Charity golf tournament is a hole in one
Written by Cathy Finnegan Monday, 10 October 2011 15:52
It was a beautiful day when the Knights of Columbus held their 13th Annual Charity Golf Tournament at the Greate Bay Country Club. After months of planning for the tournament, Joe Firmani was delighted with the perfect weather for the outing. Mark Trautman, who co-chaired the tournament with Joe, was at the country club at 8 a.m. after working all night at the Hilton. As soon as the dinner was over Mark was headed back to work with no sleep for two days.
Ruthann Firmani, Kathy Walicki, Barbara Idzik, Nancy Cristella, Beverly Ayotte and Kathy DeMarco arrived at the club at 8:30 a.m. to help set up all the prizes, then headed outside to register golfers and sell Mulligans and raffle tickets. After a couple hours off in the afternoon, Ruthann and Kathy were back on the job looking fresh and ready to work in sporting white and blue Knights of Columbus t-shirts. Ruthann told me she had a nice visit with her St. Augustine’s grade school classmate, Ralph Tridico, who was in town for his 50th Ocean City High School reunion and now resides in New Bern. N.C. Marie Sizer and Bill Friend were at the door waiting to greet golfers were when they came in for dinner. The dining room looked festive with yellow and blue balloons on all the tables. This year Jane French sported a Flyers team shirt as she took care of the Silent Auction packages. Pat Patrick was delighted when I spotted her foursome near the clubhouse and stopped to take their picture as Pat and her girlfriends read my column on the Second Street beach and this is the first time she’ll be in it. I chatted with Joan Andrews and Liz Vasturia when they arrived to join their husbands who were golfing for dinner. Joan introduced me to her brother, Msgr. Edward Wetterer whose parish is in Brooklyn. Mary Fasano moved from Maple Glen to Ocean City a couple of years ago.
As the golfers started to trickle in I caught up with John Huff who reports he and wife, Signe, are getting used to being “empty nesters” now that their youngest is away at college. John and Signe are looking forward to a trip to Buenos Aires in October to visit their daughter who is studying this semester in Argentina. Charles Cristella lined up with his sons, Charles, Jr. and Robert, as soon as they came in. I chatted with Jay Prettyman while he checked out the golf scores. While chatting with PBA president Bill Gray he told me he should have gotten a room at the Deauville Inn last weekend as Friday night he was there for the K-9 and Motorcycle Benefit and Sunday afternoon the Deauville hosted a retirement party for Bill Friend. Paul LeFever retired over two years ago and he loves it and spends most of his free time playing golf. When I admired Dennis Mullen’s yellow cable knit sweater and yellow baseball cap, he commented “If you look good you play good.” Steve Ang, Bob Blevin and Joe Beisel choked on that comment. Dennis was looking forward to his son’s wedding in Hopewell Junction, N.Y. near West Point.
When one of the two women foursomes, Susan Sheppard, Maryanne McLaughlin, Melissa Wilson and Jessica Quintin, came in they caused quite a commotion trying to convince Greate Bay Golf Pro Bucky Kenneff they had gotten a hole in one. When Susan’s ball landed in a sand trap she used her “Free Throw Ticket” and when Jessica threw the ball it went right in the hole. However, it didn’t hold up with Bucky.
I enjoyed the buffet dinner chatting with Jack Dershimer, Frank Faverzani, Susan Sheppard, Melissa Wilson, Marianne McLaughlin and Jessica Quintin. Of course these busy soccer moms were on their cell phones checking in with the kids at home. I caught up with Bob Harbough, Mark Grimes, Jim Monroe, Joe Falconi and Dave Pitfield dropping tickets in the Chinese Auction buckets with the hopes of winning some of the great prizes donated by local merchants. Bob reports he had a good season at Bob’s Grill on the Boardwalk except for the week when Hurricane Irene blew into town. I enjoyed chatting with Dallas Krapf, owner of Krapf Bus Companies, dinner sponsor for this year’s event. Dallas is an honorary alumni of Penn State so he was delighted when Penn State pulled out a win over Temple. Margie Barham from the New Jersey Food Bank thanked everyone for their support as half of the proceeds from the tournament went to the Food Bank. My apologies to Jack Meehan, Rich Ellerman, Bill Auty and Dallas Krapf as I miscounted and took nine pictures and since your buddy Joe Rebl was already in a picture yours got cut. Jack Meehan plays the bagpipes at many events in Ocean City. Rich Ellerman reports he and wife, Lillian, are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary Dec. 7 while Bill Auty and his wife will be married 40 years and taking a cruise through the Panama Canal to celebrate.
Marlene Buckley and Sylvia Luongo arrived just in time for dinner and although they didn’t golf in the tournament they joked about being “semi pro golfers” and wanted to support a good cause. Marlene’s husband donated the Phillies and Eagles tickets for the Silent Auction. Carmen D’Angelo, Jim McMahon and Lionel Fansler joined the ladies for a picture and Carmen made sure I’d be at the Sunshine Foundation Golf Tournament. Scott Raab is delighted to be an Ocean City homeowner again as he and his wife recently purchased a home in the Gardens not far from his father’s home where Scott grew up. When Bill Schnatz left early he gave his raffle tickets to Jessica Quintin to watch. Joe Firmani and Ed Idzik asked this columnist to pull the numbers of the lucky winners in the Chinese Auction with Scott Raab, Joe Damone, Jim McMahon, Frank Faverzani, Bill Auty, Joe Falconi, Dallas Krapf, Jane French, Dave Pitfield, Jack Dershimer, Maryanne McLaughlin, Jim Andrews, Mark Grimes, Tom Hooker and John Huff just some of the winners of restaurant gift certificates, golf packages and so much more. Bob Harbough was going to need a wheelbarrow to carry all his loot home. Bob Cristella was high bidder for the Flyers tickets; Frank Faverzani got the 50-yard line Eagles tickets while Ruthann Firmani took home Phillies playoff tickets. Bucky Kenneff announced the winners in the tournament. Joe Firmani did a great job as auctioneer for some of the big ticket prizes. Frank Mancuso won the putting contest while Mary MacDonald and Steve Ang had the longest drives. Team winners were: Flight C with 69 – Bob Marzulli, Gene Post, Ken Post and Josh Benson, who all sported matching golf shirts; Flight B, one under par with 60 – Charles Cristella, Sr. and Jr., Bob Cristella and Mike Frost; and Flight A, 12 under par 58 – Paul LeFever, John Huff, Dennis Mullen and Joe Farraro. As the golfers headed to the parking lot with all their loot, Harry Bellwoar recruited a friend to help him carry out the large rug he won.
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