Cancer fundraising golf tournament set for Lane Tree
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 10, 2018 5:50 AM
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Members of the committee putting together the Tee It Up Fore Clint fundraising golf tournament for the Clint Newcomb family pose with some of the items that have been donated for a silent auction. The tournament will be played Saturday at Lane Tree Golf Club.
For the 30 teams that will compete Saturday at Lane Tree Golf Club, the prize won't be so much posting the winning score as it will be helping someone in need.
The Tee It Up Fore Clint fundraising golf tournament will get underway at 2 p.m. for Clint Newcomb, assistant grounds superintendent at the club, who is being treated for squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer.
"This is not about scoring," said Jeff Cannon, club manager. "You are going to have some competitive teams in there without a doubt, but it is about Clint."
The rain date is July 21.
Newcomb, 40, has been the assistant grounds superintendent at Lane Tree, 2317 Salem Church Road, for about 20 years.
He and his wife, Amanda, have a son, Cam, 16.
Newcomb and grounds superintendent Chad Matthews went to school together at Eastern Wayne High School.
"He has been my right-hand man," Chad Matthews said. "He has been my backbone. He could almost do what I want to do without me having to say anything.
"He is that good. He is my memory. He knows things before it even comes out of my mouth. He means a lot to me and the golf course, and to Jeff and our families."
Newcomb has helped with repair work inside the club building as well, Cannon said.
"We have grown really close over the last four or five years," he said. "There is not a real big turnover here, and it is more like a family.
"I guess it is because he is such a great guy. He has never done anything to anybody. When we heard cancer we knew there were going to be medical bills."
Cannon and the Matthewses are members of a committee planning the fundraiser. Also on the committee are: Shane and Allison Gipson, Ashley Zills, Mike and Kathie Hooks, Johnny and Missy McFatter and Clint Newcomb's sister, Paige Newcomb.
Allison Gipson and Ashley Zills have been friends with Amanda Newcomb since elementary school.
"Jeff and Chad had mentioned to one another about wanting to do something to help and when I said something to Chad he said Jeff had said something about that, too," Barbara Matthews said.
She sent a message to Cannon about a possible fundraiser.
The three said when they sat down for their first meeting that they would have never anticipated the response they have received.
At the start of meeting they had 11 or 12 teams, and by the end, nearly 25.
It reached 30 by the next day, and there is a waiting list, Cannon said.
"With 30 teams we will have to play eightsomes, which is pretty much unheard of," Cannon said. "Twenty-two is usually a full field.
"So when it got to 22, well, there were two or three teams that (said), 'We've got to get in this thing.'
"So we said we will pack it up. Then the next thing you know, we are worried about running out of golf carts. So we decided we had to stop it at 30 teams."
With a field that large, Cannon expects it will take five hours or so to play the tournament.
"It's going to be the hottest part of the day, but it is not going to be about the score," he said. "Now there will be prizes for the ones who finish, but it is more about watching how good people can be."
There is no set goal for the fundraiser that will include a silent auction and 50/50 drawing.
People do not have to play in the tournament to participate in the silent auction and drawing. They can just stop by the clubhouse at 7 p.m., Cannon said.
Chad Matthews said the news that Newcomb had cancer hit home for him.
The Matthewses also thought of their son, Andrew.
Andrew, who was 12 at time, became really sick about February.
"He kept on getting sicker and sicker," Chad Matthews said. "He ended up in the children's hospital in Greenville and found out after three spinals taps, an MRI (and) two CT scans that he had viral meningitis."
Andrew was hospitalized for almost a month, including a week spent in ICU.
"We have kind of experienced all of this stuff that Clint is going through now," Chad Matthews said. "Even after Andrew got better, we were so anxious.
"People have helped us, and we are ready to get out and do something for somebody else. I didn't know it was going to be my assistant. But they are definitely in need."
"We saw what people did for us," Barbara Matthews said. "We had friends. A girl from Hawaii started a Go Fund Me page. Churches put us on prayer lists from California, Alaska, Mexico, New York (and) Florida.
"It was amazing, and we just witnessed things people did for us, and we just wanted to be a part and pay back. There is so much negativity in world today it is just refreshing to see how the community comes together, and there is so much good out there."
People came together with prayer, but then they started to come together with the financial help for the Matthews family, Cannon said.
"Then it seemed like no sooner did Andrew get better and then this thing hit with Clint," he said.
Bill Lane has donated use of the golf course on Saturday. Donations also have come from the Goldsboro Family YMCA, Bicycle World and Char-Broil, and there are a countless number of hole sponsors, Cannon said.
Food for the event has been donated, and Cannon has received donations from people who want to remain anonymous.
People are calling, coming in and even mailing in checks, he said.
"It is just amazing how the community has come together to support this family," Barbara Matthews said.
Riccobene Associates Family Dentistry, where Amanda Newcomb works, has set up an account on www.mealtrain.com to help organize meals for the family.
For more information, or to make a donation, call Cannon at 919-734-1245 ext. 22.