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Golf tournament takes a swing at kidney disease

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John Bunting, Al Oliver and 42 other celebrities will play a friendly round of golf on Landfall’s Pete Dye Golf Course Nov. 9 for the 12th Willie Stargell Celebrity Golf Tournament.

The three-day event serves to honor the late Pittsburgh Pirate from whom the tournament derives its name while raising money to fight kidney disease.

Tournament president Margaret Stargell said the tournament keeps her late husband’s legacy alive.

“The decision was made after my husband passed away in 2001 from kidney disease, we wanted to do something to keep his legacy alive,” Stargell said during an Oct. 24 phone interview.

Although the weekend will culminate in a golf tournament on Sunday, there will be several opportunities throughout the weekend for members of the public to meet and mingle with the celebrities.

Friday, Nov. 7, many of the celebrities will visit the Willie Stargell Kidney Dialysis Unit at New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC) to spend time with patients undergoing three- and four-hour dialysis treatments.

“The patients really like the time that our celebrity guests spend with them time and time again,” Stargell said. “The biggest purpose is to allow the celebrity guests to see what the money raised is going to do.”

Stargell said a large part of funds raised from the event would likely go to support the Willie Stargell Dialysis Unit at NHRMC, which already has state-of-the-art dialysis machines. Money will also be used to bring medical transplant teams from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Duke Medical Center to NHRMC to save those patients travel expenses and time.

Saturday from 9-10 a.m. the celebrities will sign autographs at the new Dick’s Sporting Goods location in Mayfaire Town Center. The event is free and open to the public. Event director Michelle Hackman said the autograph signing was moved to Dick’s this year to accommodate the large crowds the event draws.

“We’re changing it up by doing it at Dick’s because it’s larger,” Hackman said during an Oct. 24 phone interview. “Where all the running gear is in the store, we’ll have our Olympic runners and over by the football and baseball stuff we’ll have our football and baseball celebrities.”

Saturday evening is a dinner, auction and dance held at the Country Club of Landfall. Hackman said tickets for the evening sold out faster than ever before.

In addition to the generous community support, Hackman said for 2014 they also reached the maximum number of celebrities allowed in the tournament.

Margaret Stargell said many of the celebrity guests are former teammates of her late husband.

“They want to come continue to honor him and remember him because he was truly a remarkable human being,” she said.

For more information visit www.williestargellfoundation.org

email [email protected]

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