The second incarnation of the golf outing held in the memory of my old boss went off fabulously Thursday. Fortunately for all in attendance Steve Halpin and Deb Neuman work diligently for months to make sure that things run smoothly. Steve thinks quickly on his feet too. Although the event got off to a slightly delayed start, the reprise of last year’s fund raising sensation was better than the original and everyone seemed to have a great time.

The Bellport Country Club is a private facility nestled in the quiet little community that Tom Baldwin called home. Stories of the “Old Man” sneaking out onto the course to shoot a round with friends are legendary. A few times I heard he might have joined a group at the eleventh tee where the tenth green and the subsequent tee box are east of a creek. Most often he probably just jumped the fence at Ralph Kelly’s house.

Weather forecasts from Wednesday made it look like the whole thing might not fare so well. The meteorological wizards had prognosticated scattered thunderstorms in the morning punctuated by severe thunderstorms in the afternoon. That’s not exactly the kind of weather that a person of relative sanity would prefer when they might find themselves in the middle of a field with a metal stick in their hands.

I got to the Bellport CC around 6:15 AM. The whole island had been inundated with fog. “Racin’” Bobby Mason was there already. Bobby was a pretty good Figure-8 competitor in his day. He wound up spending most of the day with the most popular girl at the club, the one who drove the beverage cart.

Long Island is susceptible to fog as the still waters of the bays lie between the barrier beaches of Fire Island and the protected shores of the south side villages. The fog wouldn’t have affected a normal golf outing too much. With a couple of plane loads of celebrities inbound from the Charlotte area, these conditions led to a slightly delayed start.

After about a half hour, Steve decided that it was best to get the whole thing underway and have the celebrities drive out to play with their foursomes when they arrived. “Fat” Pat and I got to work. TB called Pat McKeegan “Fat Pat”. Pat is one of those guys who has metabolism that keeps him the same weight he has been for most of his life, a bony 140 pounds.

Bryon Chew brought a brand new fifteen-passenger van to the outing so that we could shuttle the spectators out to the various tee boxes they had been assigned. How new was it? Well the cardboard was still on the door handles and when we had finished getting all of the spectators out to the course it only read 66.4 miles on the odometer. Obviously, most of that mileage was the distance between Buzz Chew Chevrolet in Southampton and Bellport. Thank you Bryon and Buzz.

I told folks that were concerned about the cool, damp conditions that this was good news. I figured if it didn’t clear out and get sunny until about noon, we would avoid the thunderstorms that had been forecast. In the end, it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Last year I spent nearly the entire outing out in the Sun. I had been stationed at the silent auction to keep an eye on all of the hoods and quarter-panels that NASCAR teams had donated. This year I wanted to get out on the course and Steve was nice enough to give me an opportunity to do so.

Golf for many years, especially at the country club level, was predominantly a men’s game. When nature calls on a golf course, men do what comes naturally and there are few problems. The women who play don’t face that much of a problem as they usually have golf carts and can just take a break and drive to one of the regular rest stations.

Bellport Country Club is not used to handling spectators. Apparently at the first outing there had been a few spectators that experienced some challenges. The event staff had even had the forethought to put a couple of port-a-johns out there to handle those challenges. Even still, some of the spectators wound up at least half a mile away from the nearest facility.

This year, in addition to doubling the amount of remote lavatories, Steve had me drive around on a passenger cart to make sure that none of the spectators experienced any of those same challenges. There were a couple of times I felt like the guy in the collection cart at the driving range but for the most part, I just had a good time shuttling people around. After this year, I think that they’ll just add two more port-a-johns at 14 & 16 and the position I took this year will become obsolete.

During one of my many trips up the 16th fairway, I met Ralph Kelly. Ralph’s last name isn’t Kelly; it’s Collichio. Ralph Kelly is just what the Old Man used to call him. I don’t even know for sure whether his real name is Ralph ;).

Ralph was resting with his arms folded over the hurricane fence that separates his backyard from the course. His golden retriever had only gotten three balls hit to him at that point. Throughout the rest of the day I’d yell to the dog, “Where is Ralph Kelly?” And the dog would scamper all over the yard.

Everyone really enjoyed themselves. I am sure the hops and barley malt had something to do with some of it. Perhaps there should be an award given next year to the group of spectators that had the most fun. This year that honor would have been bestowed on the folks at the 12th tee.

Fran Lawlor spent the day over there and I am sure he can fill everyone in on the details. I could hear them from a hundred yards away. Every time I pulled up they seemed to get quiet, like the teacher was back in the room or something like that. “Vote for hole 12!” I heard that several times.

There was little evidence of cart abuse this year. That was probably due to Tommy Baldwin, Jr.’s warning speech before things got rolling. The fellow that drove Wayne Anderson’s cart gave me a little “wheel shot” as they headed in at the end of the day. He was just trying to get around the roadblock. I was driving a cart that comfortably seated four. I had four passengers with all of their gear and coolers and we were laboring back to the clubhouse. We weren’t traveling much faster than most people could walk. Walking might have been a challenge for those guys. They had a blast or two or…who was counting anyway?

