By By JODI BADDER / Special to Daily News
Thanks to numerous supporters of the Third Annual Chieftain Golf Outing, held on June 15 at Indian Lake Hills Golf Course, the Dowagiac Athletic Booster Club and the Dowagiac Schools' Foundation will be splitting over $25,000.
No immediate plans are set for the spending of this year's portion of the profits, but the Booster Club would like to encourage coaches to attend meetings and ask for items that are needed but are not able to be purchased from the school budget.
The first opportunity for coaches and parents to attend a meeting is the kickoff cookout this month. An exact date will be announced soon.
The success of the Chieftain outing would not be possible without the support of the community of Dowagiac.
This year there were 12 Gold Sponsors: Burling &Gillesby, DDS, C. Wimberley, Fanning &Howey, Fifth Third Bank, Midwest Energy Cooperative, Pinnacle, Securit Metal Products, Stauder, Barch &Associates, Southwestern Michigan College, US Business Systems, Wolverine Mutual Insurance Company, and Wounded Minnow.
Our 15 Silver Sponsors were: ASR, Dowagiac Medical Center, Franklin &Sons, GLP and Associates, Hale's Hardware, Hannapel Home Center, Larry and Jody Crandall, May Oberfell Lorber, Nate Wines, PFM, Premier Photography, Schaffer and Layher, Turf Services, UBS Financial Services, and Wolverine Electrical Contracting.
And last but not least, were the 43 Bronze Sponsors that supported the outing. These were: Advanced Dermatology, Beeson Street Bar, Berrybrook Enterprises, Booth's Country Florists, Casual Tees, Central Produce, Creative Vinyl, Cressy &Everett – Shelly Myers-Henry, D&R Sports, Division Tire, Dowagiac Area Federal Credit Union, Dowagiac Commercial Press, Dr. Cripe, Eckman Chiropractic Clinic, Felpausch, Hal Davis, Hardware Services, HP Products, K-Lift, Krook Container, Larry and Carole Schmidt, LaSalle Bank NA, Lawrence Law Office, Lyon's Industries, Mahar Insurance, McLaughlin Clark Funeral Home, MEEMIC Insurance – Dean Hagen, Moore Brothers Builders, Pizza Hut, Preferred Printing, Ridge Company, Rob and Peg Stowers, Service Oil Company, Skillman Corporation, Suntree Lumber, Terry Ausra Farms, Vylonis Contracting, Weller Wireless, Westrate &Thomas, Wick's Apple House, and Wightman &Associates.
A big thank you goes to co-chairs, Tom Carlson, Hal Davis and Greg Younger.
Also, special thanks to Tony Rice for being the "celebrity golfer", to Bob Follett, David Follett, Bud Distributing, Scott Novak of the Dowagiac Daily News, Dowagiac Commercial Press, Indian Lake Hills Golf Course, Creative Vinyl, Eric Stovern, Pepsi, Coca Cola, and Heartland Chrysler Jeep Dodge, Jim Laing, and Dennis Whitaker.
Thanks to all of those who donated prizes to the outing. Their support allowed the organizers an opportunity to give the golfers prizes.
The Dowagiac Union School District administrators, members of the Booster Club and the Foundation, and mini-grant recipients of the Foundation also deserve to be thanked. Many of these people golfed but many were workers the day of the outing.
The money raised helps the student-athlete and the sports teams, so we appreciate those athletes who were on hand as greeters and the coaches who golfed or worked.
The Chieftain outing, in its first three years, has raised over $65,000 for the students and student-athletes at Dowagiac.
The tradition will continue and a date has already been set for 2007. On Thursday, June 14, the Fourth Annual Chieftain Golf Outing will take place at Indian Lake Hills Golf Course.
Mark your calendar. If you want to be included as a sponsor or a golfer, contact one of the chairpersons or any booster member.
Again, organizers would like to thank everyone involved in this outing, because each and every person involved was important to the success of this outing.