Fred Altvater

Long-time friends and competitors Olin Browne and Mark O’Meara were paired in the last group on July 30. They did not fail to impress. O’Meara had played superb golf over the first two days at Inverness shooting a 66-68 eight-under par but was still one shot behind Browne heading into the third round. Browne carded a phenomenal seven-under par 64 in the first round on July 28 and followed that up with a solid two-under 69 for a 36-hole score of nine-under par.

Browne, a relative late starter, didn’t begin playing golf until he was 19 and in college at that great golfing powerhouse, Occidental. He parlayed that, however, into a 25-year career on the PGA Tour, had three wins and joined the Champions Tour in 2009. He is known for his superb ball striking ability and has always been one of the most accurate with his driver, although not long. His wins came at Hartford, Colonial and TPC Boston, all courses that demand accuracy off the tee and excellent iron play into the greens. His best finish in the majors was a tie for fifth at the 1997 U. S. Open held at Congressional Country Club, another tight demanding golf course similar to Inverness.

In contrast, O’Meara had a Hall of Fame golf career with 16 PGA Tour wins, 34 professional wins overall and two major victories. In 1998, he had one of the best years of any golfer ever until his friend and mentee, Tiger Woods, came along and won the “Tiger Slam” in 2000-2001. In 1998, O’Meara won The Masters, tied for third in the U.S. Open, won the British Open, tied for fourth in the PGA Championship and was named PGA Tour Player of the Year. He already has the 2010 Senior PGA Championship Trophy sitting at home on his mantle. He has some experience in these types of situations.

None of that mattered on July 30 at Inverness, however. Browne and O’Meara put on a birdie barrage for the appreciative fans. Olin made the turn at one-under par for the day but kicked into high gear and blistered Inverness’ tough back nine for a five-under par 29.  That’s right, he shot a 29 on a USGA Major Championship golf course. He played the difficult stretch of holes 13-16 at one-under par and matched O’Meara birdie for birdie on 17 and 18. Pretty heady stuff for a guy not used to winning major championships.

O’Meara, no shrinking violet, made some fireworks of his own. At the par-5 fourth hole, he struck a perfect three iron to the green, stroked the eagle putt slightly too firm and had to settle for his first birdie of the day. He made the turn at two-under par, birdied the par-3 15^th hole and finished with birdies on 17 and 18 for five-under par and still remained two shots behind Browne.

It was great fun to watch, golf at its absolute best. Two friends, yet competitors, dueling in the sun, guns blazing, breaking USGA records by the handful. If Browne can hold it together for one more round, it could be another historic day at Inverness, a place that has seen its share of history over the years.

