SYRACUSE -- A date has been set for this year's Bill Leaf Kickball Tournament, held in memory of the former WSYR(AM)/WTVH-TV journalist killed by a drunk driver in 2006. The event will take place Saturday, September 26, but also mark your calendars for September 9th -- that's the registration deadline.
Besides the date (the first three tournaments took place during the spring), there are some other big changes behind the scenes. The tournament is now being organized by the Syracuse University Alumni Club of Central New York, with details about the event posted on their website at www.cnyorange.org. While it appears Clear Channel Radio is no longer the main organizer of the event, Newsradio 570 WSYR is still listed as a sponsor.
Proceeds from the tournament will benefit two different scholarship funds. The SU Alumni Club of CNY oversees a journalism scholarship awarded annually in Bill Leaf's memory. Leaf was killed instantly when hit head-on by a wrong-way drunk driver on Interstate 81 in Syracuse in January 2006.
Since last year, the tourney has also benefited a scholarship at Liverpool High School, in memory of Samantha Reynolds. The teen was killed when she and her family were hit by a wrong-way drunk driver on I-95 in South Carolina. They were on their way to Disney World for vacation.
The tournament will be held at Onondaga Lake Park. First pitches will roll at 10am, and organizers expect the event to be over by 4pm. The rules also remain the same: minimum of 8 people per team, at least four of whom must be female. All team members must be at least 16 years old, and the registration fee is $30 per person.
Again, all the details, registration forms, and contact info for questions are posted at www.cnyorange.org.
Your humble editor has had the privilege of playing with the NewsChannel 9 team for the first three tournaments, but after leaving broadcasting earlier this year... I don't have a team! But I still want to play, so I'm hoping there would be enough readers to join me to form a CNYRadio.com team. C'mon... it's for charity!
Whether you're a former broadcaster like me, or maybe your current station doesn't have enough interested employees to form a team... or even if you've never worked in broadcasting but just like to visit the site... feel free to join us!
E-mail me at cnyradio@cnyradio.com and once we get enough people, I'll send out a group message to those interested so we can get this coordinated. If you have any friends or significant others who are also interested, by all means, invite 'em along. The more the merrier (and the better for those scholarship funds)!