Memorial Day is for remembrances and thank-yous, so put your hands together, Columbus, for three of your own who rank among the most celebrated athletes ever in their sports.

Jack Nicklaus. Jesse Owens. Archie Griffin. Wowza.

Our capital city lies in what the coastal elites call “flyover country,” but the turbulence one feels when jetting 30,000 feet over Columbus undoubtedly is due to the sports gods demanding passengers look down upon the birthplace of Nicklaus and Griffin, and the temporary home of Owens.

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We may not be New York or Los Angeles, but we hold our own when claiming the best of the best.

⋅ Nicklaus, from Upper Arlington, is golf’s greatest champion with a record 18 major championships. The Golden Bear, who is hosting the Memorial Tournament this week at Muirfield Village Golf Club, also finished runner-up in majors a record 19 times.

⋅ Griffin, who attended Eastmoor, is college football’s only two-time Heisman trophy winner. There may have been better tailbacks before and since, but none can match No. 45’s two stiff-arming bronze statuettes.

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⋅ Owens was born in Alabama and grew up in Cleveland, but lived in Columbus while attending Ohio State and was a member of the Buckeyes track and field team. On May 25, 1935 he set five world records and equaled a sixth over a 45-minute span. A year later, he won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics to expose as fraudulent Hitler’s claim of Aryan supremacy. It can be argued that Owens is the most impactful athlete of the 20th century, having begun the process of dismantling the racial barrier that later athletes such as Jackie Robinson broke through.

Toss into the mix Columbus’ Buster Douglas, who scored one of the biggest upsets in sports history with his knockout of Mike Tyson, and the Arch City can hold its own when bigger cities begin to squawk about their native sons and daughters.

Bonus: Nicklaus, Griffin and Owens will go down in sports history as three of the truly good guys to grace the links, field and track.

Padraig Harrington, Emiliano Grillo: Speaking of recognizing good guys …

Two professional golfers deserve credit for going above and beyond their normal duties during tournaments on Sunday. At the senior PGA Championship in Dallas, Irishman Padraig Harrington handed a spectator $300 and a signed glove after hitting him on the head with a stray tee shot at the 16th hole.

“I bought him a dinner,” Harrington said. “He nutted my ball back to the fairway. So, yeah, like, you give him a glove, but it never really seems adequate to give a guy a glove. He’s a grown man, like what’s he want with a glove with my signature? So I thought – he said his wife was inside – but, please take your wife out for dinner on me was the sort of thing. I don’t know, I hope I gave him enough for dinner.”

Later, during the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, Emiliano Grillo invited two young fans onto the first tee, where the Argentinian was warming up for a possible playoff. He let the boys hit shots, both as a way to keep his mind off the pressure of the moment but also because Grillo experienced a similar offer when he was a young golfer.

“It was a little bit of a trick to get my head out of the situation … but also (Argentine golfer) Jose Coceres did it with me when I was 7 or 8 years old and it was the greatest experience of my life,” Grillo said. “I got to do it with them and hopefully they’ll remember that.”

After winning the tournament on the second playoff hole, Grillo invited the boys to the players locker room. How cool is that? Bravo.

Miami fans rejoice too early, feel the Heat

Unfortunately for Miami sports fans, there is no medical cure for premature celebration.

The videos and social media memes of Heat fans celebrating what they thought was a playoff-clinching Game 6 win against Boston on Saturday were both hilarious and cringeworthy to watch. Sort of like a certain 2003 BCS national championship game, when Miami fans thought the game was over until Terry Porter’s penalty flag gave Ohio State a second chance, which the Buckeyes took advantage of to win the title game in double overtime.

Canes fans still claim they won the game, which deserves a crying Jordan meme.

This time, it was Boston guard Derrick White scoring a putback basket at the buzzer to give the Celtics a 104-103 win that sent the series to a Game 7 Monday in Beantown.

Listening in: Le'Veon Bell

“When I was playing football, I smoked (marijuana), bro. Even before the games, I’d smoke and I'd go out there and run for 150, two [touchdowns].” – Groveport graduate Le’Veon Bell, speaking of his time playing running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Off topic

My mom’s second cousin, Dick Klein, was a member of the 101st Airborne Division that parachuted behind German lines on D-Day, June 6, 1944. It’s appropriate to recognize his heroism on Memorial Day; it also got me thinking how innocent he was when jumping from that plane.

It is hard to fathom young people today being required to experience similar dread. That’s not a criticism but a simple observation of how we view age. Imagine if members of the DeSales boys volleyball team that just won the Division II state title – congrats, guys – had to ship off to Europe today and soon after enter a war zone. That’s what happened nearly 78 years ago in Normandy, France. Be thankful for peace.

roller@dispatch.com

@rollerCD

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jack Nicklaus, Jesse Owens, Archie Griffin give Columbus star status