the golden bear got a gold medal   and apparently caused house speaker  john boehner to tear up congress on tuesday awarded its highest civilian honor to golfing great jack nicklaus, who accepted the gold medal with a few tears, humility and humor in a ceremony in the capitol rotunda, the house and senate leadership bestowed the award on nicklaus, winner of 18 major championships, including six masters titles, five pga championships and four us opens john boehner, an avid golfer who is also known for crying publicly, was photographed misty eyed at the event while sitting next to nicklaus scroll down for video  shedding tears: congress on tuesday awarded its highest civilian honor to golfing great jack nicklaus (seen next to speaker john boehner), who accepted the gold medal with a few tears, humility and humor  not the only one: john boehner, an avid golfer who is also known for crying publicly, got misty eyed at the event  honored: the 75 year old nicklaus recalled the hard work of his parents, praised his family and paid tribute to his wife, barbara  speech: an emotional nicklaus told his family that his whole life he wanted to make them proud of him, and 'hopefully i have' support: barbara nicklaus, center, and her son jack nicklaus ii, right, sit in the audience on capitol hill in washington, tuesday, as jack nicklaus speaks  'few transcend their sport to achieve that kind of moment, or this kind of honor,' said boehner, who grew emotional at times during the ceremony he continued 'with arnie (palmer), it was how he brought an audience to the game   an army with jack, it's how he gave the game a gold standard   a ladder to climb' the 75 year old nicklaus, dubbed the golden bear, recalled the hard work of his parents, praised his family and paid tribute to his wife, barbara nicklaus was quoted by devil ball golf as saying 'she is responsible for 15 of my major championships i'll give myself three of them' he recalled that when his son jack was six, he was asked what his father did for a living the younger nicklaus said, 'nothing, he just plays golf' an emotional nicklaus told his family that his whole life he wanted to make them proud of him, and 'hopefully i have' politicians: house minority leader nancy pelosi, speaker of the house john boehner and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell are seen with nicklaus  guests: donald trump and his spouse melania knauss trump were also present at the tuesday ceremony (left), as was arnold palmer (right) celebration: the ohio state marching band performed for the ohio born nicklaus on tuesday  the speakers, from congressional leaders to nicklaus' son, recalled the drama of the golfer's 1986 win at the masters they praised nicklaus' charitable work, including the nicklaus children's health care foundation, which recently pledged $60 million to the miami children's health system the washington post quoted jim nantz, an announcer for the pga tour, as saying 'he has been an american treasure and our gift to the world' senate majority leader mitch mcconnell (r ky) said nicklaus had a brush with polio as a teenager mcconnell said that as a fellow survivor of polio he appreciated nicklaus' perseverance the washington post reported that house minority leader nancy pelosi (d ca), and senate minority leader harry reid (d nv), and donald trump were among the guests attending the ceremony for nicklaus was golfing legend arnold palmer the ohio state marching band performed for the ohio born nicklaus
congress jack nicklaus house senate nicklaus
congress awarded its highest civilian honor to golfing great jack nicklaus, who accepted the gold medal with a few tears, humility and humor . the house and senate leadership bestowed the award on nicklaus, winner of 18 major championships . an emotional nicklaus told his family that his whole life he wanted to make them proud of him, and 'hopefully i have'