University of Tennessee Athletics
Dave Serrano Golf Classic Raises the Bar
September 20, 2015 | Baseball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Second Annual Dave Serrano Golf Classic, presented by Regal Entertainment Group, teed off at Egwani Farms Golf Course on Friday, with more than 130 tournament participants helping raise funds and awareness for Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee.
Following a successful inaugural event in 2014, Tennessee Baseball Head Coach Dave Serrano was even more pleased with this year’s results. Serrano, who has also served on the board for Big Brothers Big Sisters, credited the local community members, sponsorship partners, former Vol Baseball players and participants for making the second-year event a success.
“The contributions from this tournament will help so many of our youth individuals around East Tennessee,” Serrano said. “Last year, we impacted 24 or 25 kids in the East Tennessee area and that makes me extremely happy. I hope the participants left with the feeling that they took part of their day and made an impact on young lives.”
Doug Kose, chief executive officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, was among the first to thank tournament participants with Serrano. For Kose and the nonprofit organization, the Dave Serrano Classic not only helps raise awareness for their cause, but can help fund Big Brother Big Sister matches for up to one year.
“It’s been a great second year,” Kose said. “We have had the opportunity to expose these 130 golfers - who may or may not know about us – to the organization. In the end, hopefully we can recruit some volunteers to be involved.
“Surely, we’ve raised the bar from last year to this year. We’ll be able to match up to 35 kids who otherwise have been on our waiting list. We can now financially support them through our staff and our resources because of the Dave Serrano Golf Classic and we’re thrilled with those results.”
Joining the tournament volunteers, the current Tennessee Baseball team lent a hand to assist with everything from parking to carrying clubs for tournament golfers. Former Vols also donated their time on Friday, as VFLs Michael Rivera, Brad Love and Beau Massey also played the course for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“I think this is a great thing that Dave [Serrano] does for the community,” Rivera said. “The baseball community here is very close and it’s fun for us older guys to meet the younger guys and new people. We hope we help carry on the tradition of giving back and being a part of the tournament itself is just an extra plus.”
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