FORE... A Good Cause

Adrienne Irmer, NBC Chicago Street Team

Last Thursday (August 6th, 2009) was the 6th Annual Golf Outing to benefit the Otis Wilson Foundation. A relatively long trek out to the Bolingbrook Golf Club opened into a vast sea of greens and fairways– quite a lovely course– although if you asked some of the participants it certainly wasn’t an easy 18 holes. With team scores as low as 56 and others as high as… well, let’s not go there, its all for the kids anyway, right? And what an event this turned out to be! This is the biggest fundraiser for the organization, and clearly ’twas the case with an auction block of sports goodies that’d make the ESPN newsroom drool! From autographed jerseys of Hall of Fame inducted Chicago athletes like Dick Butkus and Otis Wilson (of course), to a Diamond Suite Sox Game against the Red Sox with Otis Wilson AND Richard Dent in attendance! SWEET!

Needless to say, the fundraiser was a success and the sole benefactors were the kids. The Otis Wilson Foundation works with at-risk youth, after school, and teaches them the benefits of playing sports and eating right, but not until after their homework is completed with the help of staff tutors. The discipline Otis learned with athletics is being passed along to these youth to “start them on the right path to becoming a productive adult.”

For those readers who know me, however, they’d laugh at the thought of me being at a golf outing because it takes me roughly five hours to play 9 holes, but alas, I did not play– maybe when I step my game up… one of these days. I was actually invited (by my mom, via Mr. Wilson *cough*) to attend the closing dinner where I met a few of the Foundation’s board members, the former Director of Athletics for UIC (who happens to announce the Chicago Bulls from time to time) and, of course, the man of the evening, Mr. Otis Wilson and his fellow 1985 Superbowl Champion (and MVP) Mr. Richard Dent. TOTALLY AWESOME! So here’s what you’ve been waiting for: you, too, can make your way onto the green with sports icons Thursday, August 5th, 2010. For more information about the organization or the next golf outing check out : www.otiswilsonfoundation.com

At the closing dinner with Otis

Another friendly face at the closing dinner– Richard Dent