Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
31st Annual Burn Survivors Foundation Golf Tournament Raises Thousands for Its Charities
Under clear skies and with plenty of competitive spirit, the Virginia Chapter of the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) hosted its Annual Burn Survivors Golf Tournament on Oct. 9, 2024. Once again, this annual event was held at the Williamsburg National Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va. With the great weather given to the committee, it was another major success for the charities. This event is a much-anticipated golf tournament that combines sport, philanthropy, and camaraderie from the fire sprinkler industry and community.
Now in its 31st year, the tournament brought together 244 golfing participants and many sponsors from across the nation, raising $90,000 for the charities that the Foundation supports—The Central Virginia Burn Camp for Kids and The Old Dominion Fire Fighters Foundation, supporting the Evans-Haynes Burn Unit at VCU Medical Center/Virginia Commonwealth University.
The event kicked off with the 9:30 a.m. golfer registrations and a putting contest sponsored by the chapter’s NextGen committee. This contest included participants attempting to hit golf balls toward their favorite bottles of adult beverages, which were strategically placed on the practice green. As golfers connected their putts with their target bottle of choice, they were then awarded that item to take home.
While the putting contest and registrations proceeded, golfers used the on-site driving range to get loose and hone their skills for the day’s efforts. As usual, this is a time when participants catch up with great networking and conversation. At 11:00 a.m., lunch was served, which was once again provided/donated by O’Toole’s Restaurant and included grilled hot dogs and Italian sausages.
Just before the noon shotgun start, golfers made their way to their carts, and the AFSA Virginia Chapter’s President Bob Beckwith gave a rundown of the event’s tournament rules and procedures to all the golfers. The golf teams were then given the go-ahead for a full day of play across 18 holes on the Jamestown and Yorktown courses. Players of all skill levels competed in a best-ball format, encouraging teamwork and sportsmanship. On the course, participants enjoyed refreshments from four spirited beverage cart volunteers. The day’s tournament included skill challenges like “Closest to the Pin,” “Closest to the Line Drive,” and the ever-popular “Hole-in-One” contest.
After the final putt dropped around 5:30 p.m., participants gathered back at the tent pavilion for a celebratory dinner and awards ceremony. Dinner included terrific beef and chicken entrees by O’Toole’s Restaurant. Then, special guests were recognized and information about the charities was provided. Trophies were awarded to the top teams, with special prizes given for individual achievements. Raffle drawings were announced, and prize winners enjoyed some great items to take home. Participants also were randomly picked for many door prizes which were displayed for pickup.
SPONSORS AND GENEROSITY
The Burn Survivors Foundation (BSF or Foundation) committee was again thankful to sell out the tournament in support of these great charities. The 2024 event included five Presenting Sponsors, which was outstanding and helped this event exceed the goals. The Foundation and board are so appreciative of the generosity shown! The 2024 event also included 244 golfers, four Diamond sponsors, nine Platinum sponsors, ten Gold sponsors, three Silver sponsors, seven Major sponsors, and eight Hole sponsors.
The Foundation committee is very thankful that once again we have received a generous donation of $25,000 from the Ray Fremont, Sr. Foundation, and is now named as one of its three charity sponsorships going forward. We are so proud to be included in the charitable efforts and vision of the Freemont family at General Air Products. The committee designated the Ray Freemont, Sr. Foundation as a Presenting sponsor for this event, based on their donation.
The committee also received a $10,000 donation from Bill Jones and his “BBQ Gives Back” crew. This is a group that hosts an annual KCBS Certified Barbeque competition, which allows Jones to share a donation with the Foundation. The event also provides charitable food to local food banks and shelters once the competition is complete. Jones is part of the BSF committee and has served the fire protection industry and fire services both in business and in philanthropy for years.
In addition to the donations provided from our sponsors, the Burn Survivors Foundation has been given a very generous gift of $100,000 from Mike Meehan of VSC Fire & Security. This was a wonderful surprise and will go a long way in furthering the Foundation’s endowment efforts. Many thanks go out to Mike and his generosity!
Generous gifts and the efforts by many folks in the fire sprinkler industry are what make these donations possible. The BSF and golf committee would like to give a big THANK YOU to all who have taken their time and donated!
As the event’s dinner concluded, and prior to the awards and prize announcements, Bob Beckwith provided some information about the charities. One of the charities BSF contributes to, the Evans-Haynes Burn Unit at VCU Medical in Richmond, is in its 77th year of operation. This event provides financial assistance to the Old Dominion Firefighters Burn Foundation, which supports The Evans-Haynes Burn Unit. The Old Dominion Firefighters Burn Foundation and The Evans-Haynes Burn Center have been assisting with the rehabilitation and assistance to burn survivors and their families for many years.
The other charity that the BSF and this tournament support is the Central Virginia Burn Camp for Kids in Charlottesville. The Central Virginia Burn Camp has provided tremendous help for children who have burn injuries. The camp allows kids to get back to being kids. Many of the current camp counselors who now work at the camp were former campers themselves.
The AFSA Virginia Chapter is proud to announce that it donated $90,000 in total to these two charities raised during the 2024 tournament. The Central Virginia Burn Camp for Kids was given $45,000 (received by Leslie Baruch and Tim Wright), and the Old Dominion Firefighters Burn Foundation was given $45,000 (received by Jerry Pruden and Doctor Michael Feldman). The Virginia Chapter and BSF’s total donations over the 31 years of this event have contributed $1,422,900 to these two great charities!
After the donations were presented, next came the announcement of the prize winners and the golf team accolades from the day’s play.