On Aug. 4-7, the oldest continually operated national baseball organization in the United States will host its College World Series in Toledo. This will be the seventh time in the past eight years Toledo has hosted the event.
Founded in 1914 in Louisville, Ky., the National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF) is a nonprofit organization that hosts more than 50 regional tournaments and eight national championship tournaments across the country each year, comprised of eight divisions that rely on numerous volunteer officers and directors throughout the United States to keep the organization running.
“It’s tough out there to find people willing to do these,” said NABF Executive Director and Franchise Membership Chairman Charles Blackburn said. “We’re proud of all them that contribute their time, effort and resources to the game.”
One of those volunteers is Toledo native Aaron Myers. A 1993 Waite High School graduate who serves as the head varsity baseball coach at Otsego, Myers is the co-director of this year’s tournament along with Shawn Sobel, and is in his first year as the NABF College Division Director, taking over for longtime director Pat Eaken.
“It’s quite a thing to have here in Toledo,” Myers said. “And for Toledo to be named a host city for the last four or five years, I think that says something that we’re doing something right.”
Myers said he became involved with the NABF about four years ago when he was hired by the City of Toledo as the Athletic Activities Coordinator for the city’s Division of Recreation, which organizes the tournament. The NABF honored Myers with its Award of Merit in 2009 for his efforts.
“It was a great honor for me to be recognized, but it was more or less the recreation department being recognized for all of our hard work in bringing the NABF College World Series to Toledo seven out of the last eight years,” Myers said. “It’s just a tribute to people who work hard and enjoy what they do and the NABF obviously acknowledged it, seeing that that was something that they would like to honor.
“Like I said, it was a humbling experience for me to go and accept the award, and it’s a great honor to continue to work with the NABF and with the people that I do work with.”
This year’s tournament will feature a total of 16 teams from Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Illinois competing in the 22-and-younger tournament, which harkens back to baseball’s roots with the use of wooden bats only. With rosters comprised mostly of former Northwest Ohio high school baseball standouts now competing at the college level, Toledo’s Black Hawks and Gold Hawks will participate.
“The experience has been great,” fourth-year Gold Hawks coach Ed Mouch said. “You get to see we’ve got a lot of very good, talented college baseball players from around the country, then be able to get to compete against them with a group of kids primarily made up of local high school talent from around our area, so it’s been great for us.”
A 1981 St. John’s Jesuit graduate who coaches varsity baseball at Southview, Mouch has led the Gold Hawks to two NABF College World Series championships in the past three years.
“I’ve always said as far as being a high school coach that I’ve thought there’s been as good of talent in Northwest Ohio as there has been when you talk about the state of Ohio,” Mouch said. “Just putting together a nucleus of kids like this just says a whole lot about the kind of baseball that we do play up in Northwest Ohio at the high school level.”
Myers estimates the economic impact of the NABF College World Series to be between $500,000 and $1 million for the city, adding that there will be between seven and 10 volunteers at each of the four tournament sites. In the future, he wants to expand the field to 20 teams and include more leagues.
“Big picture, I would love to see the NABF get involved with leagues like Cape Cod, and some big, East Coast leagues and some Southern leagues that we can bring into the NABF organization and get some more recognition that way,” Myers said.

Sites for this year’s NABF College World Series will be Rich Arbinger Field at Bowman Park, St. Francis de Sales High School, Owens Community College and Ned Skeldon Stadium, with the championship game at Fifth Third Field.
On Aug. 4 and 5, pool play contests will take place at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. at all four sites. The quarterfinals are on Aug. 6 at 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at Rich Arbinger Field and Ned Skeldon Stadium with the semifinals later that day at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Ned Skeldon Stadium. The championship game will be at 1 p.m. Aug. 7 at Fifth Third Field. Daily tickets are $5 each, and a tournament pass is available for a total of $15.

Deb Rump said the smell of fresh-baked cookies, memories of Christmas Eve and photos from Disney World haunt her.
Three years ago, Rump lost her sister, Georgia Meyers — the cookie baker, holiday eve host and generous aunt to Rump’s two daughters — to ovarian cancer.
Rump is angry. She is angry there are no screening tests. She is angry there are limited treatment options. But mostly, she is angry about her sister’s death.
“Had there been a screening test,” she wrote in an email, “she would have had it. She would still be alive. Instead, we face this sad anniversary.”
Rump said she finds solace in being a member of the Ovarian Cancer Connection (OCC), a Toledo-based organization of women dedicated to raising awareness and educating the community about the deadly disease.
Meyers was one of the roughly 22,000 women diagnosed every year with ovarian cancer. She was also one of the about 15,000 women who lose their fight with ovarian cancer every year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Gini Steinke, president and co-founder of OCC, said the organization works with about 15 women at a time to organize yearly events, which include a walk, a golf outing, and a survivors tea and luncheon.

