Rams football booster club organizing benefit golf tourney

The Maricopa Rams Football Booster Club has high aspirations for its upcoming golf tournament fundraiser.

The club, which donates its proceeds to the Maricopa High School football program, is aiming to register 18 sponsors and 144 golfers to participate in the first Maricopa Rams Football Golf Tournament, scheduled for Aug. 28 at The Duke at Rancho El Dorado.

“We’re hoping to get the community involved,” said booster club member Mary Wilson, who is helping to coordinate the event. “We are looking to raise anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000.”

Golfers and sponsors can sign up for the tournament until the Aug. 21 registration deadline at www.maricopafootball.com. More information on sponsorships can be obtained by calling Wilson at 602-525-2494 or Marty Diehl at 520-431-2485.

Tournament entry fees of $65 per golfer or $260 per foursome include cart, golf and lunch. The tee time is 7:30 a.m. for the Aug. 28 tournament, with check-in beginning at 6:30 a.m. at The Duke at Rancho El Dorado, 42660 W. Rancho El Dorado Parkway.

As of Saturday afternoon, Wilson said the booster club had obtained commitments from four sponsors and was hoping to register 14 additional organizations to lend their names and financial support to the event. Among those already signed on is Henry Brown Automotive, a Casa Grande dealership that is sponsoring a hole-in-one contest.

Among the available packages are $500 hole sponsorships, which include one foursome, a company green sign and a 2-by-3 banner that will be displayed at the Maricopa football stadium during every game this season.

Also available are $250 driving range, putting green or food sponsorships, which include a company green sign and a 2-by-3 banner that will be displayed at the football stadium this season.

Organizations also can donate items for the raffle and silent auction that will be held at the tournament.

All money raised will go directly toward providing equipment and training for the high school football program. Booster club members are working to establish the golf tournament as an annual tradition, as part of what they are envisioning as a new and successful era of Maricopa football under the leadership of first-year head coach Cory Nenaber.

“We feel like this is a new beginning for the Maricopa School District,” Wilson said. “We’re really excited about Coach Nenaber. He has done an awesome job, and we haven’t even started school yet. He is going to be a really good asset for Maricopa football.”

Two weeks ago, Nenaber took 42 players to Snowflake for the four-day Champion Mountain Football Camp. The booster club paid for half of the trip’s expenses.

Besides working to organize the upcoming golf tournament, the booster club also is looking forward to the football team’s annual Red-Black Soda Scrimmage on Aug. 26. Fans who attend the scrimmage are asked to donate 12-packs of soda, which the booster club will re-sell at football games throughout the season. Fans also can donate bottled water or sports drinks.

“We’re just trying to get the community more involved for our golf tournament and our home games,” Wilson said.

File photo