By Tim Gayle
PRATTVILLE — The 25th annual Kevin Turner Golf Tournament included a new guest host and Turner’s sons, once again hitting record numbers as 77 teams and 308 golfers competed in the event on Monday at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill.
“Every year, I go, ‘Can it get bigger?’ And every year, it seems to get bigger,” said the event’s organizer, Keith Cantrell of the Prattville YMCA. “I think it’s a testament to two things — it’s a great cause. We get to help kids, but the biggest thing is we get to pay honor to a kid who grew up in Prattville, grew up coming to the Y and never forgot who he was or where he came from, even when he excelled at the highest level.”
Turner, the former Prattville High standout who starred at Alabama in the late 1980s and for eight years in the National Football League with the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, was always supportive of the event, but his battle with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, that led to his untimely passing in March, 2016 gives the event — and the former Alabama teammates who now serve as guest hosts — an additional cause that makes the event more popular with each passing year.
“Number one, when you play at Alabama, you’re part of the family and any time you’re asked to do something, I find it real hard to say no,” said former Crimson Tide tight end Preston Gothard, this year’s guest host. “Secondly, what Kevin started — and even when he was sick, he kept this thing going — and the money it’s raising for the cause, I’m very excited to do it. I’m looking forward to it.”
Proceeds from the event fund the Coach-A-Child campaign that provides YMCA services to underprivileged children. Last year’s event drew a record 72 teams but the event added five more teams for a new record this year.
One of those new teams was Kevin’s father Raymond and the late football star’s sons, Nolan and Cole, playing together for the first time in the event. Nolan played in the tournament as a high school senior in 2016 just months after his father’s death and Cole accompanied his father on trips to the tournament a decade ago, but the pair have never played together in the tournament before Monday.
Nolan, a former Clemson defensive back, will report to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday for the start of rookie camp this weekend, while Cole, a Vestavia Hills High senior wide receiver, is preparing to follow in his brother’s footsteps at Clemson.
“It’s nice to be able to be here this year,” Nolan Turner said. “It’s crazy to see the growth that’s been since the last time I’ve been here. Unfortunately, because of my schedule, I wasn’t able to be back the last few years but it means a lot coming back, seeing the growth of it and having my brother and my grandfather to play in it with me.”
Another guest at the event was Alabama sophomore linebacker Ian Jackson. The former Prattville High standout visited the tournament to support the cause, but didn’t bother picking up a club.
