On an unseasonably warm and mostly sunny Friday on October 6th, the Inaugural Flyers Sled Hockey Golf Tournament was held at Ramblewood Country Club. Mother Nature is a Sled Hockey fan providing a beautiful day for fund raising and golf.
A crew of friends and family began the registration along with Rob Baer a youth hockey manager and Philadelphia Flyers rep.
At the shotgun start of 108 golfers the winning 50/50 ticket was drawn and won by Bob Teti, a high school hockey referee who generously turned back a big potion of his winnings. Thank you, Bob.
While the golfers played the course, the volunteers ate lunch and their work continued as they organized, numbered and wrapped some of the 33 Chinese auction baskets. After golf our guests started arriving for cocktail hour and dinner, the Flyers Sled team members went to work selling chances for a flat screen and the Chinese auction tickets.
The night was off and running, while the Flyers Sled team members worked the floor and our silent auction guy set up his wares of collectable sports memorabilia. The first place winners of the golf tournament were announced-Scott McKay, Brian Propp, Ray Allison and Paul Rumbus.
It must be mentioned that Ramblewood and the staff once again came up huge with exceptional service and class with special attention to our guests. One of the servers came to the podium and asked if we took cash donations – feeling it was such a worthy cause. Although we do, knowing that this money was coming from her tips and she was probably a working college student - we directed her to purchase the Chinese auction tickets-which she did and generously gave them away to one of the little kids attending dinner.
Brain Startare, our emcee, who has worked the crowd for us over the last 10 years does a great job getting folks to part with their money and he did not disappoint. He always seems to fuel the live auction and get 2 perfect strangers into a bidding war.
One of our golfers gave a surprise donation of a foursome to play at Little Mill a private country club. That unexpected gift raised even more money through one of those bidding wars.
This was the first fundraiser for the Flyers Adult sled team. As sled hockey becomes more popular and the team grows, we look forward to next year for the Second Annual Flyers Sled Hockey tournament. We are counting on Mother Nature and her love of Sled Hockey.
Written by Joanne Costantino