Page 48 - Sept 2017

ONE FINE DAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 47
Daniel Herbert and Baum Sigman Auerbach & Neuman, Ltd.
A smaller number of golfers playing than in past years and a new approach to the raffle that provided fewer but more valuable prizes contributed to the calm. And Cog Hill CEO Frank Jemsek used some prayer and luck to hold off the storm.
And while Jemsek brought the luck, he passed the credit for a significantly successful golf outing to those who put in the work.
“The people who volunteer and work all the hours on the committee, they are the keys to the outing,” Jemsek explained. “This outing, I have never met a more dedicat- ed group of people. They just bleed blue. They were on a religious crusade for Police Officers.”
The result of the crusade was palpable to Lodge 7 Trust- ee Bill Doherty, who has organized nearly 10 FOP golf out- ings in the past. He advised that all members take a day like this to relax, even if it’s not on the golf course.
“With so much going on, the stress for coppers is so high, it’s ridiculous,” he submitted. “You have to have an outlet on this job. And if you don’t, it’s going to eat you up.”
Kevin Prendkowski, a district intelligence officer in 008, played in the Lodge 7 golf outing for the third consecutive year because he, too, wanted a day away from the job. He takes one on the golf course every week during the sum- mer, playing in the Police Officers’ league at Water’s Edge Golf Club in Worth on Mondays.
Lodge 7 golf outing committee members, from left: John Capparelli, Brita Ga ney, Cog Hill CEO Frank Jemsek and Ken Hauser.
Players who took on the hole-in-one challenge and million-dollar shot.
“I guess golf takes the edge off a lot of things,” he noted.
Prendkowski also confirmed there is something special about the Lodge 7 golf outing.
“I am following in my father’s footsteps being in the FOP,” he added. “I love this chance to see people you hav- en’t seen in a while. The weather was great. The people are nice. You can’t beat it.”
Before the day culminated with the raffle that featured two large flat-screen televisions among many gift baskets, ticket giveaways and golf foursomes, the outing offered the hole-in-one shootout and million-dollar shot. Play- ing the 180-yard, par-3 ninth hole on Course No. 3 that runs along the pavilion, four players won the chance to win $100,000 by making a hole-in-one, and another player won the raffle to go for the hole-in-one that would earn him $1 million.
Among the four hopefuls were Walter Richards, who works in 009 and has been on the job for 32 years; Nick Duffy, whose father was on the job for 35 years and is a retired Lodge 7 member; Chicago Firefighter Mike Regal; and Jim Tracy, the new president of CFD Local 2. Tracy came the closest, though not close to the hole in one.
“I did not hit the right club,” Tracy said. “My golf game is a little off right now. The job is keeping me pretty busy.” Longtime Lodge 7 supporter Dave Dunham, Chief Mar- keting Officer for the Chicago Patrolman’s Federal Credit Union, then stepped up to take million-dollar shot. Dun- ham generated a burst of excitement with a shot that was
right on line. But a little short.
Still, by this point of the outing, there was nothing to
lose.
“We are here supporting a great cause, the FOP Lodge
7 and all they do for us,” Dunham asserted. “This is a way for us to give back to them. If we contribute and do some- thing good, it’s a great day. And it always has been.” d
48 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2017