TOURNAMENT RESULTS AND AWARDS
The chapter established the “Giles Cup” award for the Grand Prize winner in 2015. This cup was established to honor Giles for all his magnificent work and support for the Virginia Chapter’s golf tournament from its beginning. The chapter will keep the Master “Giles Cup” and will put a name plaque on it each year with the Grand Prize winners listed, with the Grand Prize winners receiving a replica copy of this “Cup” for each player on the winning team. The following teams/participants are the 2024 golf tournament winners:
• Grand Champion (Best Overall Team Score)/Giles Cup Winner: the Jack Medovich team #1 of Jack Medovich, Skeeter Heath, Scott McNeil, and Allan Strange (winning score of 46)
• Reserve Grand Champion (Second Place Overall Team Score): the Fire-X Corporation team of Wayne Pugh, Tom Woody, Phillip Miller, and Ricky Silva
Team Winners included:
• Fire Flight: 1st Place: Jamestown Course—the Old Dominion Fire Fighters team of Danny Meleski, Chris Pruden, Darren Lucas, and Derek Webb, and Yorktown Course—the VSC Fire & Security team #2 of Bill Freeby, James Walter, Brad Strickland, and James Dennis
• Sprinkler Flight: 1st Place: Jamestown Course— the Jack Medovich team #3—John Niz, Gary Moore, Kevin Damiano, and William Tallant and Yorktown Course—the Viking team #2 of Tom Bowers, Manny Ortiz, Tom Moore, and Andrew Evans
• Life Saved Flight: 1st Place: Jamestown Course—the Hajoca team of Rudy Jones, Sam Carter, Jr., and two others, and Yorktown Course—the Victaulic team of Woody Witczak, Jay Strickland, Asa Baskin, and Thomas Edmunds
Other winners of individual skill challenges recognized:
• Closest to the line: Jamestown Course—Al Leebrick from the Summit Fire & Security team and Yorktown Course—Brandon Shearin from the Old Dominion Fire team
• Closest to the Pin: Jamestown Course—William Tallant from the Jack Medovich team #3 and Yorktown Course—Joseph Summerall.
• Move-up Hole Winners each of a Bluetooth Golf Speaker/GPS device: Jamestown Course—the Jack Medovich team #3 of John Niz, Gary Moore, Kevin Damiano, and William Tallant, and Yorktown Course—the Mike Meehan team #3 of Mike Meehan, Tommy Clements, William Walker, and Dumas Garrett
• Good Sport Award (Last Place Overall score): the American Fire Systems team of Joe Saffer, Robert Stoker, Andy Anderson, and Tahnie Boggess (score untold)
The event also included drawings for some major prizes, pre-drawn prizes and door gifts, and raffled items. Fifty-two individual door prizes were given to golfers, drawn from the list of all players and volunteers. Also, during registration, each participating golfer received a Burn Survivor Foundation-logoed quarter-zip pullover shirt.
The following raffle prizes and large door prizes were awarded to the following participants: Louis Perkins of Summit Fire & Security received an Oklahoma Joe’s Bronco Smoker grill, CJ Hall (volunteer to the BSF event) received a Gunter Wilhelm knife set and block, Tom Jernigan of VSC Fire & Security received an AMYET e-bike, Pat Sigmon of ETec received an Apple iPod, Chris Amorese of JCI Fire Products received a foursome at the Williamsburg National Golf Club, Ricky Johnson of the Central Virginia Burn Camp received a foursome at the Lee’s Hill Golf Course, Bill Freeby of VSC Fire & Security received a nice cooler prize pack filled with various adult beverages, and Anthony McDaniel of ACI won the 50/50 cash raffle ($1,000 ), which he returned back to the charity.
After awards were announced, Bob Beckwith reminded the participants of the “Codicil” agreement that he and George Wagner have created, to build an endowment for the Burn Survivors Foundation to continue providing needed donations to these important charities. It is the intent for the golf tournament to live on for many years to come, but the goal is to be capable of providing donations to charities in case there are future circumstances where the golf event cannot be held.
The Codicil Agreement is a method for anyone to donate through their will or estate plans. The agreement can be modified or cancelled at any time, and any amount of donation is helpful to the endowment and the Burn Survivors Foundation’s financial preparedness. If you are interested in the agreement or wish to donate, please contact any of the Golf Committee members or visit the BSF website for details.
We want to thank O’Toole’s Restaurant & Pub for donating lunch and for providing a terrific dinner for the golfers and volunteers. We also want to thank the 2024 BSF Golf Chairman’s committee, who worked the full year, meeting ten times in planning for this golf tournament. The committee members are Chairman Bob Beckwith, Cavalier Fire; Griff Brinkley, Old Dominion Fire Company; Jason Gill, Crews and Gregory Sprinkler; Harry Hoffon, retired, Eagle Fire, Inc.; Bill Jones, retired, FirePro, Inc.; Jeff Lewis, VSC Fire & Security; Hooper Loscomb, Eagle Fire, Inc.; Steve McGee, ACI & Virginia Chapter executive director; Jack Medovich, retired, Summit Fire (previous chairman); Jerry Pruden, Old Dominion Firefighters Foundation; Craig Smith, Ferguson Fire & Fabrication; George Wagner, retired, E.D.; and Scott Williams, VSC Fire & Security.
If you are interested in donating to the Foundation or would like to learn more about the charities this event serves, visit burnsurvivorsfoundationva.org. For information on the AFSA Virginia Chapter and how to get involved, visit virginiaafsa.org.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hooper Loscomb is with Eagle Fire, Inc. and vice president of the AFSA Virginia Chapter and Burn Survivors Foundation.