Albany High's Second Annual "Save Our Sports" Golf Tournament, Auction Set for Friday

After successfully raising $44,000 last year, the Albany High School "Save Our Sports" golf tournament and dinner auction is back.

The tournament will be a shotgun start, at 12:30 p.m., on Friday at Tilden Park Golf Course in Berkeley, and will be followed by a dinner auction at Hs Lordships Restaurant at 6 p.m.

The event's goal remains the same as last year: to help offset costs for students to participate in high school athletics.

"The district cut 55 percent of extra curricular money for sports out of the budget last year and we needed to do something to make up for that," said Fred Brown, the event's co-chair.

For $150, participants will receive lunch, dinner and range balls to go along with the cart and greens fee. An additional $50 donation will include raffle tickets, mulligans, a Vegas 2B Hole, a putting contest and a four-flag hole.

Those who would like to be involved, but do not want to play in the tournament, can buy $50 tickets to the auction, which will be run by Mitch Juricich, host of KNBR 680's "Hooked on Golf" show.

"I've done these types of fundraisers for (a long time)," Brown said. "It's hard to go door-to-door looking for donations, but a golf tournament is something people can have fun with."

Brown said the budget for extracurricular activities—including sports—was cut after the 2008-09 school year from around $210,000 to less than $100,000, prompting the need for immediate fundraising.

Each of the high school's roughly 20 sports programs, with the help of parents and coaches, are supposed to provide $1,000 worth of auctions items. Popular items from last year included vacation packages to Disneyland and Cape Cod. 

"The auction is a lot of fun," Brown said. 

It's also important. 

Without efforts such as "Save Our Sports," several of Albany's athletic programs would be in jeopardy of shutting down, Brown said.

"We're doing what we can do make up the difference (in the budget)," Brown said. "The rest of the money is going to have to come from the families."

Albany High, as with several other East Bay schools, will also rely on a "donation fee" from families during the year.

Timeline for Friday's festivities

• 10 a.m. Check In - Lunch
• 12:15 p.m. Meeting with Players
• 12:30 p.m. Tee Time
• 6 p.m. Social Hour Begins at Hs Lordships, Berkeley Marina
• 7 p.m. Dinner (Silent Auction and Raffle)
• 8 p.m. Golf Awards
• 8:30 p.m. Live Auction

Sign up here or, for more information contact: Janet Scaglione at 510-525-6342 or e-mail: janetcmc@pacbell.net. 

Can't come to the dinner but still want to make a donation? Make checks payable to AHS Boosters and mail to Albany Athletic Boosters, 1563 Solano Ave. #289, Berkeley, CA 94706.

See more images of last year's golf tournament here, and see more of Michael Mejia's work at his website.