Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
AFSA Virginia Chapter Golf Tournament Supports Burn Survivors
The American Fire Sprinkler Association’s (AFSA) Virginia Chapter held its 24th Burn Survivors Golf Tournament on Wednesday, October 4, 2017, at the Williamsburg National Golf Club in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was a very beautiful fall day for this event! The tournament was well attended with 195 paid golfers and 40 volunteers. The chapter is proud to announce the donation of $80,000 in total to two charities – the Central Virginia Burn Camp for children was given $40,000 and the Old Dominion Firefighters Burn Foundation was given $40,000. The amount donated by the Virginia Chapter over the 24 years, for these two charities, is a grand total of $892,400.
Tournament Results In 2015, the chapter established the “Giles Cup” award for the grand prize winner. This cup was established to honor Marty Giles, past chapter chairman and past chairman of the AFSA Board of Directors, for all of his great work and support for the Virginia Chapter golf tournament from its inception. The Virginia Chapter keeps the master Giles Cup and places a name plaque on it each year with the grand prize winners. Additionally, each player on the winning team receives a replica copy of the cup.
The 2017 Grand Prize Winner (Best Overall Score) and Giles Cup recipient was the Fire & Life Safety America (FLSA) Team of Andrew Medovich, Jack Medovich, Frank Mortl III, and Allan Strange. The Mid-Atlantic Capital Management Team – John DePew, Robert Wrenn, Bill Taylor and Terry Watterford–won Second Place Overall. Other winners recognized were:
Fire Flight, 1st Place: Jamestown – Eagle Fire Team of Harry Hoffon, Jamie Phillips, Greg Rogertson, and Steve Usry; and Yorktown – Lexacom Team of Scott Evans, Paul Kessler and Dean Sidot
Sprinkler Flight, 1st Place: Jamestown – Cool Breeze/Richmond Fire Team of Rodney Coles, David Loving, Chad Waddy, and Mark Watkins; and Yorktown – Sunland Fire Team of Bobby Ellis, Steve Manis, Chuck Sandlin, and Anthony Spencer
Saves Lives Flight, 1st Place: Jamestown – Hajoca Team of Bryan Lutto, Mike Miller, Steven Price, and Shawn Walls; and Yorktown – Clark Nexsen Team of Chris Born, Bill Drum, Kevin Kimmel, and Ron Lauster
Good Sport Team Award (Last Place Overall): James Alls and Darren Wilmore
Move-Up Winners: Jamestown – Grant Campbell, Jeremiah Hazzard, Darren Palmieri, and Rick William; and Yorktown – Jason Gill, Troy Hazzard, Mark Johnson, and Sean Simpson
Closest to the line: Jamestown – Woody Witzak, Victaulic; and Yorktown – Lexi Torrice, Merrill Lynch
Closest to the Pin: Jamestown – Wayne Pugh, FireX; and Yorktown – George Webb
Prizes Galore Major prizes won were: a 65-in. Samsung TV – Darren Palmieri, small Green Egg Cooker – Matthew Bunting, medium Green Egg cooker – Gordon Taylor, large Green Egg Cooker – Todd Brenahan, and an extra-large Green Egg Cooker – Brian Davis. Raffles prizes won were: 50/50 raffle of $1,000 went to Chris Lindsey with eTec Fire, and a $500 gift certificate for GreenTop/Hopkins went to Rick Johnson. Three separate four-round certificates at Jamestown/Yorktown courses at Williamsburg National Golf Club went to Neil Gregoire, Gem Fab; Paul Whitaker, Eagle Fire; and Hooper Loscomb, Eagle Fire. A Foursome at Lee Hill Golf Club was won by Shawn Walls, Hajoca. A Twosome at Country Club of Virginia and lunch with Allan Strange went to Robert Marshall. Two days of Foursomes and two hotel nights at Williamsburg National Golf Club were won by Kevin Moyer, Reams & Moyer. One hundred individual gift prizes were also given to golfers, drawn from the list of all players and volunteers. A golf vest and goody bag were given to each golfer as well.
