Golf tournament hits 25 years

Marty Rhodes (left) and Matt Buchanan are leading the charge for the 25th annual Centers Classic Golf Tournament benefi ting The Centers for Youth and Families in Little Rock. Buchanan is overseeing the tournament while Rhodes is serving as honorary chairman and organizing a $50-a-ticket party at Pleasant Valley Country Club the night before.
Marty Rhodes (left) and Matt Buchanan are leading the charge for the 25th annual Centers Classic Golf Tournament benefi ting The Centers for Youth and Families in Little Rock. Buchanan is overseeing the tournament while Rhodes is serving as honorary chairman and organizing a $50-a-ticket party at Pleasant Valley Country Club the night before.

The Centers Classic Golf Tournament benefiting Centers for Youth and Families, an event celebrating its silver anniversary this year, truly is a classic. For the 25th annual tournament hosted by The Centers for Youth and Families Foundation, volunteers from the past and present are joining forces.

Marty Rhodes, president and chief executive officer of Stephens Insurance LLC, who lives in Little Rock and began volunteering during the tournament's inception in 1990, has returned as honorary chairman working with this year's tournament chairman, Matt Buchanan, vice president of commercial real estate with U.S. Bank.

"It's a wonderful organization and it's done great work since 1884," Rhodes says of Centers. "It's easy to want to contribute to and help such an organization. It's been a tremendous asset to our community for years and years and we want to make sure it has the resources to continue on with its work."

The tournament, presented by Dover Dixon Horne PLLC, is set for Oct. 12 at Pleasant Valley Country Club with 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. tee times. Morning golfers will be served breakfast and a cook-out lunch. (Breakfast is provided by Chick-fil-A; lunch is provided by Whole Foods Market.) Afternoon golfers will have lunch and dinner. (YaYa's Euro Bistro is providing the dinner.) There will also be an awards ceremony.

Proceeds benefit the Little Rock-based private, nonprofit organization serving thousands of children and families annually with services ranging from addressing typical family issues and assisting emotionally disturbed or at-risk youth to health and wellness programs for the elderly.

Volunteering is something to which these two are committed. Buchanan's a member of Rotary Club of Little Rock and Lyon College's alumni association, and plays guitar in the band at his church, Pulaski Heights United Methodist. Rhodes has been chairman of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, president of downtown Rotary Club 99, and served on the boards of Arvest Bank and Hendrix College in Conway.

He was first approached by a business associate to help organize a benefit golf tournament for The Centers. The event was then known as Rhodes & Associates Golf Classic benefiting Centers for Youth and Families. He joined The Centers' board in 1991 and later served as chairman.

"The first one held in 1990 raised $8,000," recalls Rhodes of the first tournament held at the Country Club of Little Rock. In 1991, Rhodes served as chairman of the tournament, which that year moved to Chenal Country Club, where it remained for several years.

"We went from raising $8,000 to $40,000," he says of the fundraiser, which in 1992 became known as The Centers Classic Golf Tournament.

Last year's tournament was the most successful to date with 56 teams made up of 224 golfers. It raised $76,000. Tournament admission is $1,250 for a team of four, although many corporate sponsors put up more and in exchange for their support receive a spot for their teams in the tournament. This year's goal is $100,000, and as of press time, more than 50 teams had registered.

"We should hit 55 or 60 teams and have 220-plus golfers playing 18 holes," Buchanan says.

The challenge lies in competing charities that also offer golf tournaments and ask corporations to make donations and participate. From 1990 to 2010, many more events have sprung up, Buchanan says. "There are so many golfing events this year," Rhodes says. "A lot of corporations get hit with having a team for golf tournaments."

"This tournament had struggled pretty badly with a low in 2011 of just 80 golfers," says Chris Shenep, the foundation's executive director. "But we weathered the storm and are working hard to have our biggest and best year yet in 2015."

While the tournament is looking to the future, Centers' Cajun Classic Silver Anniversary Party, 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 11 on the eve of the tournament, will offer a nostalgic glance into the fundraiser's earliest days.

The $50-a-ticket event, organized by Rhodes and his wife, Tricia, and held at Pleasant Valley Country Club, will feature Cajun food, drinks, a live auction and entertainment by Dizzy 7. Presented by Glazer's and catered by YaYa's Euro Bistro, the party will have a reunion atmosphere with the spotlight focused on many of the early volunteers, including Rhodes, Ellon Cockrill, Donna Cone and others who've contributed to The Centers.

Several live auction items will be featured, including a tapas-inspired dinner for 20 prepared by James Beard Award-winning chef Joel Antunes of the Capital Hotel (at the home of Donna and David Cone); a two-night stay at the Capital Hotel with dinner for four at the hotel's restaurant One Eleven (donated by the Rhodeses); and a week-long trip to Copper Mountain in Colorado next summer donated by Bill Cobb.

"In 1990, there were 50 participants on 25 teams," Rhodes recalls. "In 1991, we had a full morning and afternoon [of golfing] with 200 golfers playing. That year, a couple of celebrities participated in the tournament ...

"Bill Clinton, who was still governor then, was my partner," Rhodes says. "In 1991, at the party the night before, we auctioned off professional golfer and Arkansan John Daly to play the next day on the winning bidder's team for the second nine holes," he says, adding that Daly joined his team for the first nine holes.

How much did it cost to have Daly take part? Well, Rhodes says, it wasn't free, but it wasn't much either. "Shortly after that, John won the PGA tournament and his price skyrocketed."

High Profile on 10/04/2015

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