Gini Steinke

The organization, which used to be the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Northwest Ohio and Southwest Michigan, split from the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition to keep money and the ability to name events after the departed.
The money goes toward organizing the annual events and research for ovarian cancer.
“We need a reliable screening test,” Steinke said, “because we already have [ovarian cancer], but we don’t want our daughters or granddaughters or whoever to get sick.”
Steinke said most women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are already in Stage 3 or 4, which are the late stages of the disease where little can be done to save a life. The lifespan of a woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer at this stage is typically between a few days and a few years.
Steinke said the symptoms of the disease could be mistaken as premenstrual syndrome, including bloating, abdominal pain, difficulty eating and urinary symptoms. Other symptoms can include fatigue, indigestion, back pain, constipation or menstrual irregularities.
“If you’re not being treated for anything,” Steinke said of prolonged symptoms, “and your doctor doesn’t care, get a second opinion. Get a third opinion.”
OCC hosts two annual fundraisers. Steinke said she organizes a cancer walk named after local women who have died of ovarian cancer. The 2011 walk is in memory of Ellen Jackson and will take place Sept. 17 at the University of Toledo Medical Center. Steinke said about 1,500 people are expected.
The other event is the annual Karen Creque Memorial Golf Outing which began after group member and golf-enthusiast Karen Creque lost her seven-year fight against ovarian cancer.
Amy Stone, Creque’s daughter, said her mother’s physician had downplayed her symptoms.
“She was told that she was probably ‘just’ going through menopause,” she said, “and that he would see her in six months rather than waiting the full year.”
Six weeks later, Creque was back at her physician’s office with quickly progressing symptoms. She had surgery the following day.
“No matter what was happening with her,” Stone said, “she continued to raise awareness about this disease by sharing her story and being there for others.”
Angie Rumer, one of the founders of OCC, said her mother Bonnie Nellett faced her cancer with “grace, courage and dignity.”
Nellett went through a series of doctor visits and tests because there was a nagging feeling something was wrong before she was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer. She died six days after Rumer’s wedding, which was planned in three-and-a-half weeks to include her.
Joan Drzewiecki thought the common cold caused her symptoms. A little extra weight, fatigue and lack of appetite didn’t bother her until her symptoms prevented her from drinking soup or water for an entire weekend. Exploratory surgery found Stage 1 ovarian cancer.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” she said. “I try not to dwell on this, but it’s on my mind — not if the doctor will find something, but what will he find.”
Drzewiecki’s cancer may recur, but she said she was glad they found it through surgery since screening tests showed her healthy.
Without reliable screening, Deb Rump has no way of knowing if her daughters, a 20-year-old and a 22-year-old, will have ovarian cancer. Rump’s mother-in-law, like her sister, died of ovarian cancer. Rump places “symptoms cards” in women’s bathrooms.
“I lost two women that I loved a great deal, and risk losing my two daughters,” Rump wrote. “It isn’t much, but if I can save one woman then I will have honored Georgia’s memory.”

The law firm of Eastman & Smith is expanding its practice by affiliating with attorneys formerly practicing at Watkins, Bates & Carey of Toledo, adding expertise to its commercial litigation, employment and estate planning areas.
“We are solidifying our reputation for quality, integrity and depth of coverage in those practice areas with this affiliation,” said Ronald Tice, a member (equivalent to partner) of Eastman & Smith and chairman of its executive committee.

