MIA Squire's Pro-Am Raises Money for Marco Island Academy

Beautiful weather greeted golfers Sunday afternoon, October 29, at the Island Country Club for the MIA Squire’s Pro-Am Fundraiser. Winners were named in Men’s Flight, Mixed Flight, longest drive and closest to the pin categories. The event is Marco Island Academy’s biggest annual fundraiser.

The event bears the nickname of one of the most famous people to call Marco Island home, Gene Sarazen. Sarazen was one of the greatest golfers of all time. The first to win all four grand slam events, he is known for hitting arguably the greatest shot in the history of the Masters tournament. His double eagle in the 1935 Masters, called the “shot heard ‘round the world,” led to his only Masters title. Sarazen is one of only five golfers to win the career grand slam: PGA Championship, U.S. Open, Masters, and British Open. He also invented the modern sand wedge. Sarazen was once the resident golf professional at the Island Country Club and lived on Marco Island until his death in 1999 at 97.

Terry McCreanor remembers putting together the MIA Squire’s Pro-Am over a decade ago. 

"We set it up,” McCreanor said. "We had Mary Ann Sarazen involved. We were able to take her dad’s nickname, The Squire. It's in his memory. It’s an event that gets people introduced to the school in a different way, which to me is a nice way to do it."

“Terry’s basically the host for this event and he's our coordinator,” said Jane Watt, founder and board chair of MIA. “He helps assemble all the teams and lays it out for us.”

The MIA Squire’s Pro-Am is a 22-team scramble. There are five members on each team.

“We’re four normal golfers and the fifth would be a pro,” McCreanor said. "We had trouble getting pros so we partnered with Tara McKenna at Florida Gulf Coast University. These are pros in training at FGCU. Tara runs that program. It just opened up a different world for us."

Watt remembers when McCreanor opened up a different world for MIA.

"We went through some hard times in the beginning at MIA,” Watt said. "I mean, really hard times. And I actually had reached out to Terry, in a bit of a situation. We didn't have enough money to pay the bills. I was trying to find somebody who might loan the school money because the bank wouldn’t. We were too high risk. And I reached out to Terry. We were trying to put the infrastructure in and we were in trouble. I think when I called him, I was crying. He called me the next day and asked me if I could stop by his office. And I said yes. We sat down and he starts talking to me, and then when I went to leave he said, ‘Wait, I've got something here for you.' And he goes and he hands over a check for $100,000. We were in desperate times. I was overwhelmed."

As a public charter high school, MIA has a yearly financial obligation to satisfy.

"We have to make a little over $1 million every year towards our Student Success Fund,” Watt said, "in order to make sure that we can continue to provide what we provide for our students. So this is a critical piece of how we do that."

The Men’s Flight was won by the Post, Post, Sherwood, Minerva, Myers team, who scored a 54. The McCreanor, Erickson, Chrismer, Mogan, Smith team finished second with a 60.

The Mixed Flight was won by the Schreiber, Schreiber, Betancourt, Betancourt, Haynes team with a 57. The Ilnicki, Friedhoff, Callahan, Callahan, O’Neill team finished second with a 61.

Dinos Iordanou won the men’s closest to the pin at 2’3”. Odalys Betancourt won the women’s at 8’1” from the pin. Marco Island police chief Tracy Frazzano won the women’s longest drive competition. The longest men’s drive competition was won by Brooks Garber. Caden Langley had the longest drive among professionals.

Watt said the MIA Squire’s Pro-Am has become a community tradition.

"It's been an important part of our school,” Watt said, "we love it because I feel like it really brings the community together in a way that is very positive. It's a day for people to have fun, enjoy each other's company and it's for an amazing cause. Our school couldn't operate without the support that we get from the people who attend this. So we're incredibly grateful."