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United Way scores an eagle
The United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley has had a who’s who of names offer their time and support over the years — from Kelly Pavlik to Ron Jaworski, Jim Tressel to Urban Meyer.
This year, the charity may have outdone itself.
Billed as an evening with the greatest golfers of all-time, The Lake Club in Poland will host Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam on Wednesday as part of the organization’s largest fund-raiser of the year.
“I feel like Bruce Springsteen’s coming to town,” said Bob Hannon, president of the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. “I’ve been getting so many calls for tickets and I feel bad because I’ve had to turn people down.”
Hannon didn’t mind fielding the requests, especially since they came as a result of an idea he initially considered a long-shot.
The wheels started turning a while back when Hannon approached former PGA professional and East Palestine native Jerry McGee. Hannon asked McGee if he thought Sorenstam would be willing to take part of the event, since his son, Mike, is her husband.
McGee said that wouldn’t be a problem. It was phase two of the plan that required a little more than good fortune.
“As for Nicklaus, Jerry wasn’t so sure since he travels a lot and is such a busy guy,” Hannon said.
Although McGee once was a teammate of Nicklaus’ on the Ryder Cup, he wasn’t sure if the event would be able to get him.
An email to Nicklaus’ publicist followed by a letter to the golfer and Hannon had himself the dream twosome to speak at the event.
“I think what really helped is they both have tremendous respect for each other,” Hannon said. “We were stunned at first, but the great thing about it is that neither asked for anything in return.
“They’re both doing it because of the great work the United Way does.”
As soon as word got out that two golfing legends had agreed to come to the event, the tickets practically sold themselves. Hannon said before he could even put together advertising, they were sold out.
The Lake Club, along with owners Ed and Chris Muransky, will host 500 guests, but as Hannon said, “we could’ve got 1,000 people if we had room.”
“I think we’ll have great stories from that night, because we’re going to sit them down and have them take questions from the audience,” Hannon said. “We’re hoping to go about 45 minutes with that, too.”
As a fund-raiser, Hannon expects this to be the most successful event they’ve had during his time as president. He gives much of the credit to Muransky.
Hannon and the local United Way chapter have their work cut out for them to come up with an encore for next year. Hannon isn’t worried, and says they’ve already got some ideas in the works.
“We’ve been blessed,” Hannon said. “They all do it because that’s the kind of people they are.”