John Carey and Ronald Tice

Tice said the new relationship will enhance Eastman & Smith’s existing expertise, specifically in commercial litigation as the firm continues to grow by partnering with talented, hard-working attorneys with established practices.
John Carey said his former firm of Watkins, Bates & Carey had needs for its clients and wanted to find a compatible firm to affiliate with while staying together as a group. His associates joined him in the integration of the two firms except for former partner William Bates, who maintained his own practice.
Carey recently joined Eastman & Smith as a member who specializes in commercial litigation.
Kimberly Kondalski, who specializes in employment law, will become a member and Jared Lefevre, an associate. Shayne Rose joined the clerical staff at Eastman & Smith. Ann McCauley, a senior associate, joined Eastman & Smith earlier this
year and helped to facilitate the affiliation.
“Our business plan includes growing the practice in Toledo, capitalizing on the existing talent and people in our offices and bringing in experienced lawyers from smaller firms to gain expertise in those areas,” Tice said.
“It was important to make sure our clients were comfortable with it and they have accepted it. We’ve discovered many capabilities here for our clients,” Carey said.
He reported that bringing 40 to 50 clients with him, mostly industrial and manufacturing companies located in Toledo and smaller towns in Northwest Ohio, which will be served by other lawyers at Eastman & Smith.
“We’ve always known Eastman & Smith was a good firm, not just in size but the quality of the firm and its people,” Carey said.
“We found it to be a two-way street. It’s been healthy for us to bring small practitioners into the firm because they’re good business people by necessity,” Tice said. “They’ve already seen exponential growth in business since they’ve joined us with lawyers in other disciplines.”
Tice said Eastman & Smith represents hundreds of large and small businesses in a 10-county area of Northwest Ohio. The firm recently opened an office in Findlay to serve its growing business in Hancock and Seneca counties.
Eastman & Smith now employs more than 150 people including about 75 attorneys serving individuals and corporate clients.
It also operates offices in Columbus and Novi, Mich.
The firm has experienced steady growth from the mid-1990s to the present, expanding from about 30 lawyers to nearly 80 today.
Tice attributes the firm’s growth to its focus on fostering a positive internal culture, maintaining a diversified client base and practice areas, and ongoing strategic planning.
Tice said that Eastman & Smith was established in Toledo in 1844 and is among the oldest law firms in the state of Ohio.
William Baker came to Toledo to practice law as one of the graduates of the Harvard Law Class of 1844. The City of Toledo was only 7 years old with a population of about 3,000 people and the Lucas County Courthouse was located in Maumee.
Barton Smith joined William and his son Rufus Baker in 1881 and the firm became known as Baker, Smith and Baker. LeRoy Eastman joined the law firm upon William’s death in 1894.
The law practice evolved over 160 years undergoing several name changes, before becoming Eastman & Smith Ltd. in 1996.
The law firm was located in what is now the Huntington Bank Building at the corner of Madison Avenue and Huron Street in Downtown Toledo for 65 years. In 1992, it moved to One SeaGate where it now occupies the 24th and 25th floors.
Eastman & Smith’s lease at One SeaGate expired along with Owens-Illinois’ master lease when O-I moved its headquarters to Perrysburg.
Tice said the firm decided to commit to Downtown and stay at One SeaGate where they expect to be for the next 25 years.
“We’re proud of the history and reputation of the firm to be conscientious in serving citizens and companies in the community,” Tice said.
Today, Eastman & Smith has numerous practice groups that focus on different aspects of law, including business law and commercial litigation, construction, education, environmental, estate planning, trust and probate, health care, immigration, labor and employment, professional liability, public and real estate law.

On the web: visit www.eastmansmith.com and click on links for more information.

The start of another school year is right around the corner. No matter how young or old your child or grandchild is, paying for college can take some creative planning and saving. For me, Nolan, I decided to join the United States Marine Corps Reserves and became eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill, which paid a large portion of my college expenses. Joining the military may or may not be right for your child, but either way, it’s time to go to basic training for college planning.
Matt Hisey, a Retirement Guy from Cleveland with a long-term focus on college planning, points out that the most difficult hurdle is putting together a comprehensive college plan from start to finish. It can be an easy issue to avoid until it stares you straight in the face. Getting prepared can be confusing and the financial aid forms can be complicated. All the hurdles make it easy to want to give up, but with the rising cost of today’s colleges it can be worth taking the extra effort now, rather than later.

