St. Jude Golf Tournament Honors Binghamton Basketball Official

In February, 98.1 the Hawk participated in its 4th Country Cares for St. Jude event and we raised over $50,000 in two days. That was outstanding especially considering that we were in the midst of a pandemic and we owe it ALL to our listeners and friends.

Even though that event is over, you can still help us by donating to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital here because we won't stop until no child dies from cancer. There is another way that you can help this awesome organization, but first this story.

A friend and fellow basketball official, Chris Haynes was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in May 2019. He was treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

While he was there he saw many kids being treated for their various cancers and right then and there, he wanted to make a difference and have something good come from his illness. He decided that he wanted to help the kids that had insufficient or no insurance.

He started to put together a golf tournament hosted by our International Association of Approved Basketball Officials Board 49. Chris was going to donate all the net proceeds from the tournament to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Sadly, less than a year after being diagnosed with leukemia, he lost his life.

Our basketball board decided to take up his cause and honor him by continuing the golf tournament. It was scheduled for October 11th, 2020 but like everything else during the pandemic, it was postponed and that's where you come in.

Chris Haynes Memorial St. Jude Golf Tournament

The Chris Haynes Memorial St. Jude Golf Tournament will be held at the Traditions at the Glen in Johnson City on Sunday, June 27th with an 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. shotgun start. Many of my fellow basketball officials and coaches will be participating in this event.

This golf tournament is open to anyone that wants to honor Chris or anyone else that has been affected by cancer. We hope that you will join us FORE this great cause. It's only $80.00 per golfer and you can contact Brian Jester by text at 607 544 4500 or e-mail him at BJester@Binghamton.EDU.

I want to say thank you to everyone that has been involved in putting this event together in Chris's memory. Also a special THANK YOU to Chris Haynes (and his family) for thinking of others even while he was fighting this dreaded disease.