UT supporters will have the chance to play golf with some well-known names while raising money for scholarships benefiting African-American students.
The eleventh annual Alex Haley Scholarship Benefit Auction and Celebrity Golf Tournament takes place Sunday and Monday, May 4 and 5.
A reception and auction will take place from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday at the Marriott Hotel ballroom in downtown Knoxville. Tickets for the auction are $50 per person.
Monday’s tee time at Gettysvue Polo, Golf and Country Club in Knoxville is set for 8:30 a.m. Check-in begins at 8:00 a.m. Cost is $250 per player. Former UT lettermen will team up with golfers, and the winning team will represent UT at the Acura College Alumni Team Championship at Pinehurst.
Participants can register for both events online.
The Alex Haley Scholarships were created to benefit current and incoming African-American undergraduate students at UT. The scholarships were named for Haley because of his close ties to UT.
Haley, best known for his novel Roots, served as an adjunct faculty member in UT’s College of Communication and Information in 1991 and donated his notes, manuscripts, videotapes, and mementoes to UT’s Special Collections Library. While at UT, Haley presented lectures that attracted large campus and community audiences. He lived in Norris, Tennessee, just outside Knoxville, and died in 1992.
The two-day event is sponsored by the UT Millennium Focus Group, the Office of Alumni Affairs, and the Division of Student Life. The Millennium Focus Group was formed in 2002 to assist with fundraising efforts and includes alumni from Tennessee and beyond. Former Tennessee football star and professional football player Stanley Morgan and his wife, Rholedia, chair the committee that established the Alex Haley Scholarship Benefit Auction & Celebrity Golf Tournament in 2004 to increase awareness for these efforts and involve a larger public.
—
C O N T A C T :
Susan Orr (865-974-3011, sorr@utk.edu)
Phyllis Moore (865-974-7318, phyllismoore@utk.edu)