Thank You! This tournament could not have been successful without all of our primary sponsors. The Diamond Sponsor of $15,000 was Ferguson Fire. Platinum sponsors ($5,000) were: Eagle Fire, Fire & Life Safety America, VSC Fire & Security, Performance Fire, Viking Supply, George Wagner, Reliable Automatic Sprinkler, Core and Main, Hajoca, and Victaulic. Gold sponsors ($2,500) were: Atlantic Constructors, FirePro, Central Virginia Burn Camp, Potter Electric Signal, Old Dominion Fire Fighters Burn Foundation, System Sensor, Tyco, Globe Fire, and General Air Products. Major sponsors ($500) were: AFSA National, Magic City Sprinkler, Foley Company, eTec Fire, Lexacom, Flexhead, Scott Insurance, Tournatech, Fire Tech Services (two), Tands (Bojangles), Keiter, Sunland Fire, Verizon, and Colonial Ford Truck Sales. Hole sponsors ($175) were Clark Nexsen, Assured Partners, Merrill Lynch – Joe Torrice, ECS, Master Controls, Lubrizol, Chesterfield Firefighters, Ameripipe, Fire Protection Equipment Company, The Joyce Agency, Potter Roemer, Nicholson Sprinkler, Teligan, Crews and Gregory, Riley Fire, eTec Fire, Prince George Local 4994, Crater Regional TRT, AGF Manufacturing, Henrico Firefighters, Rapid Fire, Sunbelt (two), Colonial Heights Firefighters, Service Trade, Bankers Insurance, Carolina Fire, Cool Breeze, Axeman Motorcycle Club, and Liberty Fire Solutions.
The Chapter also thanks O’Toole’s Restaurant & Pub for donating lunch for all the golfers and volunteers and for providing a great dinner. We are grateful to both Colonial Ford Truck Sales and Haley Buick GMC Airport for the hole-in-one sponsorship. The 2017 Golf Chairman’s Committee worked the full year, meeting 10 times in planning for this tournament and we greatly appreciate their time, effort and hard work: Chairman Jack Medovich, FLSA; Harry Hoffon, Eagle Fire; Bill Jones, FirePro; Scott Williams, VSC Fire & Security; Jerry Pruden, Old Dominion Firefighters Burn Foundation; Hooper
Loscomb, Eagle Fire; Tiffany Clarke, Eagle Fire; Lanny Gault, retired; Griff Brinkley, Fire Tech; and George Wagner, chapter executive director.
An Everlasting Gift The chapter is pleased to announce that it has set up a Virginia non-profit corporation and has received a 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS and named this The Burn Survivors Foundation. This foundation will separately raise monies for an endowment fund for future needs to support the two charities for many years to come. This will be an ongoing challenge until the goal is met to ensure that the charities will be taken care of long into the future. Wagner sent out a call to all members to fund this endowment. A total of $34,448 was raised for the fund which will be invested for future needs. Thank you to the major donors of this endowment of $1,000 or more: AGF Manufacturing – $1,000; Bob Beckwith – $1,000; Griff Brinkley – $1,000; Dave and Sharon Fleming – $1,000; Harry Hoffon – $11,475; Tom McKinnon – $1,000; Jack Medovich – $1,000; Mike Meehan– $5,000; Melanie Obenchain, Magic City Sprinkler – $1,000; Joe Safer, American Automatic – $1,000; and George Wagner – $5,000. Thank you to the 30-plus additional donors who gave less than $1,000 each.
These donations will help ensure that the Central Virginia Burn Camp for children and the Old Dominion Firefighters Burn Foundation will be supported for years to come. If you wish to see the activities of the Burn Survivors Foundation or if you would like to make a donation, visit the website at burnsurvivorsfoundation.org.
Silver Anniversary Celebration The chapter would like to invite everyone to participate in the 2018 AFSA Virginia Chapter/Burn Survivors Foundation Golf Tournament on Wednesday, October 17, 2018, which will be held at the Williamsburg National Golf Club in Williamsburg, Virginia. Please put this on your calendar now to save the date as this will be a special 25th anniversary celebration event! For more information on sponsoring or playing in the 2018 tournament, visit afsavirginia.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: George Wagner is executive director of the AFSA Virginia Chapter.
