Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University will host the second annual FORE Ouachita golf tournament on Monday, Oct. 18, at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. Proceeds from this tournament will go to help fund athletic scholarships at Ouachita.

Approximately 150 participants are registered to compete in the four-man scramble, much like last year’s inaugural tournament, which raised more than $60,000.

“The 2009 tournament was the first one, and we've tried to capitalize on the success of our first event,” said Chris Babb, the Ouachita development officer who serves as staff coordinator for the event. “We are planning to do a similar tournament in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in May of 2011, so hopefully together the two might approach $100,000.”

The tournament serves as more than simply a fund-raising effort, Babb said. “On the alumni side of things, a lot of alums are using the tournament for two reasons—to help support athletics, but also to help introduce new people to Ouachita.

“We take for granted that people are familiar with Ouachita in general, but there are a lot of people who haven't heard about it, much less really familiar with it,” said Babb, who also serves as Ouachita’s external director of alumni. “Sponsors fill their teams with four people, and a lot of those who are alums use this as an opportunity to bring those people who aren't familiar with our university.”

The tournament is organized with the help of a steering committee of nearly 20 Ouachita alumni from central Arkansas. Kevin Crass of Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP, serves as chairman this year. Crass was a 1981 Ouachita graduate and former Tiger basketball player under Coach Bill Vining.

Each tournament participant will receive a Ouachita golf shirt compliments of Print Mania in Arkadelphia, a sleeve of Ouachita logo golf balls and a pair of Ouachita sunglasses courtesy of Jenkins Enterprises in North Little Rock. Also, each golfer will have a chance to win prizes on designated hole-in-one holes. Available hole-in-one prizes include a car from Teague Motors of El Dorado and a trip to Hawaii compliments of Tropical Smoothie on Cantrell Road in Little Rock.

For more information, including a list of the more than 30 corporate sponsors, visit www.obu.edu/fore or contact Chris Babb at [email protected] or (870) 245-4274.