For the younger group, several steps can improve the odds of getting into the right college and for scholarships and grants. One program we have personally supported over the years has been Junior Achievement. This is a great program that teaches young children the importance of being financially smart. Not only in our opinion does your child being involved in these programs teach values and leadership skills, college scholarships are also awarded to local youth every year. During the five-year period we volunteered for the local Junior Achievement program local youths were awarded more than $85,000 in scholarships. This along with many others may be an extracurricular activity to get involved with. It’s important for our children to stay involved in extracurricular activities they are passionate about. It might open a door that will provide your child with a wealth of opportunities.
Parents and grandparents who want to help their children out financially should start saving right away in a college savings account. Several options are available such as a state-sponsored 529 plan, a UTMA, UGMA or just a separate account the parent can use to pay expenses out of. My wife and I opened up a 529 plan for both of our two boys when they were only a few weeks old. By putting $100 a month into each of their accounts over the years we have been able to save up thousands of dollars to help them and they still have years to go until college.
A 529 savings plan is named after the Internal Revenue Code it was created from in 1996. For donors, they can receive state tax benefits when investing into their state’s approved plan, which makes the plans even more attractive. For the child, as long as the money is used for qualified higher educational expenses, the money can come out federally tax free. The donor also gets to maintain control of the account. The contribution amounts are very flexible and allow a person to save a little a month or make a large one time deposit.
The Uniformed Gift to Minors Act of 1956 was originally created to allow someone to gift money to a minor. In 1986, more flexibility was created under the Uniformed Transfers to Minors Act. Part of the original intent was to make it easier for individuals to gift money to minors without the added expense of setting up a trust. It is important to understand that, ultimately, money goes to the child even though he or she may not have control over the funds until later in life. The account will automatically terminate once the child reaches a certain age. These types of accounts can be used for high net worth families who want to reduce their overall estate by gifting money away.
A third option is to set up an individual or joint account with your spouse and keep it as a separate account. Most investment companies today will allow investors to set up an account for a low minimum and make regular monthly contributions. The advantage to setting up this account is the investor maintains control of the funds and unlike the 529 plans the money can be used for more than just college expenses, such as a first car or a wedding. The disadvantages are that there are no real tax benefits to a joint account and the IRS places limits on the amount of money individuals can gift each year.
Enjoy the next month or so before school starts back up. Just remember as the kids go out shopping for new school clothes and supplies for another year, you should take some time to look at what the longterm plans are for college planning and get started. In today’s tough economic times, raising the future generation with the right values and leaderships skills is going to be crucial to not only your family’s success but our nation’s as well.

For more about The Retirement Guys, tune in every Saturday at 1 p.m. on 1370 WSPD or visit www.retirementguysnetwork.com. Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC. NEXT Financial Group, Inc nor its representatives provide tax advice. The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group. The office is at 1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, OH 43537. (419) 842-0550.

Mobile Care Group, a locally owned and operated company that provides mobile health care and transportation services, is now making residential house calls to patients in their homes, assisted or independent living residences and long-term care facilities.
The company will deliver health care services that include audiology, dentistry, optometry and podiatry to residential patients wherever they live.
Adding residential services to the customer profile is a natural progression in the development of the business, said Joe Wallace, president and CEO of Mobile Care Group based in Sylvania.
“We offer options for health care services. The way health care is delivered is changing and we’re trying to adapt to those changes and offer solutions for them,” Wallace said. “Maintaining their independence is so important to many older adults today. We want to let people know what’s available to them.”
There is a real need for residential services since there are many people who just can’t get out for such appointments, Wallace said.
“It’s a unique model that is different by design. We’re the only company I know with the option to bring health care to them or take them to health care providers in specialized vehicles,” Wallace said.

Joe Wallace, Mobile Care Group president, left, and Eric McAllister, ambulette manager.

Mobile Care Group has 50 employees and 19 vehicles including ambulette vans with lifts, ambulances, and regular vehicles to bring health care to patients or transport them to the providers, he said.
The company’s network of physicians sees more than 700 patients per week so it was easy to add residential health care services to them. Its experienced team of 75 caring and qualified professionals provides on-site healthcare services to patients where they live.
“We work with local physicians and professionals at the facilities we serve to do what’s best for their patients. We work in partnership with them to identify patients who can’t get out or if it’s more convenient for them to receive those services where they live,” Wallace said.
“We reduce the downstream negative effects of people not getting routine care,” he said.
Mobile Care Group serves more than 250 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. It includes facilities as far north as Saginaw, east to Sandusky, west to Indiana, and south to Mansfield.
“We’re a resource to those facilities for clinical care and administrative services. We take care of all administrative and paperwork for them,” Wallace said.
The firm’s transportation services escort more than 400 people per week in ambulette vans. It provides mobile care EMS and transport services in the Toledo area, accepting Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance and private pay.
“We provide safe and reliable door-to-door transportation for individuals with special needs. Excellent patient care is always our No. 1 priority,” Wallace said.
“It’s imperative that we work with the best in class attendants, drivers and physicians since they are the face of our company and interact with the patients,” he said.
All ambulette attendants and drivers must qualify in 24 different areas, including maintaining a vehicle, being well-groomed in uniform, capable of completing paperwork, and being credible drivers with safe driving records.
The company has a full-time compliance officer to make sure the firm and its employees meet all of the requirements and standards in the industry, Wallace said.
Mobile Care Group was established in 2006 and serves residents and facilities in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.
Wallace said they plan to open another office in the Cleveland area later in the third quarter of this year.

