BY LARRY STEWART

Out on the picturesque golf course at MountainGate Country Club, high above the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles, Rosey Grier and Rosie Martinez pulled up in a golf cart to offer rosy greetings despite the light rain coming down.

Grier, the former All-Pro defensive tackle for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams, is now an ordained minister who has devoted his post-football life to helping the less fortunate. On this March day, he was serving as host of the third annual charity golf classic benefiting the Union Rescue Mission in downtown L.A. and the Door of Hope in Pasadena. 

Martinez works for the mission, which since 1891 has offered an array of emergency and long-term services to the homeless. The Door of Hope opened in 1985 to provide transitional housing for families in need.

One of the golfers on the course that day, Everett Courtney, was wearing a fedora and a sports coat as he went to tee up the ball for the first time. 

“This is only the second time I’ve played golf,” he explained.

However, Courtney wasn’t there to work on his new game—although he did surprisingly well, twice reaching a par-three green in regulation. He was mainly there to show his gratitude to the Union Rescue Mission.

A high school dropout at 15, Courtney went to junior college in his 20s and is now a successful businessman involved in jewelry sales, clothing and real estate. So he gladly paid the $350 entry fee and also placed winning bids on a number of silent auction items.

 “My mother was in an abusive relationship in Chicago and she came to Los Angeles in 1973 with her six children to escape that,” he explained. “I was 10 years old at the time, and the first day we were here, a purse snatcher grabbed her purse. Here she was, with six kids and no money and no place to stay. We didn’t know anybody.

“The Union Rescue Mission put us up in a downtown hotel and helped us when we needed it the most. I vowed then that some day I’d be in a position to pay them back, and that’s what I’ve been doing since 1989. That’s why I’m here today.”

For Grier, who expressed his appreciation to all the players that day, Courtney’s story is what this tournament is all about. “Thank you for standing with us and making a difference in the lives of others,” he told the crowd. “Another man, woman, child or family will be uplifted today—with a place to sleep, a nutritious meal to eat and numerous services that they can take advantage of to get back on their feet in mainstream society. This is what Union Rescue Mission and the Door of Hope are all about.”

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BY BRIAN ROBIN

The experience was nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. And that wasn’t just taking into account the view from the roof of the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa to the second green of the Newport Beach Country Club, 162 feet below. The real thrill was launching a golf ball off the 16-story building with the chatter of Gary McCord or Fuzzy Zoeller ringing through your ears as the ball made its way toward the green.  

Yet on March 3, Chris Lungo and Christine Caley of Dana Hills High School managed to block out the spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and the spectacular chatter of McCord and Zoeller to win the fifth-annual Toshiba “Shot from the Top.”

With representatives from the electronics manufacturer, including the president and CEO of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Mark Simons, and media outlets from all over Southern California, the “Shot from the Top” showed why it is annually one of the most popular and emulated events on the Champions Tour.

At the same time, it is one of the most charitable events—an appropriate feat, given the Toshiba Classic’s status as the philanthropic standard on the Champions Tour, having raised $11.1 million in charitable donations over the last 11 years. Plus, for the third consecutive year, Toshiba Digital Products Division, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., donated more than 150 laptop computers to area high schools.

Each of the four professionals: Zoeller (the 2005 “Shot from the Top” champion), McCord (the 2006 winner), Andy Bean and 2005 Toshiba Classic champion Mark Johnson competed with two teams. McCord snapped Bean’s two-year streak of hitting the closest shot among the pros when the event emcee and CBS analyst hit one of his four shots to 8 feet, 9 inches.

“It is the most unique event we do (on the Champions Tour) all year,” McCord said. “You’re standing up there and it’s a long way down. At first, when you look down, it’s a little bit intimidating. But the kids have a lot of fun with it.”

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BY LARRY STEWART

Call it a special relationship. In the past three years alone, charity golf has raised more than $2.9 million for Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC). And the SOSC, one of two chapters in California, is just one of many around the world.

“Charity golf is one of our biggest sources for fund-raising,” said SOSC president Bill Shumard.

The last of eight major golf events benefiting the SOSC in 2008 was the John Wooden Classic tournament, held last December 11 at Monarch Beach in Dana Point. And one of the celebrity players in attendance was Ann Meyers Drysdale, the former four-time All-American basketball player who is now the general manager of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.

Years ago, in the mid 1990s, Meyers Drysdale was at another tournament benefiting Special Olympics, this one at Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake. Before play began, with a crowd of some 200 looking on—including many big-name sports celebrities—two Special Olympics athletes were getting set to show off their golf skills with their drivers on the 10th tee.

Unfortunately, one of the athletes was so nervous that his hand was shaking and he couldn’t get his ball to stay on the tee. After what seemed like a minute or two, Meyers Drysdale emerged from the crowd, went over to the young man and said, “I think you have a bad tee there. Try mine. I’ll even tee it up for you.” It was the perfect solution to an awkward moment.

The Lakeside tournament, which began in 1994, was the first to benefit the SOSC and it has steadily grown over the years. Sponsored by CBS-owned sister television stations KCAL and KCBS, it raised $267,378 last year and $756,360 over the past three years, according to figures provided by the SOSC.

A newer WalMart-sponsored event which involves nine tournaments played on the same day raised $448,000 last year and $1,038,924 over the past three. The Wooden tournament boasts a three-year total of more than $250,000.

Patrick McClenahan, president and general manager of KCAL and KCBS and the chairman of the SOSC board of directors, has been a driving force behind the SOSC’s relationship with charity golf. The father of an intellectually disabled 22-year-old daughter, McClenahan, with help from Mike Kincaid, got the ball rolling with the Lakeside tournament.

It was initially sponsored by regional sports network Prime Ticket, where McClenahan worked as executive producer and Kincaid as head of advertising. When they went to KCAL in 1997 in similar positions, they  took the tournament with them. And when KCAL began televising the Wooden basketball tournament later that year, KCAL became the sponsor of the affiliated golf event.

 “Charity golf is an ideal way to raise money for a good cause and entertain clients at the same time,” McClenahan said.

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