The Chancellor’s Golf Tournament has surpassed the $1 million mark with its 22nd annual outing on Wednesday, Sept. 22 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Capitol Hill.
“We set that goal a number of years ago and we dedicated the money to support forever our ministry for student athletes,” Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr. said. “The accomplishment today allows us to expect this fund to exist forever.”
The Troy University Foundation’s John W. Schmidt Student Ministries Fund, the tournament’s beneficiary, supports faith-based programs for students and student-athletes at TROY.
In addition to reaching a fundraising milestone, this year’s tournament set a record for the largest number of teams – 40 in all hit the links in support of student ministries.
“Many of our teams have been a part of this every year, and it continues to grow,” said Hawkins. “That tells us that there is a lot of spirit among the Trojan family and a lot of loyalty not only to the University but also to what we plan to do and continue to do with the funds this event raises.”
Named in honor of long-time Senior Vice Chancellor Dr. John Schmidt, Dr. Hawkins said the $1 million corpus would not be spent, but rather earnings from its investment would be used to support student missions in perpetuity.
“Most things at TROY begin with a vision, and ‘big ideas’ get you excited. We knew we would one day reach the goal, but, frankly, we’ve reached it more quickly than we ever expected,” Hawkins said.
“This is a living testament to what all of you believe in and have contributed to,” Hawkins told the golfers before a 1 p.m. tee-off, “and now it will be a living testament to John W. Schmidt – he has many titles, but he’s a wonderful, wonderful example for all us and the role model we want our students to emulate.”
When all pledges are collected, this year’s tournament will have raised more than $50,000 for the fund.
