MJ Golf Classic Founders Aim for a Cure
When colleagues Paul “MO” Moline (pictured left) of Dallas and Jim Round (pictured at bottom, blue shirt) of Chicago began the MJ Golf Classic in 2000, they had big ideas about creating a charity golf tournament. Eleven years later, they have outgrown their original space, added more than just golf to the event, and touched the lives of thousands of people raising funds for cancer research while enjoying a weekend of camaraderie and fun.
The annual spring event, which has benefited cancer research since its inception, has raised more than $3 million in the last decade, including $315,000 in 2010 and $370,000 in 2011 for CureSearch. More than 1,500 people participated in one or more of the weekend’s Texas-based events this year.
“One of our VPs had done some work in Minneapolis, and she spoke highly of CureSearch,” says Moline when asked why the MJ Classic decided to make CureSearch its beneficiary in 2010. “We really like that CureSearch is focused on children’s cancer.”
Both Moline and Round have personal connections to cancer. Round lost his father, Jack, to lung cancer in 2001, and Moline lost his mother, Connie, to multiple myeloma in October 2010 and his older brother, Dave, who was an integral part in the planning and execution of the event, to kidney cancer in January 2011.
The MJ Golf Classic includes a weekend of golf – complete with closest-to-the-pin, longest drive, and hole-in-one contests – a softball tournament, homerun derby, and activities at the Texas Motor Speedway such as a silent auction, driving around the speedway, Texas Hold Em’ Tournament, barbecue pit, and the CureSearch Walk to conquer children’s cancer. The Walk alone had more than 1,000 participants and raised $82,000.
In the long term, MO and Jim have just one goal: that the last year of the tournament will be the one that celebrates finding a cure for cancer.
Photos by: Servando Sanchez
Photo by: Twirl Photography
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