Why I host the annual Bob Kravitz ALS Golf Classic

For my mother, who passed away from ALS in 2007. For my father, who was a saint who supported and loved her until the very end. For all those afflicted with this terrible disease. For the cause.

It blows me away, the fact that we’re approaching the date of the 13^th annual Bob Kravitz ALS Golf Classic. It’s July 8 at Prairie View in Carmel and as always, I’m stunned it’s still rolling along, raising much-needed money for those who are afflicted with ALS and their caretakers. Before I go any further, a throaty thank you to the ALS Association, both the national and local branches. Their people do all the heavy lifting on this tournament; my only job is to get celebrities to participate.

As always, I’m thrilled at the willingness of local sports and sports media figures to play and help us raise money, and I’m particularly thrilled that Gene Keady, the Purdue coaching legend and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member, will be joining us. In the past, we’ve had Larry Bird, Rick Carlisle, Kevin Pritchard and, of course, Pat McAfee, who entertained everybody during a rain delay with a massive, high stakes card game in the bar/restaurant at Prairie View.

I do this for two people: My late mother, Edith, who passed away from ALS in 2007, and my late father, Richard, an angel on earth as he took care of my mom during a battle she couldn’t win.

ALS, as you may know, is incurable, but we hope that with every little bit of money we can raise toward finding a cure, we get a step closer to the ultimate goal of saving lives. In the meantime, we want to make life easier for those who have been afflicted, providing wheelchairs and other technology that helps our friends communicate. Toward the end of her life, she would write letters and work on a family genealogy using only her eyes to type out the words and letters.

There aren’t a lot of people who could inspire me to wear a kilt to a golf tournament – I did it one year in honor of the Kilted Warriors, a wonderful group of folks who threw all their support behind an afflicted family member – but I’ll do anything to help the cause.

I’ll admit, it can be depressing at times. Every year, we meet men and women who have this terrible, mean-spirited disease, and within a year or two, we don’t see them at the tournament any longer. We know what happened. You don’t survive ALS. You manage it. You accept it and you fight it at the same time. I am consistently moved by their bravery and their perspective.

It gives me great joy to note that Steve Gleason, the former New Orleans Saint who has ALS, will be honored at the upcoming ESPY’s.

My mom? She was a piece of work, and I say that in the most loving, admiring way possible. She was a woman way ahead of her time. She grew up dirt poor in Brooklyn. Her father couldn’t work because of a leg amputation. Her mother was an old-country immigrant who primarily spoke Yiddish. The family needed money, so my mom lied about her age and began working and supporting her family when she was a teenager.

As an adult, she was an activist, a women’s libber as the women’s liberation movement was taking shape. I remember lots of meeting of the National Organization for Women at our home. My dad would turn to my brother and I and say, “Well, the insurrectionists are here; let’s go upstairs and watch hockey.” He loved her madly, always did, and supported her social activism. He was proud of her. For the record, we didn’t know what “insurrectionists” meant, but we got the point.

She was a college graduate and she continued her education and received a master’s degree while my brother and I were growing up. Her love of learning and growing never waned. When she wasn’t doing all of that, she was traveling the world with my dad, who was a transmission-line engineer and did work in several foreign countries.

She worked in public relations, worked as an art teacher, worked as a magazine editor, among other jobs. She did a little bit of everything, and while my brother and I were something of latch-key kids, my folks supported us in any and all endeavors (except hockey; she rarely came to see me play, fearing for my health and well-being.) Let’s just say, my mom was the consummate New York Jewish mother, deeply involved in every aspect of our lives. When I started to show signs that I enjoyed writing and was reasonably good at it, she insisted on buying an electric typewriter, which passed for technology back in the 1970’s. That powder blue typewriter (I hated the color) got a ton of use over the years, and set the table for what would turn into my career.

My mom was a smart and amazing woman, a woman somewhat ahead of her time, and it’s in her memory, and the memory of my sainted father, that we’ve hosted this golf tournament every summer since 2012.

I will never forget her strength, grace and sense of humor as she dealt with this horrible disease. One day, she told me I should have beaten Mitch Albom to the punch and written a best-selling book, Tuesdays with Edith.

Near the end of her life, I went down to Florida to see my folks. With a failing voice, she had one question for her balding son.

“Have you ever considered Rogaine?” she asked.

A Jewish mother until the end.

If you’d like to put together a foursome or play as an individual, there are still openings and you can sign up rather easily at als.org. We’re also accepting donations, and if you have the desire to volunteer, please feel free to sign up on the website.

Again, the tournament is July 8 at Prairie View in Carmel. Check-in is at 10 and golf begins at 11. We’ve got a number of celebrities from the sports and media world, and I’m overjoyed to announce that Purdue legend Gene Keady will be among those participating.

I hope you’ll join us.