Record number of golfers participate in 24th Kevin Turner Tourney
Tournament host Roger Shultz (left) and tournament organizer Keith Cantrell enjoy the day at RTJ in Prattville during the annual Kevin Turner Memorial Golf Tourney. (Tiim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
PRATTVILLE – A record number of golfers turned out on Monday for the 24th annual Kevin Turner Golf Tournament at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill.
Seventy-two teams played golf on all three Capitol Hill courses to honor the legacy of Turner, the former University of Alabama and National Football League fullback who loaned his name to the tournament when it started in 1998.
“It is innate in people to want to help and they want to be a part of something that is bigger than themselves and that is what this tournament has turned out to be,” said Keith Cantrell, YMCA assistant general director an organizer of the event. “Today, it’s about 288 people who are out here playing for a common cause and that is to bless the life of someone else.”
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.
Turner, a Prattville native who starred at Alabama and in the NFL for eight years, 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, Martin Houston in 2020 and Roger Shultz this year.
“I had the opportunity to be at the first one in 1998 at the Prattville Country Club,” Shultz recalled. “I think there were 18 teams and maybe half of the Philadelphia Eagles were down here playing in it. Keith just kept with it. Of course, I haven’t been back out here since then, but I’m 100 pounds lighter than I was then and this thing has grown by about how much weight I’ve lost. It’s unbelievable how many teams are out here to show support.
“It just says a lot about how Prattville feels about Kevin, but also about how Prattville feels about the YMCA and giving back to their community.”
Shultz, who was recruited to Alabama by then-coach Ray Perkins before playing for Bill Curry and Gene Stallings, has served as a talk radio host and as a radio analyst for Troy University and Huntingdon College football games. For the past five years, he has worked for Republic Services, a waste management service and recycling center in the Mobile area.
On Monday, his afternoon was busy as he crisscrossed the golf courses to chat with players representing the 72 teams, which was 10 more than the previous high set in 2019.
“When Keith asked me about being the host, I asked, ‘Do I have to play?’ and he said, ‘No,’” Shultz said. “I didn’t want to be the guy that plays one hole (with each team). If all I have to do is run around and take pictures and talk about how wonderful Kevin is and how good the YMCA is, I think I can handle that.”