencer-Devlin had long suffered from manic depression. It had come back in severe bouts.

But she found doctors and psychologists to help her through it, and last year she made more than $100,000, well on her way back. Right now, however, she’s taking a hiatus from the tour, by her own choice. The announcement, through a Sports Illustrated story, that she is a lesbian brought demands on her time. And she took time off to get married--”a commitment ceremony” is how it’s described, since California doesn’t legally honor lesbian marriages.

“It’s the first time in about 17 years that I’ve had a summer to myself,” she told me. “I’m not golfed out, but I’m toured out. It would be great if, like in ‘Star Trek,’ they could just beam you to the next tournament. But all the traveling takes its toll. I just need a break.”

She did not seem offended when I wondered aloud why, with her incredible talent (at 5-foot-11, she’s a strong hitter), she hadn’t reached the next level on tour and become one of its stars.

“My career isn’t over,” she said. “In many ways I’m just now maturing as a golfer. I think I’ve got some great years ahead of me.”

We talked, of course, about her “coming out.” That’s the phrase she uses, or “being out.”

“I think it may take a year or two for me to know if it’s really changed me,” she said. “But I feel the same right now. I’d been out with my family for years, and anybody on tour who knew me at all knew my lifestyle.”

And about being grand marshal: “When they first asked me, I was in a depression, and I told them I wasn’t sure. But I came out of my depression on June 20, it was like this great fog lifted, so now I’m really jazzed about it.”

Surely, I asked her, she knew she was a role model for many other young lesbians. She responded: “It’s like throwing a pebble into a lake. Once you’ve done it, you can’t control the ripples. I don’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘Today I’ll be a role model.’ But if there are women who can benefit from the choices I’ve made, then sure, I think that’s great. All I can do is try to be true to myself.”

Trekking Along: In researching her career, I had to smile when I realized why Spencer-Devlin had used a “Star Trek” metaphor. She’s a devoted Trekkie, and even appeared in a small role in “Star Trek: Generations.”

If you’re a “Star Trek” fan, there’s a major gathering of “Star Trek” stars with real astronauts in Huntsville, Ala., Sept. 7-8. It’s called “Star Trek 30: One Weekend on Earth.” Reservations are available through (888) 2BEAMUP. Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner from the Enterprise will be joined by astronauts Alan Shepard and Orange County’s own Buzz Aldrin.

Wally World: What’s your choice for worst show ever on TV? Mine is a tie between “The Gong Show” and “The Hot Seat,” conservative Wally George’s political show on Irvine-based KDOC-TV’s Channel 56. George’s audiences always seem filled with leftovers from high school detention, and his guests are many times only a step above that.

But I’ve mellowed about “The Hot Seat” over time. How can you not admire George; he’s made this gig work for 14 years. Tonight (1 a.m.) he runs an anniversary special.

What I didn’t know about George until the TV station sent out an anniversary notice: He started his career at age 14 as a grocery clerk on “The Ozzie and Harriet Show.” That one is at the top of my TV list.

Cop vs. Cop: Orange County sheriff’s deputies take on local city cops Sunday night at the Pond of Anaheim. It’s a benefit game of roller hockey, and the cause is local drug abuse programs. The cops’ battle takes place right after the Anaheim Bullfrogs play the San Jose Rhinos. If you’re going, you’ll be seeing the best athletes the police have to offer--team members were first judged by members of the Bullfrogs.

Wrap-Up: A few years ago, as my wife and I were returning from a lesbian wedding, she asked me--strictly hypothetically--how I’d feel if a child of ours turned out to be gay. I almost ran off the road. Not at the thought of that happening, but because my wife rarely asks things like that.

Muffin Spencer-Devlin talks a great deal about her supportive mother, Pat Devlin of Carlsbad. I liked her mother’s answer when her daughter asked her something similar to what my wife asked: “It doesn’t matter to me who you love, Muffin, but that you love.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax or (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com