Bob Rosencrans, Wittenberg class of 1958

Springfield, Ohio — Members of the Wittenberg University and greater Springfield communities will get together on Aug. 7 for the seventh annual Rosy's Golf Outing to honor the legacy of former Tiger student-athlete, coach and athletics department administrator Bob Rosencrans, class of 1958.

Proceeds from the 2009 event, scheduled for 11 a.m. at Windy Knoll Golf Club in Springfield, will be split between the Central and Southern Ohio Chapter of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association, Driving 4 Life and Wittenberg, which will use the money to continue to make improvements in and around the Bob Rosencrans Fitness Center.

Proceeds raised for the Central and Southern Ohio Chapter of the ALS Association are used for research for a cure for the deadly disease, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Rosencrans died of ALS in 2003, just two months after the inaugural Rosy's Golf Outing.

Driving 4 Life is an organization founded by professional golfers Tom Watson and Jeff Julian and Watson's longtime caddie Bruce Edwards. Along with ALS Therapy Development Institute, Driving 4 Life is a fund-raising campaign dedicated to ALS research in the memory of Julian and Edwards, both of whom also died of the disease.

The Bob Rosencrans Fitness Center was the centerpiece of a $2 million Wittenberg athletics facilities improvement project completed in 2005. The center, located in the university's Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) Center, includes state-of-the-art strength training and cardiovascular exercise equipment.

Rosencrans was a three-year letterwinner on the football team, and he later spent 25 years at Wittenberg as an assistant football coach, head golf, men's swimming and diving and wrestling coach, and athletics director from 1970-95. Late in his life, Rosencrans became an advocate for ALS research, and his friends and family helped him organize Rosy's Golf Outing.

The 2009 event starts with a buffet lunch provided by Mike and Rosy's, the local restaurant that Rosencrans co-founded and owned across McCreight Avenue from the university's athletics complex. Golfers will hit the course at 12:30 p.m. for a shotgun start. Several golf skill contests are among the day's festivities, including five hole-in-one contests with prizes ranging from a new car, a $10,000 cash award, a $3,000 cash award, a set of golf clubs valued at $2,500 and a one-year membership to Windy Knoll Golf Club. In addition, Driving 4 Life will sponsor a shootout for $50,000.

The event will conclude with hors d'oeuvres provided by Casey's Restaurant and dinner by KOVA of Ohio, a provider of wholesale agricultural products, in Windy Knoll's banquet room.

The entry fee is $125 per player. The field for the four-man scramble event is limited to the first 120 players, with each team starting out with a cumulative handicap of at least 40.

The annual silent auction portion of the event once again includes a wide variety of valuable items, and additional items are being accepted. It will begin online at http://www.windyknollgolfclub.com (click on the Rosy's Invitational tab) and conclude the evening of the event. For more information, contact Beth Rosencrans Delaney at (937) 399-9918 or Kurt Heintz at (937) 390-8988.

In addition, tee box sponsorships are available for purchase at a minimum cost of $100. Checks can be sent to Beth Rosencrans Delaney at 891 Forest Edge Ave., Springfield, OH 45503, made payable to 2009 Rosy's Invitational.

Delaney is the chairperson of the 2009 event. Dan D'Arrigo, Wittenberg class of 1978, is the host as owner of Windy Knoll, a links-style course that opened in 2002. The par-71, 18-hole course plays 6,800 yards from the professional tees.

To participate in the 2009 Rosy's Golf Outing, call Heintz, Windy Knoll golf professional, at (937) 390-8898.

Related Links: Windy Knoll Golf Club Driving 4 Life