Local golfers will have the chance to spend the day on the greens at Burningtree Country Club, have lunch with a college football legend and raise some money for a great cause Monday, Aug. 30.
The annual NAIFA-Tennessee Valley Golf Tournament, a four-man scramble, will benefit the John Mark Stallings Special Needs Accessible Playground of Morgan County.
Players in the scramble will tee-off at 7:30 p.m.
The entry fee for the tournament is $500 to sponsor a team, sponsor a hole and includes the luncheon and a sign.
The fee is $400 for a team with no sponsor.
Lunch-only tickets will be sold for $50.
The luncheon will include former University of Alabama head football coach Gene Stallings, who led the Crimson Tide to a national championship in 1992.
The SNAP playground is named for Stallings’ special needs son who touched man across the country.
For golf and luncheon tickets or more information, call the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce at (256) 353-5312 or the Hartselle Chamber of Commerce at (256) 773-4370.
Tragic loss: T.R. Miller High School principal Donnie Rotch was killed last week in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 31 near Brewton.
Rotch joined the T.R. Miller coaching staff in 1974 and spent 18 years as an assistant football coach and baseball coach. He also served the Alabama High School Athletic Association as a basketball official.
Rotch was a part of two championship teams (1984 and 1991) at T.R. Miller and saw the program win three more (1994, 2000 and 2002) as an administrator.
“This is such sad news,” said AHSAA executive director Steve Savarese. “We all respected him very much. Mr. Rotch was one of the state’s great educators of his time. I know his wife and family, the city and school community are devastated. Our prayers and thoughts go out to them at this time. He has meant so much to the children of Brewton and to the AHSAA. His contributions to this organization and this state will be long remembered.”

Sports editor Todd Thompson can be reached at 773-6566 or at todd.thompson@hartselleenquirer.com