It’s almost time for Rachel Timberlake to go back to school.
But first the Indiana elementary school teacher will open for country superstar John Michael Montgomery at Smoke on the Water — Ribs for the Red Cross in Downtown Toledo.
The 29-year-old contemporary country artist will perform at 2 p.m. Aug. 7, followed by the rib judging awards. Montgomery will perform at 5 p.m.
Timberlake said festival-goers should expect a high-energy show.
“We like to move and we like to rock,” Timberlake told Toledo Free Press. “My band and I, we bring a lot of energy with us. We like to have fun and for the crowd to have fun and get into it and have a great time.”

Rachel Timberlake

Her band mates have musical backgrounds in rock and blues as well as country so they add a touch of other genres to her songs, Timberlake said.
Timberlake said she used to be shy, but now loves performing.
“If you were to talk to anybody who was around me growing up, they would never believe a word of me getting up on stage,” Timberlake said. “I was the girl who never said a word. Somehow I transformed and came out of my shell. Now people wouldn’t believe I was so shy when I was younger.”
The singer grew up and lives in southern Indiana, about a half-hour west of Louisville, and teaches fifth grade alongside some of her former teachers at the elementary school she attended as a girl.
Timberlake tours during the summer and performs on weekends during the school year. Her husband, Jason, serves as her manager, driver, roadie and a little bit of everything else, Timberlake said.
“We rarely have a weekend off where we don’t play,” Timberlake said. “We keep pretty busy with our day jobs and the music on the weekends, but it’s fun. We love it.”
Timberlake started singing only about three years ago in church. She entered a singing competition, started traveling to Nashville and was soon hooked.
Her self-titled debut album was released in October and includes the singles “Honky Tonk Queen” and “Let’s Ride.”
“That was really cool, just to have a full album recorded,” said Timberlake, who co-wrote a few of the tracks.
Timberlake said she feels God led her to music after she and her husband tried unsuccessfully to start a family.
“Things didn’t work out the way we were hoping for, but God works in mysterious ways,” Timberlake said. “I think he led me down this path of healing through music and to put myself out there and try something. You take different paths in your life and I think this is the one I’m on for a reason. At the time I wasn’t happy about the way things were going, but I’m happy and thankful for the way things worked out.”
Timberlake said she’s excited to come to Toledo, play with Montgomery and do her part to support the Red Cross.
“We’re very excited,” Timberlake said. “I think it’s gonna be a great weekend and a good show.”

DETROIT — Toledo arrived at the Mid-American Conference’s Media Day at Ford Field on July 26 as the preseason selection to win the conference.
The poll, of 26 members of the league’s media contingent, picked Toledo as the favorite to win the MAC Championship with five votes, followed by Miami (Ohio) and Northern Illinois (NIU), which each had three.
“We were probably the No. 1 because we have Northern Illinois at home and we have Western Michigan at home,” Toledo head coach Tim Beckman said. “Every team in this conference has a chance to be here on Dec. 2 [for the MAC Championship] and that’s the greatest thing about MAC football. Not every conference is like that.”
The Rockets received 83 votes in the preseason poll for the league’s West Division, just two votes ahead of defending champion NIU. Western Michigan (76) was picked third followed by Central Michigan (55), Ball State (27) and Eastern Michigan (24).
“It’s pretty exciting to actually have expectations going into a season,” senior cornerback Desmond Marrow said. “Usually we are at the bottom of the MAC and we have to sneak up on people. Not so much this year. Everyone is going to be ready for us.”
Toledo is coming off an 8-5 season, including a 7-1 record in league play. The Rockets reached its first bowl game since 2005 in a 34-32 loss to FIU in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

Coach Tim Beckman and his team were selected to finish top in the MAC.

