By Cliff Nichols
MORGANTOWN — Bill Stewart doesn’t take his role as honorary chairman for the Brian Jozwiak & Pepsi Celebrity Golf Classic lightly.
For West Virginia University’s head football coach, the mission of the June 26 event at Green Hills Country Club is personal.
Last fall, before the Mountaineers’ game with Auburn, Stewart’s son Blaine suffered a badly broken arm during a junior high football game. Stewart spent several hours that night at West Virginia University Children’s Hospital — the benefactor of the tournament founded by former WVU All-America lineman Jozwiak in 1991.
“That’s a broken arm. That will mend. We hope the Good Lord will help it mend,” Stewart said. “When I went down that hall to my left and down that hall to my right, it was a tough walk. ... My gosh, how blessed we are to be healthy.
“To have this opportunity to help in any small way, I’m just honored and thrilled.”
The Jozwiak tournament has raised more than $210,000 for WVU Children’s Hospital in the past 18 years, according to Andrea Parsons, development officer at the hospital. Jozwiak returns each summer from Florida to remain personally involved with the event.
Proceeds from WVU’s spring football game, under a tradition started by coach Don Nehlen and continued by Rich Rodriguez and Stewart, also go to the hospital.
“Just to be a small part of that is a great feeling,” Stewart said.
The tournament, which will get under way at noon Friday, June 26, is a six-man scramble with one celebrity per team.
The day starts with lunch at 10:30 a.m., and a dinner and awards ceremony is held after the 18-hole event. Beverages are served on the course throughout the day.
The fee is $150 per person or $1,000 per corporate team (five players and one celebrity). Stewart will be among the celebrity participants.
Among the contests are $10,000 for a hole-in-one, $1,000 for being within 12 inches of a hole in one, a challenge to beat coach Stewart’s drive and a $10,000 putting contest.
Information is available from chairman Scott Sears (304-376-3681), Lora Edgell (304-598-4346, extension 2) or Andrea Parsons (304-598-4346, extension 25).
The deadline to enter and pay fees is June 12.
Another part of the summer’s activities set up by Jozwiak, a consensus All-American at WVU in 1985 and first-round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1986, will be the first-ever “Jozwiak’s Maniacs” football academy for offensive and defensive lineman, which will be held at University High School on June 20 and is open to all football players about to enter the seventh through 12th grades.
Not only will area players get the benefit of Jozwiak’s and other former NFL and college player’s instructions, but they will also participate in standard tests given to players — bench press, vertical jump, long jump, 3-cone drill, pro agility shuttle and a timed 40-yard dash.
Early registration for the clinic is $75 with the fee rising to $100 after May 29. Again, the event will benefit WVU Children’s Hospital, a relationship Jozwiak forged when he was a Mountaineer under Nehlen.
Registration forms are available at www.SportsWeave .com/combines/index.html.
E-mail Cliff Nichols at cnichols@timeswv.com.
