Hall of Famers play second string to a surprise starter
By David Dowgiello
It takes a tremendous amount of strength and courage to thieve something from a group of Hall of Famers.
But that’s exactly what 11-year-old Emily Zimmerman did as the patient-hero for the 18th annual Bobby Mitchell/Toyota Hall of Fame Golf Classic.
The tournament held July 13 at Lansdowne Resort raised $660,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The event, which features pro football and basketball Hall of Famers, has raised more than $6 million since its inception in 1990.
NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson and his team captured this year's tournament title with an 18-hole best-ball format score of 57.
But amid the shadows of towering legends and the glimmer of championship rings, it was young Emily who stole the spotlight.
Emily's story
Emily was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the spring of 2005 when a trip to the doctor to treat a virus revealed the shocking news. Suddenly the normal life of an outgoing and active young girl was turned upside down.
Over the next 18 months, the Zimmerman family was constantly carting Emily from their home in Frederick, Md., to Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore about 50 miles away.
“There was one point where I stayed with Emily in the hospital for 56 days straight,” said Emily's mother, Sandy.
Emily underwent countless rounds of chemotherapy and numerous spinal taps. No longer was she able to partake in activities she so thoroughly enjoyed such as basketball, soccer and golf, nor could she join her peers in school.
Emily had every reason and every right to succumb and to become a statistic. No one would expect a child to fight a disease that the medical world had been fighting for decades.
But Emily is a different breed. She chose to fight.
Recently, Emily has been able to return to a life that is somewhat normal. Her hospital visits are less frequent. Her hair has finally grown back. While in the hospital, she was home-schooled and successfully completed the fifth grade. She will rejoin her peers next year as a sixth-grader in junior high. And just last week, Emily attended a golf camp.
The tournament
This year’s tournament featured all six of the 2008 NFL Hall of Fame inductees, including Redskin greats Darrell Green and Art Monk. With more than 40 Hall-of-Fame participants, the tournament has been hailed as the largest annual gathering of Hall of Famers outside of the actual Hall in Canton, Ohio.
“This is really a great event,” said former New York Giant and Redskin linebacker Sam Huff. “I mean, what other event could draw this many Hall of Famers? And best of all, it’s all about raising money to help people that need help.”
Bobby Mitchell, a former flanker for the Redskins who was enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame in 1983, said when he started this tournament, he wasn't sure it would work. He said he appreciates the athletes' traveling so far to support the tournament.
“They come back because this event has become a place to clear the mind,” he said. “Once they give back, they feel really good for a long while.”
Mitchell takes personally the plight of the children he is working to help.
“Athletes love kids, and the young patient-heroes make us want to come back,” he said. “We are here for the mission to help these young kids. Their fight is our fight.”
Sonny Jurgensen, former Redskin quarterback and a 1983 inductee, said, “I’m out here because of what this tournament stands for. I’ve seen it grow, I’ve seen the patient-heroes and their smiles, and that’s what it’s all about.”
1995 Hall of Fame inductee and former Seattle Seahawk receiver Steve Largent said, “It’s about the kids -- I have four of my own, so participating is really an issue of the heart for me.”
Largent also commented about being in the presence of so many NFL greats:
“I’m in awe. I still feel like I’m a spectator out here.”
Unlike Largent, Emily showed no signs of being timid or star-struck around the legendary athletes.
The littlest legend
Emily putted for former Redskin receiver Art Monk. She drove the ball off the tee for former New England Patriot linebacker Andre Tippett, and she hit an iron shot from the fairway for former Redskin receiver Charley Taylor.
On this weekend, Emily truly was the star of the show. Outgoing, intelligent and effervescent, Emily had the press and the public eating out of the palm of her hand and the superstars on a string. Her charisma and spunk had her standing taller than any athlete there. This weekend was a play drawn up perfectly for Emily.
In a life where she has had to endure so much and had so little control, she was finally able to call the shots. Things went her way for one beautiful weekend.