A sold-out field of golfers will hit Osprey Links in Callander this weekend for the Shane McLeod Memorial Golf Tournament, with proceeds supporting programs run by the Nipissing Association for Disabled Youth
Former Maple Leaf Doug “Killer” Gilmour and former Edmonton Oiler Mike “Kruzer” Krushelnyski headline the 16th annual Shane McLeod Memorial Golf Tournament this weekend at Osprey Links in Callander.
Gilmour played 20 seasons in the NHL for seven different teams. Krushelnyski won three Stanley Cups as a player with the Edmonton Oilers and one as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings.
Proceeds go to the Nipissing Association for Disabled Youth. (NADY)
President Jim Stewart tells BayToday that last year’s two-day tournament raised a “jaw-dropping” $100,000.
“If that doesn’t leave one speechless, I don’t know what does,” said Stewart.
The very first tournament raised around $1,400.
The tournament is in honour of Shane McLeod, who was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a condition involving excess fluid in the brain, when he was just six months old. By the age of nine, his family learned he was blind in one eye and had limited vision in the other. He died in 2010 at the age of 37 from a heart attack.
The tournament is run through family member Matt McLeod and co-chairman Bill Antler through Gen 7 gas stations.
See: ‘A fun memory of Shane’: Memorial golf tournament raises over $70K
Stewart says NADY started with a core group of some disabled individuals and their families trying to make life better for themselves and their families and now works in conjunction with one kid’s place. They run a summer day program, and in the wintertime, a weekly Saturday program.
“We also help with things like horseback riding and the Nipissing Trackers disabled ski program at Laurentian Ski Hill. We pay One Kid’s Place to coordinate and run it professionally.”
The tournament has proven extremely popular, and was sold out in February.
“It’s a tight community,” explains Stewart. “This golf tournament has become more of a family reunion for so many people. It’s not a very competitive thing. They’re just having fun.”