Annual Kevin Turner Golf Tourney set for June 14 with Shultz as guest host
Former Alabama center Roger Shultz has been tabbed as the guest host for the 24th annual Kevin Turner Golf Tournament on June 14 at RTJ Prattville. (Courtesy Paul W. Bryant Museum)
By TIM GAYLE
PRATTVILLE – Former University of Alabama center Roger Shultz will be the guest host for the 24th annual Kevin Turner Golf Tournament on June 14 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill, Prattville YMCA officials announced.
“This is going to be the 24th and when I think of 24, I think of Kevin Turner,” said Shultz, referring to Turner’s jersey number. “Just to be the guest host is an honor. I’m just so thankful they thought of me.”
Shultz, an all-Southeastern Conference selection at center for Bill Curry in 1989 and Gene Stallings in 1990, has been employed for the past five years for Republic Services, a waste management service and recycling center, but spent the previous 25 years in a variety of sports-related roles, including as an assistant coach at the high school and collegiate levels and as an administrator at the collegiate level. He is probably best known for his role as a radio analyst for Troy University and Huntingdon College and as a sports talk radio host for various outlets throughout the state, including his own Sunday show “In the Trenches” with former Auburn quarterback Stan White.
“We are excited to have Roger as our guest host this year,” said Prattville YMCA Assistant General Director Keith Cantrell, who initiated the tournament in 1998. “Roger was a teammate of Kevin and he knew him well. What makes Roger so exciting to have is he such a fun, outgoing person. He is a bigger-than-life personality, loves people and loves telling stories. He is well known all around the state, not just for football but for his work in radio and, of course, his time on the TV show ‘The Biggest Loser.’ I know everyone will enjoy meeting him. I just hope we are able to get all the way around all three courses!!
Turner, a Prattville native who starred at Alabama and in the NFL for eight years, loaned his name to the tournament after participating in sports at the YMCA in his early years and attended the event before his battle with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, led to his untimely passing in March, 2016. He made a brief appearance at the 2015 tournament with guest host Gary Hollingsworth, a former Alabama quarterback and teammate of Turner. After Turner’s death, the Turner family was honored as the second guest host.
Since then, the tournament has had former Turner teammates as guest hosts, including Siran Stacy in 2017, Antonio Langham (along with Andrew Zow) in 2018, Sherman Williams in 2019 and Martin Houston in 2020.
“First of all, he’s probably one of the greatest teammates ever,” Shultz said of Turner. “He was a tough guy, but nobody outworked him. He was focused, he was a leader. He was a great teammate.”
Proceeds from the tournament help fund the Coach A Child campaign which provides financial aid to make YMCA services available to all persons regardless of their inability to pay. Last year, the Prattville YMCA provided financial aid to more than 2,500 individuals, many of them children, at a cost of more than $185,000. This year, the goal is to raise $218,000 through the Coach A Child Fund Campaign.
“Kevin loved the Prattville YMCA and he loved all the things that the Y was able to do,” Cantrell said. “And he wanted to make sure that nobody was turned away due to their inability to pay so we started this tournament to raise money for the YMCA Coach A Child Scholarship Fund. To date, more than $700,000 has been raised through the work of this tournament.
“The Prattville YMCA was a big part of Kevin’s life. He wanted others to have the same enjoyment he had, growing up and coming to the Y. For some, the YMCA seems impossible. This tournament is one of the things that makes the YMCA possible for everyone.”
The golf tournament is in its sixth year at RTJ Capitol Hill after spending the first 18 years at the Prattville Country Club. The tournament will move back to its customary June date after moving to September last year because of coronavirus concerns. It also will feature teams on all three Capitol Hill courses in 2021 after construction work limited the event to two courses last year.
Several sponsorship levels remain available. All teams will be provided lunch, beginning at 11 a.m., prior to the 1 p.m. shotgun start and will have the opportunity to have their picture made with Shultz. For more information or to sign up your team to participate in the tournament, contact Cantrell at (334) 358-9622 or e-mail him at kcantrell@prattvilleymca.org