Font ResizeBRATTLEBORO - When the Chesterfield Public School Foundation receives a check for about $2,000 from the local Lions Club on Tuesday, it will mark a milestone.
The additional four figures will mean the Chesterfield Lions Club has donated $20,000 to the foundation since the club started its annual golf classic 14 years ago. This year's installment - to held at Bretwood Golf Course in Keene, N.H. - is scheduled to begin with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday and will once again serve as a fundraiser for the public school foundation as well as other charities.
Club President Brent Crowder said the Lions like to focus on helping people with their hearing and eyesight.
John Schlichting, the tournament's co-chair, said the it sold out in June. All 36 team slots were filled up and he said any more would cause excessive delays and be a detriment to the tournament.
One of those teams will be made up of a native of Chesterfield, N.H., and a Boston Red Sox legend. Albie Powers, a graduate of Keene High School, has been a youth pastor at Grace Evangelical Free Church in Spofford, N.H., since August and will be paired up with Rico Petrocelli.
A three-time Major League All-Star and participant in two World Series, Petrocelli played for the Sox from 1965 to 1976. The shortstop even recorded the final out to give his team the 1967 American League pennant when he caught a soft pop-out by the Minnesota Twins' Rich Rollins during the "Impossible
Powers said he considers himself a Red Sox and can't wait to hit the links with a Fenway favorite.
"I'm really excited to play with him and meet him," he said in a telephone interview. "It's going to be a lot of fun."
Powers said he once played golf for Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va., and later served as an assistant coach for the team.
Schlichting, Powers and Petrocelli are connected through golf and their belief in Jesus Christ. Schlichting met Petrocelli, a members of Links Players International, when the former ballplayer asked him to take part in the program. LPI is a non-profit ministry dedicated to connect golfers around the world through the Christian message.
Schlichting asked Petrocelli to participate in the Lions Club tournament and said the Red Sox Hall of Famer "has bent over backward to help us."
Powers said he is not affiliated with LPI but is interested in talking about it with Petrocelli. This will be the first Chesterfield Lions Club Golf Classic Petrocelli has been involved with.
Crowder, who became the club's newest president on July 1, said the Lions often offer free eye tests, glasses and frames to those that need them. The club also dabbles in assistance to individuals with diabetes, having recently made significant donations to two teenagers that plan to attend different diabetes camps - which allow for bonding time between individuals afflicted with the disease - this summer.
Domenic Poli can be reached at dpoli@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311, ext. 277.
