By DAVE SCHABELL
And A Good Time Was Had By All…
Saturday morning 5:30am – As I drove towards the Hickory Sticks Golf Course for the Inaugural Nathan Seiter Memorial Golf Outing I was flooded with many thoughts, first being that I wish that I was going to meet Nate and do some fishing at this hour of the day, rather than be heading to an event memorializing him. It was one of my few thoughts of Nathan himself over the past few days, which were being spent physically preparing for the event, leaving little time for such reflections. Knowing that it was going to be a long morning before the lunch-wagon pulled in, I planned a stop en-route to Country Cousins Bake Shop to pick up some doughnuts before making the last leg of my trip. As I passed Spare Time Grill I expected to see the lot jammed with golfers having breakfast prior to teeing off at 7am, however the building was dark and the lot was empty. Mental note – Talk to Tony Alford next year and then publicize that the Spare Time would be open for their pre-round breakfast needs as it is for the Brossart outing which has led to the formation of a tradition of breakfast at Spare Time prior to golfing in the outing. The doughnuts were just coming out of the oven when I stepped into Country Cousins and was provided a freebie which melted in my mouth. I ordered a dozen. If Evan McDole can eat a dozen at a sitting – so could I. Mental note – next year instead of buying one dozen, buy a dozen/dozen and make them available along with some hot coffee to our early arrivals at the course prior to the first flight. It would be a nice touch. Approaching Hickory Sticks at that time of day is an awesome sight. It wasn’t daylight yet and their buildings sit up on a hill as you approach on Painter Road. They provided an illuminated silhouette against the breaking dawn, filling me with similar sentiments experienced when I first saw the twin-spires of Churchill Downs lit up before dawn of my first Kentucky Derby back in 1966 when I was young, ambitious, and wanted to get there early to get a prime spot in the infield for that day’s major event.
One hundred and forty-four golfers arrived prior to 7am, checked-in, spent a few bucks on our raffles, and then located their strategically placed cart and awaited instructions from the starter. I envisioned someone shouting the command “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!!!” Soon, in one by one order, the carts headed out onto the course and the first ever Nathaniel David Seiter Memorial Golf Outing was underway.
Hickory Sticks Golf Course is a beautiful venue and despite the five Par-Three holes, play moved along at a steady clip. Mid-morning I took advantage of the lull in administrative activities and repositioned my Blazer (which is for sale – call 441-3910) under a shade tree and took advantage of the steady breeze to enjoy a nap for about an hour. We knew that the potential for disaster loomed in our ability/inability to have the first flight completed and their carts returned in time to clean them and have them ready to get the second flight out at approximately 1pm. With the help of ten willing volunteer students from Brossart High School who shuttled the carts from the parking lot back to the processing area, we accomplished getting the second flight back out on the course by 1:30pm. At 4:30pm a potential storm approached and the 2nd flight was called back to the clubhouse for a forty minute interruption in play. Since they were essentially on the “back nine”, some packed it in, while others stuck it out and resumed play. Back at Brossart, dinner was being served from 6:30pm until the remnants of the 2nd wave arrived, as the band Fast Forward set up and tuned up down in the gym in preparation for part two of this marathon tribute to Nathan Seiter, who himself was all about marathons.
Just before 9pm, Chris Schreiber presented the golf awards, and the golfers and their wives, many who returned from the first wave, began to drift downstairs to enjoy the sounds of Fast Forward. As expected, a mixed bag crowd of golfers, others who didn’t play golf or couldn’t make the outing, many of the Class of ’98, and the true-blue followers of the band added up to about 400 party goers looking to boogie until 1am.
The storm had cooled the air dramatically and we will be eternally grateful for it as the SyDome has a reputation for holding heat like a Snappy Tomato delivery bag. While there were some comments about the temperature in the gym, it was actually cool by summer open-gym standards and continued to cool as the evening went on.
We weren’t let down by Fast Forward who puts on a first-class show nor to the
response to the live auction of a fishing trip for two to the Blue Heron in Canada
which sold for $650 and a week stay at the Barry Jolly Family home in Cape Coral, Florida that brought $3,600. Meanwhile the silent auction motored along, and the participants opened their wallets, purchasing many items for over $100 while a 1968 (don’t hold me to that) edition of Sports Illustrated featuring Adolph Rupp and the UK Wildcats found a new home for a tidy sum of $600. The split-the-pot prize was over $250 and the trip to Disneyworld was won by a neighbor of Chris Schreiber’s in Southwood.
I had a chance to talk to Mustang 1,000 Point Club Member Nick Moher, a teammate of Nathan’s from the ’98 team who was in attendance, and conversed more with Nick in those minutes spent with him at the dance than I probably did in the four years that he wore Mustang Green. He’s doing great and also plays the drums in a local band. I finally met the infamous Buckeye Mike and his wife. Mike is Kevin Ellis’ brother-in-law and knew Nathan through Kevin. Mike had “Nathan – Fishing Forever” window decals created, which sold like hotcakes at the golf outing and dance. They should be popping up in local car windows in short order.
As 1am approached, along with the exhilaration that we had pulled off an amazingly successful event, my aching ankles and knees told me that enough was enough and we were glad to see the house lights come on marking the end of a very bittersweet day. First and foremost, no one was hurt or arrested that I am aware of and everyone got home safely after the dance. Following an hour or so of wrap-up and clean-up, I headed north on US27 and arrived home shortly before 3am, twenty-two hours after I had left earlier that morning (I did get home for a shower and change of clothes between the golf outing and the dance).
For a first-time event we are extremely happy with the execution and results of the event. A staggering amount of money will fund the Nathan Seiter Memorial Scholarship Fund as a result, allowing needy Brossart students to benefit from the generosity of those who supported this event.
We learned quite a bit from this initial outing and promise an even better 2nd Annual.
Thanks to everyone who contributed in anyway to the success of the event and we hope to see you again next year.
