By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
For all the dollars the Colonel Crawford Athletic Boosters brings in with its annual Corvette raffle, the booster club decided to return the favor to all the other clubs that supported them through the years.
Athletic Booster member Mark Teynor presented $500 checks to the Eliminators Car Club, the Wyandot Classics and Cruisers Car Club, the Lincoln Highway Pontiac Club, and the Bucyrus Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.) Friday afternoon. Two kiddie tractors supplied by Burkhart Farm Center were also donated to the F.O.P. and Wyandot Classics and Cruisers for their summer car shows.
“We decided to help out because these guys have been helping us out from the start of our endeavor. Seventeen years now,” Teynor explained. “That’s how we started – going to their car shows.”
The Colonel Crawford Athletic Boosters is known for its annual Corvette raffle, which locals Ron and Marcia Burkhart won this year. Prior to the drawing in April, the booster club takes the Corvette on the road to promote the raffle, including stops at the former Graffiti Cruise and the Wyandot Classics and Cruisers car show in Upper Sandusky.
“We’ve been doing the raffle as long as their show has been going on,” Teynor said of the Upper Sandusky car show. “The year they started, we started. It’s been a good friendship.”
That friendship has always included a fee waiver to the car shows, new contacts, and more entries for the raffle.
“We spend $15,000 or more a year in advertising and they never benefitted from any of that,” Teynor added. “It was pretty logical to be able to help them out.”
Detective Tracy Keegan accepted a check on behalf of the F.O.P. and its Cruisin’ with the Cops car show.
“They’re always at the (Graffiti Cruise) car show,” Keegan said, “and we figured they’d be at ours with the Corvette. When they stepped up and said they wanted to donate some money towards it that was great because we wanted to reach out to them, too, to make sure the Corvette was here.”
The Corvette, whether a 1957 red and white convertible with white wall tires or a snazzy 1965 Coup, makes a statement wherever the latest raffle model goes, a point that Keegan was well aware of.
“Over all the years I’ve been here I’ve always seen the ‘Vette. I’ve purchased a ticket, but never won it,” Keegan said. “We’re glad for the donation. We’re happy they wanted to step up and support the cause.”
Mike Young of the Wyandot Classics and Cruisers Car Club echoed Keegan’s gratitude.
“It really helps. It makes a big difference,” Young said. “One hundred percent of it goes to Hospice of Wyandot County. Last year we were able to give $24,000 to Hospice.”
Young said their car show will take place on Sept. 23 and will feature nearly 750 cars.
Carl Cooperider with the Eliminators Car Club was equally appreciative.
“It’s great. It couldn’t have come at a better time for us. We had a little problem with our treasury lately and it was a nice boost,” Cooperider said. “We appreciate it a lot.”
The Eliminators will be having its Cruise-in to Benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities on Sept. 17. Over the past 11 years, the Eliminators have donated $30,000 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.