The Dan Walsh Classic 09/25/09

Last evening I had the good fortune to be a part of the Dan Walsh Classic at Swope Park Golf course.


The tournament is an annual event hosted by Connie Twenter with the aim of funding a scholarship in Dan's name to help defray the tuition of an at-need grade schooler who will be attending a parochial high school - one of Dan's life's passions.

It was great to see so many familiar faces and so many friends from my time at St. Elizabeth's - the Walshes, Twenters, Listons, Switzers, and many others. Getting a great meal from Waldo Pizza was an an always welcome bonus...

Here are some of my favorite shots.

My dad and his foursome on the teebox with the downtown skyline in the background.

Two of the Walsh sons-in-law, Tom and Bart enjoy what I think is the best part of golf: driving the cart.

These gentlemen were actually not with the tournament - they were the first pair to play after the tournament went through. Despite the delays they were in good spirits so I got a shot of them too.

If, in the 23rd century, Ernie Els and one of the bad guys from the Road Warrior had a love child and it played golf, I'm pretty sure he'd look like this:
Connie on the mic with Patty Walsh (happy birthday Patty!) at his side.
Ryan Flood, Dan's grandson, picks a winner out of the bag. He gets extra points for taking his responsibilities extra-seriously: you might not be able to tell at this resolution but his eyes are squeezed shut to make sure that it was a fair draw.
A (very) enthusiastic Denny Liston celebrates his win.
Walshes, Bowens, and Mrozes (oh my!). Sounds much better than lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!)

My man Jake. The only person to call me out for sweating alot while shooting his aunt Kelly's wedding last summer. He's quite the character.

Thanks again to Connie and all his little helpers for putting together a great day for a worthy cause in honor of a great man.

Vincent & Elizabeth

Carol & Mohsen brought Vincent and Elizabeth to meet me for what I'm hoping will become an annual tradition - a portrait session at Loose Park. Last year poor Elizabeth nearly froze so we moved it up to September this year and were rewarded with perfect weather. It was great to see everyone again! Joy. Exasperation.

Attitude.
Elizabeth steps out a little bit to burn off some energy. No photographers were harmed in the making of this image.

Speaking of expending extra energy, why don't you go for a little run kids? Two laps then we're back to it... Carol decided to be in a few pictures as well. Good decision IMHO.

Sarah & Alan's Wedding

Sarah and Alan were married at Stony Point Manor just outside of Baldwin, KS. In addition to being a stellar couple, they came with the added benefit of Sarah being the daughter of my neighbors Tim and Claire and the granddaughter of Beach Tuckness, my sophomore year gym teacher at Rockhurst and to this day the only person who has ever threatened to "throw (my) a** into the shower". To his credit, I probably deserved it. To his further credit, at 88 years young I'm pretty sure he could still do it to me if he wanted to.

The happy couple getting ready to meet.

The aforementioned Coach Tuckness. It was great to see him again and to meet Mrs. Beach.
A fireworks show just for the happy couple. How cool is that?
After the fireworks, Sarah asked if I would take some pictures of her and the bridesmaids in the bathroom. Seriously. Sounded a little strange to me too. We got in there and I saw why she wanted pictures - pretty cool for a bathroom.