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Following a year without an outing due to the pandemic, 144 golfers were chomping at the bit to hit the links for the 3rd Annual Paul Rickard Memorial Scholarship Golf Outing on June 7th, hosted at West Hills Country Club in Middletown, NY.
This year’s outing included 144 players and 40 cocktail reception guests. With over 200 supporters, this year’s outing raised over $95,000. After netting out golf and reception expenses, the outing contributed $75,000 directly to SUNY Orange to support their mission to provide high quality and accessible educational opportunities to the residents of Orange County.
Each year, the Paul Rickard Memorial Scholarship raises funds for two scholarships to attend SUNY Orange in honor of long-time professor and coach, Paul Rickard. The scholarship is for one men’s basketball player and one Orange County resident majoring in Math, Science or Engineering. Since its inception, the Paul Rickard Memorial Scholarship has raised over $205,000 in scholarships.
“After the pandemic our goal was to maintain what we did in our first year. We never in our wildest dreams thought we could get to a net amount of $75,000. The outpouring of support is very humbling. It is a credit to the person my father was and the people in the SUNY Orange community”, said Tom Rickard.
“It really comes down to the families and small businesses who support us. Without them, none of this would be possible. When you have a college like SUNY Orange and the community that we have you start to realize how fortunate you really are. This is what being part of a community is all about.”
The outing was primary supported by local businesses. Pioneer Financial was the Gold Sponsor. Langan Engineering, Landel, Bernstein & Kalosieh, Healey Brothers, M&S Septic, The Schultz Family, Hutchings Agency, Arkel Motors, Murphy, Schisano & Rasado, and The Bloss Family were the Silver Sponsors. MFS Financial, Jacobowitz and Gubitz, Northwestern Mutual – Park Ave and Mike Cordero at State Farm were the Bronze sponsors. Mike also donated some great swag for the outing. Larchmont Wealth Management and Northwestern Mutual – Thomas Samar donated were the Cart Sponsors. Lastly, we had 13 Hole Sponsors. These included Freedom Hill Farm, Hollywood Towing and Auto, Mountainview Mustang, Minisink Valley Middle School Teachers, The Zifchok Family, Mavrix Motorsports, Christine Samartino, Cut Above, Annie Hansen – Rand Realty, Middletown Police Benevolent Association and The Britvan Family. Two Community organizations, becauseitmatters24/7 and Hudson Valley Light It Up Blue, came through with a hole sponsor as well. There were also many donors who made contributions directly to the outing.
It was a great day on the course. With temperatures hitting the 90s at tee off, the golfers were cooled down with great beer donated by the local brewery, Equilibrium Brewery. The golfers filled up on sandwiches provided by Mason’s Marketplace. Equilibrium Brewery and Mason’s Marketplace always come through on a hot day!
The top three spots went to perennial contenders.
1st Place went to Jim Bannon with the help of Brian Pekera, John Glenn and Jay Blake. The Bannon foursome was able to overcome a 2nd place finish in 2019.
2nd place went to SUNY Orange alum and former basketball player Dave Killan. Dave was joined by Brent Thomas, Pete Talarico and Mike Vasques. The Killan foursome slipped from their 1st place finish in 2019.
Coming in 3rd place was another SUNY Orange alum and former basketball player Connor Broesler. Connor was joined by his dad, Sean, Victor Porro and Matt Biehle. The Broesler foursome finished 1st in 2018 and 3rd in 2019. We can’t wait to see these three go at it next year. This is the third year in a row that these foursomes played in the outing.
The Men’s Longest Drive was awarded to SUNY Orange alum and former basketball player, Bob Decker.
The Women’s Longest Drive was awarded to SUNY Orange alum and former softball and basketball player, Kay Higgans. Kay, also finished 2nd for longest overall drive per mileage traveling 590 miles from her home in North Carolina.
Closest to the Pin on Par 3 #9 was Lucas Woodhouse at 2’4”. Closet to the pin on Par 3 #16 was Mike Vazquez at 4’.
The Longest Drive by overall mileage was awarded to Fred Williams for the second straight year. Fred traveled 1,089 miles from his home in Florida.
Best dressed foursome for the second consecutive year, went to Steve Walsh and his crew of Minisink grads Brian Lattimar, Greg Sciena and Jon Michael Kirschner.
Lastly, the guests were treated with great raffle and silent auction prizes. Some of the fan favorites were sports memorabilia such as autographed Jack Nicklaus and Ernie Els photoraphs, Billy Horschel pin flag and Rory McIlroy autographed golf polo with framing donated by local business Mainframe Custom Framing. Three lucky guests took home golf foursomes donated by local courses Lochmor Golf Course, Wallkill Golf Club, High Point Golf Club and West Hills Country Club. Wine gift baskets were donated by Bashakill Vineyards. Local restaurants such as Chianti Cow, Grappa Ristorante and Equilibrium Brewery also got in the mix by donating gift certificates. The Andricopolous Family donated a foursome to exclusive The Country Club of Darien. One lucky guest even won a home generator valued at $4,500 donated by Mavrix Motorsports.
“We thank all our sponsors and those who participated in this event. Days like this solidifies why we take pride in putting on a great outing each year to support SUNY Orange. We are blessed to be a part of such a great community. “
