New Hamburg golf event raises $13,000

NEW HAMURG, Mo. — Baloney burgers, outlandish clubs, a beer or two and commitment to worthy causes were some of the reasons that more than 160 golfers and countless more spectators showed up Saturday at Schindler's Tavern for the Kow Pasture Klassic.

Proceeds of the 20th annual Kow Pasture Klassic amounted to $13,000, split between Kenny Rogers Children's Center in Sikeston and the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau.

A new team this year was Bella LeGrand, which combined employees of Bella Italia restaurant and LeGrand Bros. Transmission. Gina and Darryl LeGrand, playing for the first time, were equipped with a hockey stick, croquet mallet and an ornamental hockey stick covered with a green feather boa.

"It's for luck," Gina said.

She and Darryl took part both the event to support good causes and to generate business.

Teammate Amy Reinagel of Kelso, Mo., encouraged them to play. She's participated off and on for several years. Recollections of past Klassics included teams wearing matching outfits, making golf caddies out of five-gallon buckets on a dolly, shovels and rakes used as clubs and "one year a team even dived in the lagoon with scuba gear to get their ball," Reinagel said.

This year, Tony Barborek, 77, of Sikeston, Mo., played with a club made from a plow handle and scrap wood to move a tennis ball across rough terrain. Barborek has been a Kenny Rogers Children's Center board member for 13 years.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Gary Schweer, 13, missed the slim opening in the trees on one of the final holes Saturday at the Kow Pasture Klassic in New Hamburg, Mo. A variety of clubs could be used to hit the tennis balls in the team scramble event.

"I know what they do for kids and vets. It's one way I can donate," he said of his participation.

Mitch Miller, Kohlfeld Distributing accounts manager, organized the first Kow Pasture Klassic held behind Schindler's with support from his employers, Leo, Mike and Ike Kohlfeld; cooperation from then-tavern owners Cy and Dorothy Glueck; and Melvin Schotte, a farmer. Schotte's farm was where the event — a "cross between putt-putt, real golf, croquet and hockey," according to Miller — was held for 10 years.

Sikeston American Legion member Genese Kinder, a participant who's attended annually, remembered those early years when the course was harder to play because of a much larger territory and scattered piles of cow manure that were a challenge to avoid.

"I'm not really a golfer, but I come out for the food, fun, good charities it supports and a time to get together with my son and daughter-in-law," Kinder said.

The Gluecks still support the event. A crocheted afghan of an American flag with 13 stars for the Kow Pasture Klassic's auction was handmade by Dorothy. Bids for it started at $50 until Egypt Mills Antique Tractor Club president Lanny Schweer wrote a $210 check. Then he redonated the afghan, which Jerry Pullen of Sikeston bought for $50.

"I'm giving it to the children's center," he said.

Miller said, "The reason we started this whole thing was for local kids who were getting help from KRCC. One of them, Josh Klipfel, who was 2 when we got this started, graduated from college three years ago."

The center serves children with developmental problems such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and autism.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133

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