CLL Golf Outing hits a grand slam on Columbus Day

In what turned out to be one of the finest days in Cheltenham Little League history, the 18th annual CLL Ron Camp Columbus Day Golf Outing was a rousing success.

After serving the League and his community for 15 years as President of CLL, Ron Camp was awarded a plaque for his dedication to the organization, as the Board of Directors unanimously named this event in his honor.

Following all of the pomp and circumstance, not to mention the ceremonial first drive off the tee by Ron, play got underway at Limekiln Golf Club on all 27 holes, as 154 players teed it up.

With perfect weather and a well-manicured golf course, the players enjoyed a great day of golf, food, drink and festivities.

The beauty of this outing is that all proceeds, from the raffles and the contests, benefit the League. In fact, all participants, regardless of their score, received a great prize, from golf shirts, balls, gloves, umbrellas to gift certificates to Dick's Sporting Goods, Panera Bread, Chickie's & Pete's and Luigi's II, to name a few.

In attendance was none other than Mike Kern, Philadelphia Daily News golf writer extraordinaire. "I go to a fair amount of charity golf tournaments throughout the year," he said. "And rarely have I seen a better value for the money. It's first class all the way, and everyone goes home knowing they had a great experience for a great cause. If you can't have a good time at that, then you're just not trying hard enough. I can't wait for next year."

It should be noted that the winning team receives one benefit, as the players' names are engraved on the beautiful trophy that resides in the clubhouse.

This year's champions were the foursome of Greg Boyle, Roger Farrell, Eric Gantz and Jorge Richards, who carded an 11-under-par score of 59.

Skill prizes, closest to the pins and straightest drives were awarded to Mike Paintner, Rich Aspenleider, John Curran, Tim Hassall and Art Gordon.

We had eight Pot-o-Gold winners: J.T. Bannon, Paul Bufty, Kevin Delaney, Daniel Katz, Thomas McGinnis, Pete Peterson, Jared Schafer and Bob Watson Jr.

None of this could have been done without the tireless efforts of the Board of Directors, led by President Irv Brockington and his team on the golf committee, spearheaded by Ron, Phil Sokol, Matt Mundy, Tim Hassall, Mike Cornelison, Brett Datto, Murray Peet, Tom Larkin and Mark Cherwony.

In addition, our volunteers - Kim Aspenleider, Theresa Brockington, Kristine Johnson, Ann Macchione, Gene Mattia, Bruce Rangnow, Jim and Kelly Rebitz, James Smith, Janet Sokol, Stacey Tolan and Teri Yago-Ryan - provided a critical element to the success of the event.

But the big winner was Cheltenham Little League, as we raised a substantial amount of funds, in fact, the most ever for the organization. In the words of Mr. Kern, "The kids at Cheltenham are lucky to have all those people on their side."