Area sports fans can pick up a football autographed by Chicago Bears great Jim McMahon at Monday’s Celebrity Players Tour gala and auction at Isle of Capri Hotel.

Area super fans, however, can shoot a round of golf with McMahon or three other former NFL quarterbacks Tuesday morning at the Celebrity Skins game at Beau Pr\u00E9 Country Club.

McMahon, Steve Bartkowski, Stan Humphries and Browning Nagle will stop in Natchez next week to help promote an auction of autographed sports memorabilia to benefit the Natchez Children’s Home and to play the Skins game to benefit the Natchez Senior Citizens Center.

The quarterbacks will be distributed to four teams of amateurs, said Woody Allen, who is helping coordinate the event. The number of amateurs per team depends on the number of sponsorships sold.

Sponsorships are $400 per person, and are the sole method of fund-raising for the event, he said.

&uot;We’re not charging people to come out watch or talk to the celebrities,&uot; Allen said. &uot;There won’t be ropes holding anyone back. You can talk to them, ask them questions.&uot;

Allen is talking to area schools to try to arrange for local prep quarterbacks and receivers to meet the professionals and toss around a football or two, he added.

&uot;Just imagine the opportunity to catch a pass thrown by an NFL quarterback,&uot; Allen said. &uot;This is going to be a fun event.&uot;

The celebrities will arrive at the golf course around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, he said, and will be available for pictures.

The quarterbacks will try to begin play early, however, to finish 18 holes before they must leave for Ft. Myers, Fla., to play in the Dodge City Invitational, the last stop on the 2000 Celebrity Player’s Tour.

Findley Trosclair, a Natchez resident and marketing director of CPT, has been instrumental in bringing the quarterbacks to Natchez, Allen said. Trosclair has been involved with golf-related fund-raisers for the Children’s Home for several years.

&uot;This time we wanted to do something a little different,&uot; Allen said. &uot;By helping out the Senior Citizen’s Home, we’re doing some good at both ends of the spectrum.&uot;

For more information on sponsorships for the Skins game, contact Frances Trosclair at (601) 442-2989.