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RIO DE JANEIRO -- The first Olympics in South America. The first time for golf in 112 years. So imagine the deep sense of honor for Adilson da Silva when the only Brazilian in the 60-man field was chosen to hit the first tee shot.One of the most special times in my life, he said.The honor is not his alone.Joining him on the first tee Thursday at Olympic Golf Course will be Andrew Edmondson, who has been part of da Silvas unlikely golf career for the better part of 30 years. Edmondson asked to be his caddie for the week, and both men could only smile at circumstances that led to this occasion.Long ago, on a nine-hole course in Santa Cruz do Sol about a two-hour flight south of Rio, it was the other way around.Da Silva was an 11-year-old who saw golf only as a way to make a little pocket money.If we found golf balls, we would sell them for pocket money, he said. My parents didnt have much, so we had to do a bit of work. It teaches a good lesson. It was great fun. I used to go with my brother and friends. It teaches you to work a bit, to get things by working for it.The more he worked and watched, the more the game began to appeal to him, even without the proper equipment. Finding golf balls to hit was the easy part. Getting golf clubs required a little imagination. Santa Cruz was the only course in town. Spare golf clubs were in short supply.We used to cut the branch of a tree in the shape of a golf club, da Silva said. It was a proper head, you just had to shape it up nicely. I guess you had to improvise. Your timing had to be right because the shaft would be wobbly.Edmondson, a tobacco buyer from Zimbabwe, used to spend half the year working his trade in Brazil. He loved golf, which was much more prominent in Zimbabwe, a country that produced Nick Price and Mark McNulty.Edmondson would play on the weekends at Santa Cruz, and da Silva was 11 when he first hired him as a caddie.They became close enough, and da Silva was getting good enough, that they would play together when Edmondson didnt have a regular game.I caddied for him for a couple of years when he came over for tobacco season, and weve become good friends, da Silva said. And then one day he said, `Look, do you want to give it a go? Because maybe he thought there was some potential there. I was very fortunate.Edmondson knew the teen would have a hard time developing his game in Brazil.It really was a `baby steps kind of thing, Edmondson said. He didnt go from an 11-year-old caddie to the professional level. Basically, I was living out there and was transferred back to Zimbabwe. They have a very good junior golf program, and I got him into that. He got coaching from Tim Price, Nicks brother.Da Silva was 17, and Edmondson figured he played off a 5 handicap. Within a few years, da Silva was winning amateur titles in Brazil and Zimbabwe, and he was good enough to turn pro at age 22.His family still lives in Brazil, though da Silva has moved to Durban, South Africa and plays primarily on the Asian Tour and Sunshine Tour in South Africa. He has four career victories, starting with a Sunshine Tour event in 1998, his best year coming in 2013 when he won the Zambia Open and Sun City Challenge.He has qualified for the British Open three times, making the cut (a tie for 69th) at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2012.The Olympics tops them all.As the host nation, Brazil was guaranteed at least one player for the Rio Games. Two Brazilians have made it to the PGA Tour -- Lucas Lee this year and Alexandre Roche in 2011 and 2012 -- and da Silva felt it was going to be close. He left nothing to chance, traveling across Asia to play seven times in eight weeks early in the year, staying away from his family in South Africa to chase world ranking points and secure his spot in Rio.Its a big deal to get here, he said. I maybe have another chance, but this one, I needed to make sure. I sacrificed a lot. There was a lot of traveling. Its hard to leave your wife and kid behind, but it was something I had to do. I couldnt wait for it to happen. I had to make sure I was traveling and playing and practicing.A tie for fourth in the Indian Open in March gave him breathing room, and a runner-up finish in the Swazi Open sealed it.To be at home in Brazil for the first golf in the Olympics in 1904 was special. He was on the course with Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson and the rest of the best. And then the greatest week in his life got even better.They came up to me and said, `Youll be the first one to tee off. I was like, `Woooo! What an honor. I feel like I dont deserve it, da Silva said. Im very lucky.Edmondson feels the same way.He has caddied for da Silva a couple of times, mostly at the Zimbabwe Open and once at the Swiss Open. He didnt want to miss this, not with their history together.When it looked like he was going to play in the Olympics, I asked him if he wouldnt mine, and fortunately, he agreed, Edmondson said. Its quite overwhelming. Just to be part of the Olympics, being involved with a close friend, its awesome. Alex Avila Jersey . