The Akron Bearing 76th Anniversary Golf Extravaganza was played this past Sunday at Mayfair Country Club, and was another huge success. The weather was wonderful, especially after the weatherman had predicted a 90% chance of rain the week leading up to the outing. It actually turned out perfect, warm but not hot (except for the players on one certain team). I hope everyone that participated had a great time......I know I did! Doing a great job catering for the outing again this year was former ABC employee Denny Gray, owner of Al's Quality Meats in downtown Barberton, Ohio. Denny and his crew prepared a fabulous feast of prime rib, spicy Hungarian smoked salmon and all the fixings.

Twenty two groups took to the course in search of the elusive Akron Bearing championship, and the title of “2016 CHAMPIONS” went to the team of Tony Falatok (Akron Bearing), Randy Chesko, Tom Swick & Jeff Pierce (Medart). They managed to post the winning score of 9 strokes under par. They won by 3 strokes over the squad of Kevin Delagrange (Akron Bearing), Mark West (BDS), Eugene Curley & Wayne Schmidt (both with Landmark Plastics) who came in 2nd with a score of minus 6. Taking the Bronze Medal for their 3rd place finish at 5 under were Steve Rosic (Regal Beloit), Dave Yoak (B.E.S.) Greg Gnap & Bill Porter (both with Fallsway Equipment).

Once again this year Akron Bearing Golf Extravaganza featured our SPEED HOLE where the score did not matter, only the amount of time it took for a group to get the ball from the tee to in the cup. Thus, the speed hole (hole # 17, 372 yards long) had its own separate prizes for the speediest of groups. The winning squad, with an incredible ABC Golf Outing & likely world record time of just 32.1 seconds was comprised of Tony Falatok (Akron Bearing), Randy Chesko, Tom Swick, Jeff Pierce (all 3 from Medart). Since Usain Bolt’s world record time in the 100 meters is 9.58 seconds, at that pace it would have taken him 32.6 seconds to run full tilt from tee to the hole.

Yes, Usain Bolt would be slower than our speed hole champs!!!!

The "Emperors of Accuracy" that won the closest to the pin contests on the par 3's were Kirk “Slappy” Armbrewster (Merryweather Foam) on hole # 3, Frank Roman (Recycling Coordinators) on hole # 9, and Greg Gnap (Fallsway Equipment) on hole # 11. The "Sultan of Swat" that belted the longest drive on the 13th hole was Drew “Moose” Engler (Martin Sprocket & Gear). The "Mister Clutch Award" for the longest putt made on hole 18 went to Joe Dobina (Dobina “We do not work for an insurance company; we work for you” Insurance). Congrats and a dozen Pro-V 1 golf balls to those fellows as they displayed their considerable golf prowess.

There were 3 skins out in The Skins Game. A birdie on hole # 18 netted some cash for Dane Pownall & Dan Pratt (both with Americhem) and Joe & Bryan Dobina (both with Dobina Insurance). Birdies on 7 and 14 were good for the championship squad of Tony Falatok (Akron Bearing), Randy Chesko, Tom Swick & Jeff Pierce (Medart).

This year we had four primary benefactor companies that opted to sponsor certain parts of our outing. A special thank you goes out to following:

Rob Wolfgram from Smith Bearing who sponsored the Hole-In-One contest on all the par 3 holes again this year.
Scott Kuhn and the folks at Bearings Limited who sponsored the Speed Hole.
Tod Daniels from NTN Bearing, who provided the extra funds for the Skins Game.
Steve Rosic with Regal Beloit who provided the goody bags at check-in.

All of us at Akron Bearing are very grateful to the many fine vendor partners that sponsored our golf outing, since without them this event would not be possible. Not only did they assist financially by attending, but every single one also helped by donating the great prizes that we were able to distribute at the outing's conclusion. Sponsoring this year (attendee in parenthesis) were:

Baldor Electric (Steve Stavnicky)
Bando USA (Chris Herms)
Bearing & Drive Systems (Ray Bloch)
Bearings Limited (Scott Kuhn)
Bearings Mfg Co. (Erica Tygert & Mark West)
Cleveland Gear (Ed McTernan & Jim Murphy)
Dobina Insurance (Joe & Bryan Dobina)
IDC-USA (Wade Berry)
Martin Sprocket (Drew Engler)
Maurey Mfg. (Joe & Taylor Maurey)
Nachi Bearing (John Halter)
Regal Beloit (Steve Rosic)
Rexnord
SKF Sealing Solutions
Smith Bearing (Rob Wolfgram)
Summit Toyota (John Heslop).

Many vendors supported the outing through prize donations even though they were unable to be there in person. They included:

AIE Casters, Belden Hutter, Chase Bank, Consolidated Bearing, Copeco, Garlock Seals, Isostatic Industries, Jason Industrial, K-Tool, Kimball Midwest, Koyo Bearing, Loctite, Lubriplate Lubricants, Nord Gear, RBC Bearing Co, Smith Industrial and Three Rivers Industrial Products.

We really appreciate all those prizes since they help make our outing one that our customers truly enjoy attending year after year.

I would be remiss if I were to not acknowledge the efforts of Jake Cole (beer cart driver), Jessica Cook (Speed Hole timer) and Sarah Falatok (assistant to the photographer and she who keeps Tony in line). They fearlessly performed their duties and helped to make our outing a success.

A very special MUCHOS GRACIAS goes out to D. J. (Dan) Kalgreen, who has taken over the big chore of organizing the annual Golf Extravaganza. He did a wonderful job in helping to make 2016 one of, if not THE best Akron Bearing outing ever. It was a fitting way to celebrate our 76 years of supporting industry and keeping jobs in northeast Ohio.

And of course, to our customers that support us and use our services throughout the year, the golf outing is one small way that we can say thanks. Without our great customers, none of this would be possible!

Hope to see you next year!