The Rockets return 17-of-22 starters (9 offense, 8 defense), including wide receiver Eric Page, who received First-Team All-American honors as a kick returner in 2010.
“We are picked No. 1, but it really doesn’t mean a lot to us. We are still trying to prove a lot,” Page said. “We have to come out this year and play every game one by one and try to get back to the MAC Championship.”
Page finished seventh in the nation last season in receptions per game (7.77) and 18th in receiving yards (1,105). Entering his junior season, Page needs 49 receptions to pass former UT wideout Lance Moore as UT’s all-time leader.
“He’s already gotten better; his spring was outstanding,” Beckman said. He’s also taken over more of a leadership role. He doesn’t say anything. Eric is really quiet, but everybody looks at Eric and everybody follows Eric. That’s where I’ve seen his game mature.”
UT reports to training camp on Aug. 2 as it begins practice for the season-opening contest against FCS school New Hampshire on Sept. 1. The Rockets then face one of the most difficult two-game stretches of any team this season when it travels to Ohio State before returning to host Boise State.
“You want to play the bigger teams,” Marrow said. “They don’t respect us because we are in the MAC, a smaller conference. If you are a real competitor and you want to compete you will play against those guys.
“It’s a relentless schedule straight out of the gate. It can be good momentum or bad momentum but either way we want to come out 4-0 in our non-conference games and then get into the MAC schedule and try to win a MAC Championship.”

Some volunteer opportunities simply rub people the right way.
Consider the rib-judging gig at Smoke on the Water — Ribs for the Red Cross to be near the top of this list.
There, 13 celebrity judges will have the responsibility of determining which combination of meat rub and sauce is the tastiest.
“We have a lot of fun and we get really full,” said Brittany Barhite, who serves on the Smoke on the Water — Ribs for the Red Cross committee. “You can’t complain about free ribs.”
Barhite oversees the Glass Pig award, which is the Judges’ Choice honor to be awarded to one of the 11 rib vendors at this year’s contest. There is also the People’s Choice award, voted on by the public during the weekend event.
Oftentimes, the people and the judges speak the same language when it comes to rubs and sauces. Last year, both awards were won by AJ’s Doolittles of Lambertville.
Vying for the Glass Pig and People’s Choice awards with AJ’s Doolittle’s at the 2011 event will be Baldy-Q Rib Shack (Swanton); Big Moe’s (Kalamazoo); Deet’s BBQ (Maumee); Famous Dave’s (Toledo); Po Mo’s Ribs (Toledo); Johnson’s BBQ (Chesapeake, Va.); Sgt. Oink’s (Tiffin); Sidelines Sports Eatery (Toledo and Lambertville); Texas Roadhouse (Toledo); and Twist & Shout 4 BBQ (Carey).

Shaun Hegarty at the 2009 judging event.