The couple of blasts that were heard around the course seemed to echo from Bob Polverari’s foursome. I don’t know who had the fireworks, it only happened a couple of times and it was funny at the time but that is a no-no. Bob found a box turtle out there and made it his team’s mascot.

Jimmy Spencer played with Wayne Anderson’s group. I thought it kind of apropos. Two former Modified Tour Champions just hitting the links.

The celebrities that seemed to garner the most attention and created the most fun for the spectators were Elliott Sadler and Larry McReynolds. I think Elliott spent half the day on the cell phone. Not his cell phone mind you, spectator’s cell phones. “Here, talk to my buddy, he’s a really big fan of yours!” Elliott obliged and was a big hit.

Steve told me that he heard about the guy in the yellow shirt. He said, “People were telling me that the guy in the yellow shirt keeps coming by to check on us. The Old Man had a lot of names for you Dub, that wasn’t one of them.” They had a really nice EVENT STAFF shirt for me to wear. That shirt was a little small and I shudder to think of how I would have looked wearing it. I’ll keep it and I’ll wear it when I drop below three spins.

Desirae Gooding was the wheelchair bound girl who put everyone to shame last year with her courageous fund raising efforts. It was great to see her back this year on her feet with the assistance of a walker. She is amazing.

We have to thank Jim, Billy, Joey and the rest of the staff of the Bellport Country Club for allowing us to play there. These folks have a very well manicured course that is usually exclusive to their membership. They were very gracious hosts. Thanks to Adam Wheeler from Smithtown Nissan for providing the pickup truck for a hole-in-one prize. Steve Rivers from Hometown Insurance provided $10,000 and various other prizes for a hole-in-one as well.

Gene Ullman from ASI provided all of the event attire at cost. In addition, Gene designed and printed a beautiful new Tom Baldwin “Greatest Show on Earth” tee shirts. He provided them to the outing free of charge in a fairly large quantity. That will be a very popular item and the fact that it was given away free will probably keep Ringling Bros, Barnum and Bailey off of his back.

We were also fed well and need to thank a number of sponsors for their participation. Breakfast was sponsored by NASCAR in honor of The NASCAR Foundation with thanks to the France family. Stafford Motor Speedway and CAR-QUEST Auto Parts sponsored lunch with thanks to the Arute family and Rich Pallai. Huntington Honda sponsored dinner with thanks to Don and Donny Lia. Thanks to Finton, Nile, Robert and their staff from the Irish Coffee Pub at Bellport Country Club for catering the affair.

Once again, Jim Wichert from Unique Golf supplied our golfers with equipment and golf balls. Former Baldwin crewmember, Steve Stattle, provided signs for the event by Sign Ink and Designs. Bruce, from Racecrafts Plaques and Trophies, provided all of the trophies and special awards. Robert Yates Racing and Hampton Jitney provided transportation with thanks to the Yates family and Ted Baxter. Shore Mechanical sponsored the beverage cart with thanks to David Newins.

Tammy Baldwin and a friend ran around all day selling raffle tickets and tickets for the 50-50. They really did a great job and raised several thousand dollars. The Bahre family and New Hampshire International Speedway contributed a ticket package that included hospitality and suite access for a NEXTEL Cup weekend. Southwest Airlines also gave us two round-trip tickets for anywhere they fly in the U.S. In addition, we thank Bob and Scott from Triple Crown Sports who ran our silent auction. A big thank you to Bob Finan for hustling over to the BCC to be our emcee at the awards presentation.

Tom Baldwin, Jr. spoke at the awards presentation. He was very appreciative of everyone’s participation and hopes that we can continue to keep our memories of his father alive with this fundraiser year after year. The Tom Baldwin Memorial Open benefits the Victory Junction Gang Camp, the Autism Society of America, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Village of Bellport Summer Concert Series.

Tommy said, “We gave the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation a big check today!” He and many of the celebrities had to leave at that point. He asked us to stay and make sure we got every dollar’s worth out of the bar.

Although it was all over too soon, it had been a long day. Some of the original Baldwin crew adjourned to the Irish Coffee Pub upstairs at the clubhouse. Those guys still know how to party. I figured someone would have to call for a big taxi for them at about two in the morning when they get kicked out so they can find the next place they’re going to drink dry.

Apparently the ole gang ran up a tab of about a thousand dollars over and above what had been allocated. Steve’s brother Tim Halpin and his partner Ryan Dennis from Buyer’s Choice Mortgage Group thankfully picked up the tab. I guess that left more money in those guy’s pockets to go do some more drinking. I could just hear them say, “Hey cabbie! Take us to the Dunton Inn.”

Howie and Mary drove around on a cart with Amie. Howie looked like I felt at the end of the day…poofed. He told me that he would probably get some shuteye on the boat ride home. Now he knows how I feel sometimes. Their great pictures are up in the gallery and they’ve even got a picture of Ralph Kelly’s dog.

Based on some of the golf I saw played out there, I think I might choose to participate next year. The scramble format enables someone of limited abilities to get a lucky shot here or there to contribute to a good result. And no one seemed to have any more fun than the golfers. If anyone who wasn’t there spoke to anyone who was, chances are they’ll be there next year. Thanks to everyone who helped out. And Steve in particular wanted to thank all of the spectators for coming out, for participating and for being so well behaved.