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The Jeff Award was
a surprise announced at the Saturday Night Dinner the first year of the
tournament, 1995. Chuck Sr, in talking with the artist that created the
trophies, realized a likeness of Jeff could be etched into a glass panel.
The artist made it unknown to anyone in the family. This piece of artwork
was sent as a gift to Chuck and Judy. This piece of artwork was presented
on Saturday night to Judy by Chuck Sr. Chuck Sr. said at the presentation,
“Without Judy’s contribution as Jeff’s mother, the Jeff Berberich Memorial
Invitational would not have ever have taken place. This event was the
beginning of many tears of joy, sadness, pride and love that would take
place in the years to come. The presentation of this award, each year,
is given to the person or persons, who have contributed their time and
extra effort to enhance The Jeff Berberich Memorial Tournament. This always
proves to be an emotional moment. Potential recipients are nominated by
the Berberich Family, and voted upon for the award. The winner is presented
with a plaque and is recognized at the banquet following the tournament
each year.
Earl
& Karen Durden
The Durden Foundation has contributed several
thousand dollars over the years to the Jeff
Berberich Memorial Tournament. |
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Sid Taylor
Manager of Lewis
Bear Budweiser Distributorship contributed
the beer and several prizes for the tournament
from its inception. |
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Roy Centanni
Roy is the owner of Montego Bay
and other local restaurants who have generously sponsored
our Annual Jeff Berberich / Montego Bay Shootout
for the past several years and other financial
contributions.
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Rusty
Hill
Rusty is the owner of Panama City Toyota and
was the first Platinum Sponsor in 2004. He
contributed two $2500 sponsorships in addition
to sponsoring "hole-in-one" Toyota car give-away.
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Jim Hawn
Jim is the local owner of fish wholesale business
and has contributed several hundred dollars
worth of deep sea fishing trips, for several
years. |
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Wes
Burnham
Wes is the owner and developer of the Hombre
Golf Club and has been a financial supporter
of our event since the inception. |
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Ken Brown
Ken created, developed and is the webmaster for the JBMI.ORG Website. The website has enhanced our ability to communicate information about our charity tournament.
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Marty Libowsky
Marty has contributed time and effort by selling over $3500.00 worth of raffle tickets in addition to contributing several hundred dollars worth of prizes. |
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Gaye & Bob Friess
The 2000 Jeff Award was presented to Gaye and Bob
Friess, very good friends of the Berberich Family.
Gaye took it upon herself to write to a distant
cousin, one Ben Crenshaw, explaining their relationship
and also the details of the Jeff Berberich Tournament.
In
mid March she excitedly phoned Chuck Berberich
to say she received a package from cousin Ben;
upon opening it we found it to be a 1999 Ryder
Cup Print signed by all the golfers (including
the late Payne Stewart). After much research and
input from the P.G.A., we discovered the signatures
although not original, were reproduced and only
1000 were released to the public. After realizing
what we had, the decision was made by Bob Friess
to try to raffle it off.
The
raffle was a huge success as we raised an additional
$5,000 for the kids at Advocates. This was a first
ever for the tournament and as a result of Gaye
and Bob’s enthusiasm and extra effort they were
chosen for the Jeff Award for the year 2000.
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Carl Anderson
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1999 Jeff Award was presented to Carl Anderson,
who approached the Berberich Family in 1998 and
volunteered to host the pizza party on his glass
bottom boat. He suggested we meet at the dock around
6:00p.m. and cruise out into St Andrew Bay and on
to Shell Island for a walk on the island and to
experience a sunset of all sunsets what a sight!
Carl supplied the boat and the crew to host the
Pizza Party. His knowledge of the water, as captain,
was evident as we cruised he explained in detail
the areas we were going through and the history
of them. It was an unforgettable evening and because
of Carl’s generosity and extra effort he was chosen
as the 1999 Jeff Award recipient. |
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John Troutt
| John was instrumental in getting us some much-needed
news coverage. We felt if we could get the local
media to cover the tournament we could expose
more people to our efforts to raise the awareness
of the Advocates for Children Organization. John
was able to get a local volunteer from Advocates
for Children and Chuck Berberich Sr. on a local
talk show, in addition we had live coverage of
the golf tournament highlights on the 6 o’clock
and 10 o’clock news both Sunday and the following
Monday.
After
the tournament several contributions were received
as a result of the coverage thus the reason for
the selection of John Troutt as the Jeff Award
recipient. |
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Susie Hoffson
Lynn Hess
1997 brought us our first co-recipients of the Jeff
Award. Susie Hoffson and Lynn Hess were volunteers
with Advocates for Children. 1997 was the year
that the Jeff Berberich Memorial Invitational
took The Advocates for Children as their charity
to receive the proceeds of the tournament.
Susie and Lynn enthusiastically canvassed the
Panama City and Panama City Beach communities
for donations of prizes, support, and cash. Thanks
in part for their efforts the Jeff Berberich Memorial
Invitational broke the $10,000 barrier for the
first time.
heir
tireless fundraising efforts not only benefited
the tournament in 1997 but by making the contacts
in the Panama City Beach community and introducing
the Jeff Berberich Memorial Invitational, has
helped with fund raising and prize donation each
year since.
Jeff was a very hard worker. Susie and Lynn’s dedication
and hard work reminded the Berberich family of
Jeff’s work ethic and dedication to his causes.
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Dan McGrath
1996 marked the first official presentation of the
Jeff Award, as we know it today. The Berberich
Family decided in 1995 to present the award annually
to the person or persons that have made significant
contributions to the effort behind the Jeff Berberich
Memorial Invitational.
The plaque has a photograph of Jeff with the following
inscription;
For you contribution and extra effort in making this
Memorial Invitational Tournament the great event it is
and carrying on Jeff's legacy, his love for kids
and golf.
The 1996 Jeff Award was presented
to Dan McGrath of the Hombre Golf Club at the
banquet and awards ceremony. Dan and his staff,
had worked tirelessly with Chuck Sr. to organized,
manage, referee, and monitor the tournament into
a first class event. Dan and his staff assured
us, a smoothly run tournament the first year.
He did not receive a great deal of notice about
our idea. Around December of 1994, six months
after Jeff died Chuck Sr. was in Dan’s office
with this idea. . . a golf tournament!
Dan
did not take this as the ramblings of a grieving
father; instead he embraced the idea and did everything
in his power to make the first year and every
year thereafter a great success.
Dan has done it all, referee, weatherman, manager,
promoter, supporter, cheerleader, and psychologist.
he has worn many hats on behalf of our tournament.
The presentation was a surprise to Dan, and it proved
to be an emotional time for all. The Berberich
Family could not have been more pleased to have
the award presented to Dan in 1996. He is a true
friend of our family,
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