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. Steven Souza Jersey . Three came down to the fourth quarter while quarterbacks continued to shine in all four games; so important to the overall quality of the game. http://www.diamondbackssale.com/diamondbacks-alex-avila-jersey/ . 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By the 1950s, college footballs balance of power had drifted from the elite Eastern schools to the Midwest, where Bud Wilkinsons Oklahoma Sooners dominated the polls and set a record winning streak that still stands.Over the decade, the Sooners appeared in nearly 95 percent of The Associated Press polls, with their 26 weeks at No. 1 by far the most of any team. They won three national championships and rolled to 47 straight victories between 1953 and 1957.Ive only known one genius in my lifetime. His name was Bud Wilkinson, the late Sooners quarterback and Colorado coach Eddie Crowder famously said.While the Sooners unprecedented success dominates any conversation about college football in the 1950s, the era brought some notable changes.In 1953, the NCAA implemented stricter substitution rules requiring teams to go back to the one-platoon system used before 1941 (free substitution returned in the 1960s). More penalties were called after back judges were added to officiating crews in 1955, the option to run or pass for two points after a touchdown came in 1958 and the goal posts were widened from 18 feet, 6 inches to 23-4 in 1959.The 1950s also saw greater reliance on the running game. Of the decades Heisman Trophy winners, nine were running backs, including Alan Ameche, Howard Hopalong Cassady, John David Crow and Billy Cannon. The other was Notre Dame quarterback Paul Hornung, a converted running back who became one of the NFLs greatest halfbacks for the Green Bay Packers.At Oklahoma, Wilkinson unveiled the split-T offensive formation he learned from his mentor, Don Faurot, and in the mid-1950s he came up with a hurry-up offense allowing the Sooners to capitalize on their superior conditioning. Wilkinson also is credited with introducing the 5-2 defensive alignment -- five defensive linemen, two linebackers -- to the college game. That was a change from the seven-man defensive fronts that were common.Wilkinsons recruiting philosophy required that his players not only be fast and strong but football smart. He placed a premium on intelligence because of his low tolerance for mistakes.The fact our men believe they can use their brains to defeat a physically supeerior opponent pays dividends you cant reckon with, Wilkinson once said.ddddddddddddRarely were the Sooners outmanned, not with Crowder, Billy Vessels and Tommy McDonald among 13 consensus All-Americans on the field during the `50s.With all that talent and Wilkinsons innovations, the Sooners won conference titles every year from 1950-59 and national championships in `50, 55 and 56. But for all the titles, the Sooners of that era are best remembered for their 47-game run in which they outscored their opponents by an average of 35-6. No major-college team since has come close to winning so many in a row.The streak started in October 1953 with a 19-14 win over rival Texas in Dallas. The Sooners ended that season 9-1-1 and went 10-0, 11-0 and 10-0 the next three years to extend the streak to 40 games. Win No. 47 was a 39-14 road victory over Missouri on Nov. 9, 1957. The streak ended the following week when the Sooners, as 18-point favorites, lost 7-0 to Notre Dame on their home field.The star running back on that OU team, Jakie Sandefer, said, I remember coach Wilkinson coming into the dressing room and saying, `Im proud of you guys. Youve been part of winning 47 straight games. That is something no major college team will ever do again.BEST PROGRAMSOklahoma appeared in 94.83 percent of all polls taken.Michigan State, 74.14 percent.Notre Dame, 71.55 percent.BEST RIVALRYMichigan vs. Ohio State. The 1950 Snow Bowl played in a blizzard in Columbus -- the No. 8 Buckeyes lost 9-3 -- started a decade in which the teams split 10 games. One or both teams were ranked in seven of those.MAIN TAKEAWAYThe decade belonged to Wilkinson and his Oklahoma Sooners, with their three national championships, 47-game win streak and 93-10-2 record. The Sooners dominance overshadowed the championship program Woody Hayes started building at Ohio State. The decade also was the dawn of the games television era, though there were no national broadcasts until the 1960s.---Online:More on the APs Top 100 retrospective: http://collegefootball.ap.org/ap-poll-all-time ' ' '