Crow. A bird that is often hunted for sport or because it is a pest, but seldom if ever harvested for food. However, every so often one must eat crow.

As a writer, I have occasionally found crow on my menu, but this time it had nothing to do with this column or my writing.

The Miss-Lou chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame sponsors an annual banquet where seven local high school senior scholar-athletes are awarded financial help for college.

Most don’t realize the largest portion of that scholarship money is raised by the chapter from the Joe Fortunato Celebrity Golf Classic each spring. Therein lies the source of my crow menu.

Several years ago the chapter’s officers were thinking of methods to raise enough money to enhance the awards. They proposed a golf tournament with the initial thinking that a one-day event might work.

However, longtime chapter member Fred Foster held out that a two-day tournament would not only attract more interest but would naturally raise more money. Fred, being a long-time teacher, coach and multi-sport official, was persuasive enough to carry the idea with the officers and directors of the chapter, and the Joe Fortunato Celebrity Golf Classic was born.

Yours truly was skeptical about the viability of a two-day function, and I expressed my opinion. I gladly serve myself crow (well done, of course), and I am delighted to say the two-day format has proved to be quite popular and the annual renewal will take place this year April 30-May 2 at Duncan Park.

Chapter member Joe Fortunato, very well-known from his days at Mississippi State and with Coach George Halas’ Chicago Bears, spearheaded the move to attract celebrities from the sports world to the tournament. Among those to participate have been Joe’s old teammate Doug Atkins from the Bears, former Ole Miss greats Eagle Day, Barney and Ray Poole, and John &uot;Kayo&uot; Dottley; Billy Shaw, All-Pro guard for the Buffalo Bills; Nolan Smith, All-Pro kick returner from the Kansas City Chiefs; Bailey Howell, the basketball great from Mississippi State and the Boston Celtics; and others whom I have forgotten and who will have to serve as chefs for my next crow feast.

Local celebrity Allen Brown and his crew work tirelessly on the food for the function, and former Mayor Tony Byrne and his wife Annette work hard to make the outing successful. Jack Foster, chapter officers and leaders Ken Whittington, Kevin Whittington, John Mark Williams, Scott Kimbrell and Duncan Park pro Marvin Gray are indispensable to the success of the tournament.

I know I have skipped some important names, and I apologize in advance. My crow-eating days will never end as long as I have a pen in my hand.

Anyway, the Joe Fortunato Celebrity Golf Classic is but a few weeks down the road. It is really fun and for a great cause.

Maybe next week I will get back to rules and officiating.

But until then, that’s official.

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. Reach him at

AlanWard39157@aol.com

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