Klays for Kids The event, attended by retired Steelers, is expected to raise $30,000 for area Boy Scout chapters.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
AY HILL SUPPORTS YOUNG people and sports every chance he gets. So when he heard about Klays for Kids, an event where gun enthusiasts got to shoot clay targets with retired National Football League players at the Lawrence County Sportsmen’s Association in Wampum, Pa., Hill sponsored a team of five people to participate.
“Unfortunately, the shooting sports are dying in America. This is our last chance to save it,” said Hill, president of American Clean Energy Systems in Volant, Pa. Hill had planned to participate, but an arm injury left him on the sidelines Monday watching the rest of his group.
Hill’s group shot with retired Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Randy Grossman. Grossman was just one of 36 retired NFL players who participated. Many of the players participating were former Pittsburgh Steelers — including Mel Blount and Rocky Bleier — along with other NFL team alumni, said Lenny Simon, president of the sportsman’s association.
180 shooters
Monday’s event drew about 180 shooters and was expected to raise about $30,000 for the Moraine Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said Todd Kalis, president of the NFL Alumni chapter in Pittsburgh. Kalis played for the Steelers in the late 1980s and early 1990s and finished his football career with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1995.
Kalis said clay shooting events are held across the country by NFL Alumni groups, but this is only the second one held by the Pittsburgh group. Last year they raised $6,000 and the shoot was held at Nemacolin Woodlands in Fayette County, Pa.
Kalis said they moved it to Lawrence County because it is in the heart of the Moraine Trails Council, which includes Lawrence, Butler and Armstrong counties and a small portion of Westmoreland County.
Rich McCartney of the Moraine Trails Boy Scout Council said the funds raised will benefit the 5,000 Boy Scouts in the council.
McCartney said the idea for the shoot started a few years ago when Kalis joined the Boy Scout council’s executive board.
“We really appreciate the NFL Alumni’s interest in young people and their willingness to support the program,” McCartney said.
The shoot drew participants from various part of Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Gordon Scull and David Ruggles of Boardman were part of the morning shoot.
Ruggles and Scull said that they are shooting enthusiasts and that it’s even better when they can participate in their sport and help a cause.
Bob Watson of Slippery Rock, Pa., who recently retired as vice president for student life at Slippery Rock University, agreed.
“I love it. These are just great people, a great experience and it’s a great cause,” Watson said.
cioffi@vindy.com