The tournament's director credits individual and corporate participation for the St. Petersburg event's success.
By JON WILSON
Published May 12, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - The 13th annual United Negro College Fund tournament drew 144 golfers Monday to an event that has become a solid tradition at St. Petersburg Country Club.
"Every year, I have people signing up their teams for next year right after they finish playing," said Jim Ina, who has been tournament director for 12 years.
More than a half-million dollars has been raised for the college scholarship program for Tampa Bay area students since the tournament began in 1992, Ina said.
It is the UNCF's only local fundraiser, although several similar events are held nationally, including a big one in Orlando that draws such golfing luminaries as Tiger Woods.
St. Petersburg draws excellent support, Ina said, citing both individual and corporate participation. For example, Progress Energy paid for the post-tournament banquet. Scott Buick donated a new SUV as a prize for anyone who managed a hole-in-one on one of the course's par 3 holes. More than 20 other corporations help support the event.
No one won the SUV Monday.
The day seemed to provide plenty of fun for participants. There were other prizes and an auction, which included a chance to spend a weekend driving a Jaguar provided by Crown Jaguar.
Ina cruised the course, chatting and joking with players on every hole.
"Hey, get out of that forest!" he called to members of one foursome searching the weeds for a lost ball.
Three members of Northeast High School's golf team and their coach, Dennis Crider, made up another foursome.
"It's a good way for us to finish the year, and it gives the guys a chance to interact with adults," Crider said.
Nationally, the UNCF has been around for 60 years. One of its founders was Mary McLeod Bethune, for whom Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach was named. The UNCF's purpose is to provide scholarships and to help support 39 historically black colleges.
Each year, the local fund provides about a half-dozen scholarships of about $5,000 each, Ina said. Forty to 50 students apply, he said. This year's winners will be chosen in a few weeks.
Criteria include a high grade-point average, economic need and plans to attend a historically black college. The scholarships are open to students of any race.
Monday's winners in the Jack Nicklaus Flight were Earl Gainey, Jim Gagliardi, Scott Zaccaria and Lanier Waters; in the Arnold Palmer Flight, Peter Graham, Richard Zacur, Larry Speight and Gary Struder; in the Ben Hogan Flight, Basil Llewellyn, Larry Brown and Leroy Lewis; and in the Nancy Lopez Flight, Jeannie Swanson, Karen Hurst, Jennie Marshall and Merrilee Miller.
