The 18 FORE Life Banquet will return June 4 to its traditional in-person format at the Dexter Elks Lodge. The next day on June 5 the annual golf tournament will take place at Hidden Trails Country Club. The charity will not only be celebrating its 20th anniversary, but will surpass $3 million in love offerings as well.
“We are proud of that; we hit $1 million and it seemed to take several years to hit $1 million sent out in love offerings, then $2 million happened pretty quick,” said Scott Kruse, one of the founders of the charity. “Now $3 million, when I look at that number it kinda blows my mind. We sent out $3 million in love offering, that’s why we do it. Until they tell us there is a cure for cancer we are going to push for $4 million.”
Kruse said attendance will be lowered slightly to help with COVID-19 regulations still in place, but he said there will not be a noticeable difference. This year the banquet will be highlighted by local cancer survivor Darrell Orr and Super Bowl champion head coach Dick Vermeil.
Kruse said they went into the planning for this year’s event not knowing what restrictions would be in place due to COVID-19 at the Elks Lodge. Despite the unknown Kruse said Vermeil said he is ready to be in front of people again. Kruse also stated that Vermeil has been great to work with in the planning of the banquet. Kruse indicated that Vermeil may stay in the area for a few days to sightsee.
“We have been blessed with a lot of great speakers and none of them have disappointed us by being great human beings either,” said Kruse. “It has not been a letdown and I don’t think this will be a letdown at all. I think it will be a wonderful message and he seems like a genuinely great guy.”
It is not known at this time if Vermeil will participate in the golf tournament, although Kruse suspects he will make an appearance at the tournament.
The local cancer survivor who will speak is Darrell Orr. Kruse calls the individuals fighting cancer and those who beat cancer heroes.
“He is funny, he is a fighter, he has beaten cancer, his wife (Diana) has beaten cancer,” said Kruse. “I just feel like his message is going to fall in line with what we are used to hearing. It is set up to be a really great night.”
The 18 FORE Life charity was founded in 2000 by Scott and his brother Ben and two of their friends. It originally started out as a day on the golf course.
Kruse said they decided if they could make any money at all it would be a little fundraiser, send it in to the charity and call it a fun afternoon. The original charity chosen for the money raised was the V Foundation, a cancer research foundation named for late college basketball coach Jim Valvano.
After two years Kruse said they realized they needed to keep the money local. Kruse stated in their biggest tournament in the first four years they raised $54,000 and they never thought it would grow that large. It has only grown larger.
The banquet was added in the fifth year of the charity. The year prior Kruse said he and Ben started talking about adding something to the tournament. Their father, Charles Kruse, was a good friend of former Missouri basketball coach Norm Stewart at the time. Scott said his his brother suggested his father ask Stewart to come play in the golf tournament. Stewart became the speaker at the first banquet 16 years ago. Ben played in the first four golf tournaments and the banquet became a reality after his death.
This year will mark the 20th golf tournament and it has grown bigger than Kruse could have dreamed.
“I think we started it mainly to have a party and have a good time,” said Kruse. “But we knew if we did that we would raise money. We knew that would happen. We were like if we do something good then something good would happen.”
“Sure enough 20 years later we are still doing the same thing and it is such a great time,” said Kruse. “We have got such a focused goal of raising money for people fighting cancer. We dreamed up this, though.”
The tournament has a full complement of 89 teams. Kruse said 35 teams will play in the morning and 54 in the afternoon. Kruse said he has a waiting list of teams, should someone be unable to play.
An auction will again be held at the banquet and one at the golf course. Kruse said John Barge, who recently passed away, will be honored this year. Kruse said Barge, who was the club pro at the country club when the tournament started, was instrumental in getting the tournament going at Hidden Trails.
Kruse explained that a lot of country clubs do not want that many teams on the course in one day due to wear and tear on the course but Barge was all for it. The Barge family will be donating items for the auction at the banquet.
All of the proceeds from the event go to area families fighting cancer. Kruse said the charity will also help individuals out of state. Such as if a local family has a member living out of state, the charity will help them as well.
Kruse offered a special thank you to Mathis Funeral Home for stepping in and giving the charity a way to hold a virtual banquet in 2020. Kruse explained that last year in a way became like the first year of the event as far as planning. He said they didn’t know what they were doing because of COVID-19 regulations it was unknown if the banquet or golf tournament would take place. A virtual banquet was streamed from the Mathis Funeral Home Chapel and a golf tournament took place the next day at Hidden Trails Country Club with safety measures in place.
“I think COVID-19 showed you, me and everybody there was some things we took for granted would always be there,” said Kruse. “And that (the banquet) was one of them for me. I got robbed of that night but the backup plan was a good plan.”
“Everyone seems super excited,” said Kruse. “It is just another thing that will hopefully feel normal. Everyone is excited, real excited. It filling up fast but there are tickets still available.”