January 31 2000, Kalamazoo, MI
It’s been a cold winter up here in Michigan. Al and Sue’s hard work has paid off and Sue’s house has been sold. Now that’s dedication to the sport!!!! Dave Feldberg and I have been working on merchandise, and the Winnie now has it’s own line of hotstamps on Innova discs. We are calling them Winnidiscs. This year’s tour is now designated as the Winnitour. We are working hard on setting up a website where the discs can be purchased. For now they’ll be available at our traveling home or if anyone desires to buy a bunch of discs (50 or more) they can email me at winnidiscs@aol.com and we’ll set something up.
My coach and pal, Mike Raley, and I took off for Kansas City for a week during the new years holiday. We stayed with Halbaby Kurz and played the heck out of the KC courses. The weather was awesome and we had a great time. Thanks again Hal for your hospitality.
Aquaboy is in desperate need of a new nickname but he didn’t let that bother him and he headed down to Florida for a millennium concert/party with Phish. He had a great time (from what he remembers) and even stopped in at Cliff Stephens to play a few rounds with Ken Climo. Ken, you’ll always be the ‘Champ’ in our book.
Other happenings over the past couple months include Todd and Dave playing together in a small doubles tournament at Lemon Lake park in Indiana. We didn’t do so hot. It was real cold and super windy. We didn’t cash. Alex Bingman and his partner both threw aces on the day to capture the ace pool. The tournament was won by Ken Mahala and his partner (sorry for the forgotten names).
The Winnebago has been under steady remodeling this winter, but it’s difficult to get out and work on it in the bitter cold. Dave and I have built shelves in the main closet to hold our sales inventory. We removed the countertop, sinks, and stove in favor of some drawers and more room for people to sit. The bathroom has been emptied of fixtures and shelves were added there for more storage. Also removed for storage purposes are the water tank and propane heater. We bought a storage container that hooks into the hitch and sits behind the spare tire too.
All this additional room will be needed since we’ll have Myself, Al, Dave, Sue, Hyzer, Helix and Al’s hound dog ‘Storm” in the Winnebago for the entire season this year. We’re shaping up to be a real touring force this year.
- Al will be part of the primary Innova team in 2000.
- Sue is unsponsored as of yet.
- Dave will be playing for Deadeye Discs.
- I am still working on sponsorship. I’ve had offers from a few different companies but it looks like I’ll be golfing for Gateway Disc Sports with Harold Hampton, Shawn Sinclair, and Craig Leyva.
- The pets don’t have any sponsors either but are working on it.
January 22nd was The Real Ice Bowl in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The event was directed by Joe Weinshel. It was a great event despite the zero degree biting cold. Al and I shot so-so during the first round of best shot with a -12. We were tied for 5th with 6 other teams. The leaders (whom we played with in the first round) were Scott and Tim Martin at -15. Brad Schick and Kevin Stewart teamed up and were also sitting at -15 after the first round. Pat Vitale and Doug Chilcote shot -13 in the first round.
Al and I turned it up during the second round and shot -9 in alternate shot.
Final scores were:
- Tim/Scott Martin -22
- Todd/Al -21
- Schick/Stewart -21
- Vitale/Chilcote -20
It was a fine tournament. Al and I set up a little booth and sold about 100 of our new hotstamped discs.
We donated $126 in merchandise and cash to the “Boys and Girls Club” charity. The tournament itself ended up raising a ton of money for charity.
Steady Ed Headrick was also in attendance and gave the tournament prestigious flavor as the “Grand Marshall” of the Real Ice Bowl. He wasn’t too sure what his actual duties were but performed them with a grandeur that only Ed can provide.
At present we are getting ready to play in the “Cracked Plastic Classic” at Coldbrook park in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Feb. 5th (B-tier), then head for Florida on February 7th. Al and Sue will trek southward a few days before Dave and I leave in the Winnie. The Triple Crown should be a good start to the PDGA tour.
- Todd
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