June 3, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – The inaugural “Notre Dame Basketball Coaches vs. Cancer Golf Classic” will be held Sunday-Monday, August 18-19 at the Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend, Indiana. Hosted by Irish men’s basketball coach Mike Brey, the two-day event is designed to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society.
Brey and his staff – associate coach Sean Kearney, assistant coaches Anthony Solomon and Lewis Preston, and director of basketball operations Rod Balanis – will be on hand for the two-day event as will a number of other celebrity guests.
Festivities begin on Sunday evening (Aug. 18) with a cocktail reception and silent auction at 7:00 p.m. A scramble golf tournament will take place on Mon., August 19, followed by a celebrity dinner. Participating golfers will compete for an all-expense paid trip to the 2003 BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Championship at New York City’s Madison Square Garden as well as other prizes.
“We’re hoping to turn this event into a premier outing that will annually raise money for the Coaches vs. Cancer program,” says Brey. “The key behind this program is that 60 percent of the funds stay right here in South Bend to help in our own community,”
Coaches vs. Cancer is a partnership between the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society. Since 1994, Coaches vs. Cancer has raised nearly 12 million dollars.
The 2002 Notre Dame Basketball Coaches vs. Cancer Classic is collaboration between Blackthorn Golf Club and several leading businesses in the South Bend area. Ranked in Golf Digest’s “Places to Play, 2002” (4.5 stars), Blackthorn is one of the premier golfing facilities in Northern Indiana. Notre Dame Federal Credit Union serves as the presenting sponsor for this year’s event. Lexus of Mishawaka will sponsor the cocktail reception and silent auction to be held at the Eastern Pacific Bar and Grille in South Bend. Martins Supermarkets will sponsor the Celebrity Dinner which will feature Brey and Notre Dame’s director of athletics Kevin White. Sunny 101.5 and WSBT AM 960 are providing radio promotion for all activities of the two-day event.
Although this will be a new event for the South Bend and Michiana area, Brey and his wife Tish have been longtime active fundraisers for the Coaches vs. Cancer program. During Brey’s five-year stay at the University of Delaware, the couple helped make the Newark, Delaware school one of the top fundraising schools in the country through that program.
Foursomes may be reserved by calling Blackthorn at (574) 232-4653. Entry fees for a team of four golfers is $2,000 (($500 per golfer). All golfers will receive complimentary tickets to the cocktail reception and silent auction on Aug. 18 and to the scramble golf tournament and dinner on Aug. 19. In addition, each golfer will receive a complimentary Ping golf bag, Cutter and Buck windshirt, golf hat, sand wedge, golf balls and six free rounds of golf at Blackthorn. Participating golfers also will have a chance to win $1,000,000 in the Million Dollar Shot contest held during the golf tournament.