Winners will be announced on- stage at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 7 prior to the John Michael Montgomery concert.
Each of the celebrity judges —members of the media, city government and community organizations — will judge the ribs based on appearance, taste, tenderness, sauce and overall impression.
“We get these huge turkey-roasting tins full of ribs and pass the tins around, one rib vendor at a time,” Barhite said, explaining the judges are free to sample as much as they want. “Typically they only take one slab because they know they have at least 12 more slabs to go. That’s about all they can handle.”
This year’s celebrity judges are Toledo Humane Society Executive Director John Dinon; FOX Toledo News anchor Shaun Hegarty; 13abc reporter Tony Geftos; Toledo Free Press Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller; Glass City Jungle blogger Lisa Renee Ward; 94.5 WXKR’s The Morning Show host Mark Benson; Toledo City Councilman Rob Ludeman; Columbia Gas of Ohio Communications and Community Relations Manager Chris Kozak; Toledo Zoo Chief Veterinarian Dr. Chris  Hanley; Girl in the Glass City blogger Christine Senack; WTOL morning anchor Jonathan Walsh; K100 DJ Ryan Nutter; and Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese of Toledo Monsignor Michael Billian. Local resident Kevin Kwiatkowski will also be a judge.
Kozak, who is serving as a rib judge for the fourth year, said he relishes the role.
“It’s a really amazing thing,” Kozak said. “You have a dozen racks sitting there, waiting to try. You don’t know which one is from where, each is different and distinct from the next —and they are all outstanding. But you can always tell the winner. It seems to just stand out from the rest and as soon as you try it, you go ‘That’s the one.’”
Kozak said the judges are aware of the seriousness of their role.
“For the vendors, this is not only their livelihood and career, but barbecue is personal,” Kozak said. “You can have wet or dry, Carolina, Memphis or Kansas City style, different cuts of ribs — there’s lots of thought, time and effort put into that rack of ribs. So you want to be sure you give each rib equal attention.”
Rachel Hepner Zawodny, a former rib judge who now serves as event chairwoman for Smoke on the Water – Ribs for the Red Cross, admits the tasting can get heated, especially for vendors vying for the hardware.
“The rib vendors set up their booths and they’ll have all their awards there with them, surrounding their booths,” Zawodny said. “That’s really what draws in people — the more awards, the more people you might get at the booth. It’s definitely competitive for them. They want to be the best, they want to be well-known and they want the recognition to draw people to their restaurant.”
In fact, the practice of judging the ribs behind the stage ended when some of the vendors began to question the fairness of the arrangement.
“They said, ‘How do we know?’ so we said, ‘We’ll show you,’” Barhite said.
The judging is now conducted under the watchful eye of the public — and vendors.
“The vendors like to display all these huge trophies they get,” Barhite said. “They promote it in their restaurant that they were the People’s Choice award winner. It really is a big deal for them.”
Barhite said Smoke on the Water — Ribs for the Red Cross is great for Toledo for several reasons.
“Not only is it a great fundraising event for the Red Cross, but it also brings camaraderie and excitement to Downtown Toledo,” she said. “We get boaters coming in on the water; you have all the people coming Downtown for three days. It’s just really nice to have an event in Downtown Toledo and see the park filled, people listening to music and enjoying the ribs. It’s just real nice to be a part of that.”

Fred Altvater

Hale Irwin won the U. S. Open at Inverness in 1979. Thirty-two years later, he shot his age, 66.

“Any time you can do that at any age, it’s pretty nice to do,” he said. “I hit a lot of really good shots. I played very well. I missed a few putts that I could have made. But all in all, I managed what I had very well, and I feel very good about tomorrow.”

When asked about his overall putting on the day, Irwin said, “If you hit the middle of the green, you’re not going to have a long putt. So what I was trying to do today was rather than just knock the flag out, I was just trying to put it in the bowl in the section where the flag was. I haven’t been reading the greens particularly well this week. They’re a little slower than I think all the players were anticipating and they’re a little soft, so the pace is not quite where they want. So instead of trying to do a lot, trying to get the ball close, I’m just trying to put it in the area, and that was pretty much the game plan today if you can have a game plan in golf, put it in the fairways and just put it in those areas where the flag is and go from there.”

Irwin was in contention at the PGA Senior Open at Valhalla but took a “Senior Siesta” as he called it for a couple of holes and let the title slip away. He feels that is the state of his game right now. At his age it is harder to find the intense concentration that it takes on every shot for a five hour round of golf.

“There’s just other interests,” he said. “Your life evolves and changes and ebbs and flows and I’m not worried about raising a family, I’m worried about spending more time with grandchildren, and that’s a good thing.”

Irwin was asked if he still had the confidence to win an event such as the U. S. Senior Open. He responded, “It would be foolish for me to stand up here and say there’s not an element of doubt. Hell, there was an element of doubt in 1979 when I stood on that first hole with a five?shot lead. How in the world do I hit the ball in the fairway? I wasn’t even worried about winning. Of course, there’s always that. There is always those demons that want to crawl up your leg and get inside your shirt and inside your head, and in my era I’ve played with some of the best players that have ever played this game. You learn from that, and see it’s there in everybody, but the great champions have a way of overcoming that doubt. That anxiousness they turn into a positive, and it becomes their driving force.  Yeah, it’s there, but you acknowledge it and you move on and you say I’m just not going to let it overcome me.”

Irwin has had a story book career and has been a class act. He had 20 PGA wins and captured three U. S. Opens. His round today was another jewel in an already stellar career.