by Jeanne Brei

The 26th annual edition of the Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic, organized and produced in the time of COVID, created special challenges and yet it remained a resounding success.  The RSMGC Board, in consideration of the challenges faced by everyone in our industry, decided to turn back the clocks for this year’s event.  This year’s golf classic took place on Sept. 28 at Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth, Ga., with 120 golfers (pictured above) as sponsor and golf participation rates were reduced by 50 percent. In addition, due to this year’s lockdown, the RSMGC Board invited those who couldn’t make the Atlanta Randy in person to be part of this year’s event by playing golf in their home town on Sept. 28 as part of I AM THE RANDY—and 30 golfers signed up to play in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas and Minnesota.

The EDPA Great Lakes hosted their first ever charity golf outing (pictured right) with 24 participants and Kevin Sacharski, Vizcomm director of sales/EDPA Great Lakes chapter president says, “the chapter hosted a ‘satellite’ golf outing to benefit The Randy Smith Memorial Foundation at Mystic Creek Golf Course in Milford, Mich., and despite the rain, everyone had an absolute blast. It was excellent to see some of the most hard-working and creative people in our industry get together for a day of fun, camaraderie and charity.”

The EDPA Las Vegas chapter had 15 golfers in a mini best ball tournament (photo collage from Las Vegas pictured left). The winning team in Las Vegas was Bryan Kenny and John Lopez (Derse) and Bernie Massett (MC2) with a score of 64. The  longest drive was made by Madison Kirkpatrick and closest to the pin was Cindy Brosnahan.

According to EDPA Las Vegas chapter board member Rebecca Thompson, “Both Alicia Rosen and I were there to represent the chapter and cheer on the participants. It was a beautiful day weather wise and truly wonderful to catch up with industry friends, topped off by a zoom call with the many other supporters around the country,” adding, “a special note—my daughter Madison played in the last Vegas Randy and happened to be home for a little visit from UNR. Her golf partner today was Ret. Sgt. Zack Marsh who saved her life 15 years ago.”

The EDPA Midwest chapter played at the Top Golf in Schaumburg, Ill. Sho-Link was well represented and posted their photos on Facebook (per the #IAMRANDY instructions). Photo collage (pictured right) includes Sho-Link’s (L-R) Nancy Virene and Colleen Johnson.

The objective of the Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic, a/k/a “The Randy,” is to help families in the exhibition industry who have suffered severe tragedies or face insurmountable medical expenses. The commitment of the Randy is to provide financial and emotional support to all past and present recipients and their families. The RSMGC Board of Directors review and decide on who will become the beneficiaries of the events funds and have granted 95 percent of officially received assistance requests. To date they have provided more than $1 million in assistance to more than 150 tradeshow families. This year’s recipients were the families of:

• Willie Medina, carpenter
• Jose Corrilo, Exhibitus
• Ralph Werner, Centerpoint Marketing
• Jeff Houghtaling, fiance of Cyndi Castro, Featherlite
• Bill Medve, COO, MC2
• Kraig Shetler, EES Booth Traffic
• Rich Rebecky, Coastal International
• Bruce Cantwell, Almighty Solutions
• Gordon “Grizz” Cartwright, truck driver
• Shane Hall, husband of Julie Hall, Myndshare
• Don Bendickson, Dimensional Display
• Greg Thomas, Nth Degree
• Mike Olmstead, Jack Morton Worldwide

Golfers in Georgia included:

Robert Laarhoven        beMatrix USA
Kyle Lucken                   beMatrix USA
Matt Kelly                      Brumark
Dave Walens                 Brumark
Steve Woodruff            Brumark
James Zacharias          Brumark
Durl Jensen                  CDI USA
Gary Nolan                   CDI USA
Jay Subers                    CDI USA
Steve Peck                     CORT
Rob Packer                   Czarnowski
Bob Sterwerf                Czarnowski
Brad Meyer                  Derse
Shashin Patel              Derse
Eric Preston                Derse
Dan Serebin                Derse
TBD                              Displayit
Rick Bufkin                 e4 Design
Ian Harvie                   e4 Design
Lance Wachholz        e4 Design
Zach Wachholz          e4 Design
Dave Flory                  EDPA
Alan Kloor                  Fusion Creative
Joe Hawkins              Lancaster Management

Lexy Lancaster           Lancaster Management
Patrick Lancaster      Lancaster Management
Jerry LeBlanc             Lancaster Management
Brian Pearce              Lancaster Management
Cara Roach                Lancaster Management
Matt Wilcox               Lancaster Management
Bo Zimmerman         Lancaster Management
Steven Griffith           Nationwide Displays
Norm Friedrich         Octanorm USA
Alex Hill                      Optima Graphics
Gina Porcaro              Optima Graphics
Reid Sherwood          Optima Graphics
Frank McCrary          Quantum Expo
Patrick McGuire        Quantum Expo
Butch Melton             Quantum Expo
Joe Randall                Quantum Expo
Russell Callahan       Quest Events
Chris Sampers           Sampers Financial
Mike Haren                Sho-Link
Joe O’Reilly                Sho-Link
Scott Rudel                 Sho-Link
Rob West                    Sho-Link
Philip Fulmer            Tennessee Vols
D. Hollingsworth      Tennessee Vols
Johnny Majors          Tennessee Vols
Nick McCarty             Tennessee Vols
Jason Tatum              Tennessee Vols
MIke Tatum               Tennessee Vols
Neil Tatum                 Tennessee Vols
Steve Worsham         Tennessee Vols
Tom Paciorek            White Sox
Mike Morrison          WS Display
Cindi Cody                 Xzibits, Inc.

