Fundraiser Golf Tournament Named in Honor of WWII Veteran

The Trophy Club of Apalachee will honor one of their original and the oldest club ambassadors in a special charitable golf tournament. The first annual Woody Hall Apalachee Classic will be held on Friday, May 25. Registration is open to all, and proceeds will benefit the Disabled American Veterans.

“Woody is one of our original ambassadors,” said Rick Kennedy, one of the members in charge of the tournament. “He turned 94 this year, but he is still quite active and continues to play golf. We thought we would recognize one of our oldest ambassadors and pay honor to his amazing background.”

Hall served in the Navy during WWII as an Aerographer flying reconnaissance missions in the Pacific. He is a recipient of the Air Medal and the Purple Heart (wounded in the shoulder during an air mission). Hall flew missions over Iwo Jima and Japan. He actually gave the pilots of the Enola Gay a weather briefing before they took off from Tinian Island in the Pacific to drop the first atomic bomb.

Hall enjoyed playing semi-pro baseball as a pitcher in Cincinnati, Ohio before the war, and had tryouts with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the Major League. During the war he played baseball with five professional teammates including Johnny Mize, Merrill May, Enos Slaughter, Joe Gordon and Vinnie Smith.

Hall has lived and worked in the Atlanta area for the past 40 years. His career was in retail management with Belk Department stores as a property manager having managed South Dekalb Mall, Cumberland Mall and Phipps Plaza. He retired in the early 1990s. In 1998 he moved to Auburn, where he lives today with his son. Hall attends the on Fence Road in Auburn, where his son Alan is Pastor. Hall has enjoyed playing golf and working as an ambassador at the Trophy Club of Apalachee for the past 14 years.

“Woody has asked that all proceeds go to the Disabled Veterans Fund,” Cliff Crosby, an ambassador at The Trophy Club, wrote in an email to Dacula Patch.

According to their website, the 1.2 million-member Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is a non-profit 501(c)(4) charity dedicated to building better lives for America’s disabled veterans and their families.

“Veterans from the American Disables Veterans (Gainesville) will be in attendance at the tournament,” Kennedy said. “At the conclusion of the tournament we will present them with three donations; cash receipts from the day, a percentage of the playing fee, and all of the many direct donations that we have received from individuals and corporations in support of the Woody Hall tournament.”

Registration for the first annual Woody Hall Apalachee Classic on Friday, May 25 is open to all. Donations are also welcome even if you do not wish to participate in the tournament. The cost for the tournament is $50 which includes 18 holes of golf with cart, range balls, snack trays and sodas, a $10 Golfsmith gift card, and a chance to win various prizes. To register and for more information, please call (770) 822-9220, and press #1 for the pro shop.

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