The Art Shell UMES Celebrity Golf Tournament is getting into full swing as sports celebrities are filling the line-up for the June 11 event. Players tee off at 8 a.m. at Great Hope Golf Course in Westover, Md.
Local golfers can join pro football Hall of Famer and University of Maryland Eastern Shore alumnus Art Shell in raising scholarship funds for the university’s Athletic and PGA-accredited Golf Management programs.
Professional international long drive competitor Maurice Allen appears in the event’s 2014 edition for an exhibition prior to the day’s shotgun start. Allen holds the World Guinness Record (2012) for the fastest golf drive at 211 mph using a fairway wood. His best hit is 453 yards achieved at the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship in Mesquite last year.
Among the 35 sports celebrities hitting the greens with Shell (former Oakland Raiders offensive tackle and two-time head coach) are fellow Super Bowl winners and UMES (formerly Maryland State College) alumni Emerson Boozer and Earl Christy, both New York Jets greats. Two-time Super Bowl winners Raleigh McKenzie and Clarence Vaughn, who both played with the Washington Redskins, will also join the line-up.
Shell, who was inducted in this year’s College Football Hall of Fame, is joined by other members Boozer, Roger Brown (Det. Lions), Lydell Mitchell (Balt. Colts) and Bruce Taylor (S.F. 49ers).
A golf great always on hand for the cause is James Black, the first black golfer to shoot a 67 in a pro tournament—his PGA Tour debut in 1964. Black’s appearance is fitting in concert with his interest in youth and golf.
UMES’ event features junior golf clinics June 9 and a Junior Golf Tournament June 10 as a way “to introduce them to the course of study at the university,” tournament director Marshall Cropper, said. UMES is one of 19 colleges in the nation with the PGA-sanctioned major, and the only one at a historically black institution.
Registration, which includes 18 holes of golf with a celebrity, a pre-game mixer, food and beverages on the course, an awards dinner and commemorative gifts, is $200 per person and $750 for a foursome. Don’t play golf, but want to join in the fun? Tickets for the pre-game mixer are $50 per person or $500 for a table of ten.
Visit www.umes.edu, call 410-651-8045 or email ArtShellGolfClassic@umes.edu to register or for more information.
