Doug Flutie and Chris Berman remember Tim Wakefield at Travelers

But he never felt completely relaxed at events like the Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am until Tim Wakefield came along.

“He was my comfort zone,” Flutie recalled Wednesday, about an hour before he teed off. “I always went to him. He played with Chris Berman and me every year. I don’t feel comfortable at an event until I’m around Tim because he keeps the group together. It’s a weird feeling.”

In fact, Wakefield died last October after a short battle with brain cancer. He was 57 years old.

One year ago this weekend, Wakefield, Flutie and a group of other former professional athletes gathered in Maine for a pro-am event. Wakefield had just received the devastating news that his wife, Stacey, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. No one knew about Wakefield’s illness.

“He was pretty devastated because his wife was terminally ill and he didn’t know how to deal with it,” Flutie recalled. “He was desperate, we were all worried about Tim. Who would have thought that just a few weeks later he would be diagnosed and we would have lost him overnight.”

On Wednesday, Flutie played in a celebrity foursome with ESPN’s Chris Berman, Patriots Hall of Fame member Andre Tippett and former tour pro Trip Eisenhower. On the first tee, Berman addressed the gallery of a few hundred people, honoring the memory of Tim Wakefield (“He will never be forgotten”), Stacey Wakefield and Willie Mays, the greatest baseball player of all time, who died Tuesday night at the age of 93.

Berman wore a San Francisco Giants cap in honor of Mays. Flutie went a step further and wore a Wakefield jersey to match his No. 49 baseball cap.

Wakefield has attended every Travelers Pro-Am from 2014 to 2023. Andy Bessette, Travelers executive vice president and chief administrative officer, was the tournament’s liaison with Wakefield – the two became friends and the former Red Sox pitcher became a fan of the event.

The tournament honored Wakefield with flag No. 49 on the ninth hole of TPC River Highland.

Not only were Flutie and Wakefield frequent golf partners, they also lived about 15 minutes away from each other in the Melbourne, Florida area.

“I love Tim,” Flutie said. “He was the guy who kept us together at these events. He would text everyone: ‘Dinner, 8pm, we’re going to this restaurant.’ Or: ‘We’re in the bar upstairs, meet you there.'”

Flutie was often surrounded by Wakefield’s former Red Sox teammates. He never felt out of place.

“Tim has always brought us all together,” Flutie said. “He has meant a lot to me over the years. It’s just a farce.”