For the MV Independent
Registration is open for the Fifth Annual Donald Asmonga Foundation Golf Tournament to be held July 12 at Cedarbrook Golf Course.
The annual outing raises money to support Belle Vernon Area student athletes. This spring, the non-profit Asmonga Foundation awarded four “Mighty Leopards” scholarships of $2,500 each, totaling $10,000.
In its first five years, the Donald Asmonga Foundation has awarded a total of $27,000 in scholarship winners. Recipients this year were Markello Apodiakos (soccer), Aaron Brown (soccer), Jordan French (softball), and Lindsay Steeber (basketball, softball and track).
The outing will begin at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start. A $100 registration fee ($400 for a foursome) covers 18 holes of golf, cart, lunch at the turn and a post-event buffet dinner at the clubhouse. Check-in will begin at 7:30 a.m. with coffee, donuts and pastries.
Special competitions will also take place on select holes including longest drive, closest-to-the-pin, and the Rick Zuraw Putting Contest. BVA’s legendary coach could often be found on the Rostraver course playing golf and fine-tuning the game that became his passion. Asmonga died in 2014, just days before he was to be honored at a BVA boys basketball game in the gym where he coached for 23 years.
The annual golf event has been attracting a growing number of participants including former Robert Morris head basketball coach Matt Furjanic; family friend and former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coach Dan Radakovich and former BVA football star Bill Contz, who went on to play at Penn State and for the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints.
The foundation was established to honor the school’s first and winningest coach, whose 1978 boys basketball team won the WPIAL championship. The next year, he received the prestigious Dapper Dan Award for his achievement.
Asmonga, also a longtime BVA baseball coach, led a sports-filled life of his own, playing professional baseball and basketball. He recorded a BVA career basketball record of 287-254, retiring in 1988, the same year he was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame as a player and a coach. He was selected to the Mid-Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Registration, volunteer, donation, and sponsorship information can be found at www.donaldasmongafoundation.org or by calling Donald Asmonga at 301-514-5919.