June 16, 2004

By Adam Lucas, Tar Heel Monthly

As the voice of the Tar Heels, Woody Durham has had access to all of Carolina's top coaches and leaders over the past three decades. He's seen great plays, thrilling victories, crushing losses. But it's something Dean Smith said off the court that prompted Durham to get involved with one of the Triangle's most successful fundraisers.

"For years, I remember Coach Smith saying, 'You can't do everything, but you ought to pick one thing where you can help,'" Durham says.

He's involved in more than he'll admit, but Durham's "one thing" became the Carolina Kids Classic, a charity golf tournament held each summer that has raised nearly $2 million over the past 16 years. This year's edition -- a stone cold sellout -- will be held Thursday at Finley Golf Course, where 128 golfers will pack the greens. The $500 per golfer fees and the support from a handful of corporate sponsors will help this year's event raise almost $200,000, which is split evenly among three groups:

The Ronald McDonald House, which provides a home-away-from-home for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at UNC Hospital.

The North Carolina Children's Hospital, which treats children from all 100 counties. More children have surgery at UNC than anywhere else in the state.

The Childhood Trust -- an outpatient clinical program at UNC Hospital for victims of child abuse that was begun by a gift from Dean and Linnea Smith. Approximately 150 abused children and their families are treated with highly specialized care through the program every year.

The highlight of this year's event will once again come at the pre-tournament lunch, as honorary chairman Dean Smith, who has been with the event for all 16 years, unveils an oversized donation check that will total almost $200,000.

It's not just Carolina's former coach who is involved with the event. Head football coach John Bunting delayed his annual trip to Maine in order to take part, and head basketball coach Roy Williams -- who last year participated despite being in the midst of moving from Lawrence to Chapel Hill -- will also tee off.

The idea for the event was born in the mid-1980s when Durham and Greensboro businessman Mike Haley were on the Ronald McDonald House board of directors. As the group brainstormed for fundraising ideas, the duo hit upon the concept of a golf tournament.

"We knew we didn't want to call 100 people," Haley says. "So we went over to Woody's office, picked 25 committed Carolina people, and called them to ask them to get together a foursome."

Several of those foursomes have played in every tournament since the event's inception. The first year, the Kids Classic made about $25,000. Since then, both the charitable contributions and the size of the tournament--Haley and Durham serve as co-chairs--have grown substantially. The endless support from the Tar Heel community prompts Haley to refer to it as "almost like a Rams Club meeting" because of the Carolina blue-tinted nature of the day.

Haley is heavily involved on the corporate side by trying to track down the necessary corporate sponsors. Durham's tasks are to make sure the event runs flawlessly on the actual day of the tournament, a task he approaches with the same meticulous preparation that he's used on Tar Heel games since 1971.

"I've got a desk full of stuff we're working on for Thursday," he says. "We'll have some late nights. But that doesn't bother me, because every time I start thinking about all the details we need to attend to, I think about each of these organizations getting a check for at least $60,000, and that makes it worthwhile."

For more information on how to participate in the Carolina Kids Classic as a golfer or as a corporate sponsor, contact Jenny Foster at the Ronald McDonald House at 919-913-2040.

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.