as well as:

Mike Boone                Coastal International
Joe Fugaro                  Coastal International
Bruce Green               Coastal International
Scott Latham             Coastal International
Chris Griffin               Crew XP
Dan Griffin                 Crew XP
Katie Winslow           Czarnowski
Alex Wurm                 EACA
CJ Wurm                    EACA
Jim Wurm                  EACA
Stacy Barnes              Eagle Management
David Holloway        Eagle Management
Dasher Lowe             EDPA
Todd Bugg                 Exhibitus
Mike Edwards          Exhibitus
Brad Falberg             Exhibitus
Renee Grubbs           Exhibitus
Hendrik Lenze          Exhibitus
Brian Long                 Exhibitus
Dan Parisi                  Exhibitus
Michael McMahon   Hill & Partners
Dennis Church          MC2
Ben Lewis                   MC2
Chris Kowalczyk       MC2
John Walsh.              MC2
Randy Bott.               Momentum Management
John Ramaglia         Momentum Management
Glen Ruggiero          Momentum Management
Patti Wilder              Momentum Management
Ed Cortez                  NA
Ted Lesniak              NA
Mike Metzger           NA
Jeddy Smith             NA
Michael Thomas      NA
John Zimmerman   NA
Scott Bennett           Nth Degree
Jack Berenato          Nth Degree
Steve Daugherty      Nth Degree
Russell Greenway   Nth Degree
Keenan Jung            Nth Degree
Ben Power                Nth Degree
Matthew Little         Nuvista
Chase Miller             Planmark Financial
Scott Shelley             Planmark Financial
Mark Winston          Planmark Financial
Rodney Brannon     PRG
Kyle Henderson       Renaissance Management
Rich Johnson           Renaissance Management
Steve Johnson          Renaissance Management
Gentry Williams       Renaissance Management

The golfers throughout the country that played on Sept. 28 for I AM THE RANDY, included:

BOSTON
Rob Cohen                Display Supply & Lighting

CHICAGO
Jackie Hake              Lighthouse Exh.
Carrie Fisk                NA
Colleen Johnson      Sho-Link
Jean Keefe                Sho-Link
Nancy Virene           Sho-Link

DETROIT
Kirk Brein               EEI Global
Larry Dziurman    EEI Global 
Sandor Koteles      EEI Global 
BJ Mazmanian      EEI Global
Matt Wehrly          EEI Global 
Tim Jones              EEI Global 
Jeff Hrabovsky     EEI Global 
Kevin Sacharski    Vizcom 
Lance DeJong       Vizcom 
Jason Parkes        Vizcom 
Don Mascot          4 Wall 
Lisa O’Neill           4 Wall 
Matt Rocha           4 Wall 
Bev Rocha             4 Wall 
Gentry Smith        McNabb 
Aaron Peterson     McNabb 
Aaron Smith          McNabb
Jake Simmons       McNabb
Todd Woods          Independent Graphic Services 
Rick Reigler           Independent Graphic Services 
Jeff King                 Independent Graphic Services 
Todd Mickles         Independent Graphic Services 
Jen Eades                CORT
Leslie Thompson   Smart Step Floor

LAS VEGAS 
Bryan Kenny                  Derse
John Lopez                     Derse
Bernie Massett               MC2 
Ben Buranek                  Renaissance Mgmt 
Jim Martin                     Renaissance Mgmt 
Bill Muller                      Renaissance Mgmt 
Doug Stone                     Renaissance Mgmt 
Madison Kirkpatrick
Cindy Brosnahan

MINNESOTA
John Pavek                   Exhibitor

If you missed playing Sept. 28 in Georgia or your home town, the annual EDPA Northeast “The Classic” golf tournament has transitioned to a virtual event running from Oct. 1-16, with a post-event Zoom call on Oct. 19. The Northeast chapter’s 2020 Virtual “The Classic” will include two different tournaments in one. This will allow everyone to participate from the serious golfer to the completely not serious as all! They will simultaneously hold a traditional “Best Ball” tournament as well as a traditional mini-golf stroke play tournament. Rather than getting together at Shaker Hills Country club, registrants for the “Best Ball” tournament will golf at the course of their choice during the tournament schedule either alone OR with their team of 2-4 players. At the same time, registrants for the mini-golf stroke play tournament will play as singles at any mini-golf course of their choice. Post-Event Zoom Call to be scheduled the week of 10/19 for awards and information. Check out the registration link for full details at http://edpanortheast.com/events/2020/9/14/2020-the-classic-annual-golf-tournament

The objective of the Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic is to help families in the exhibition industry who have suffered severe tragedies or face insurmountable medical expenses. Their commitment is to provide financial and emotional support to all past and present recipients and their families. For more info, visit rsmgc.org.