Disc Golf tourney nets $5,000+ for internships

Good. “What are you going to do next?” —Ed Bartholomew, via his sister

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A charity, disc-golf tournament netted more than $5,000 for a foundation that plans to fund business internships in the area. The internships will be aimed at small or nonprofit businesses and people who might have a harder time winning those internships, officials said. 

The tournament supported the newly-formed Edward M. Bartholomew, Jr. Memorial Fund. Unofficially called “The Ed,” it’s named after the former mayor, business booster and politician, who died unexpectedly last year. 

The board that will oversee this foundation is still being set-up but will include people from the community, from Bartholomew’s family and from the Warren County Economic Development Corporation, which hosted the tournament. Bartholomew was the head of the Warren County EDC, and other Glens Falls business groups, at the time of his death. 

“This is designed, with the business community, to be an ongoing effort,” said current WarrenEDC CEO, Jim Siplon.

This foundation is different than an educational scholarship fund in Bartholomew’s name, created after he died. 

The hope is to have 15 to 20 interns in the community in a few years, Siplon said. The fund will help pay for internships for students, veterans and people with differing abilities at Warren County nonprofits and small businesses, and will match interns with internship locations twice yearly, a press release about the tournament said. The fund is held under the umbrella of the Glens Falls Foundation.

The Warren County Economic Development Corporation organized the event, and Innova Discs was on hand to aid in running the tournament. 

“Today is the first event of many,” Siplon told the players after the tournament finished. Get used to seeing “The Ed” logo, he added. 

The tournament ran Friday afternoon Sept. 17 and featured about 36 golfers. Set in the woods of Crandall Park, the disc golf course uses frisbee-style throwing discs, rather than golf balls and clubs. Each disc-golfer attempts to throw the disc into a metal basket in the fewest throws possible. 

Elizabeth Little Hogan, who was instrumental in bringing the disc golf course to Crandall Park, worked with her husband to place 44 bags of mulch on the course, especially hole #18, just before the tournament, she said.

A new garnet slab bridge from Barton Mines was installed the day before the tournament to help players over a wet portion of hole #13 . Volt Landscaping also helped, Little said. 

“This morning was insane,” she said, referring to the tournament preparation.

Amy Potter, the marketing and communications director of the WarrenEDC gave “a HUGE shout-out to the Crandall Park Beautification Committee for working on the course hours before the event to make sure our guests had the best experience!”

Tyler Calzada and Karly Daly took the men’s and women’s titles.

Calzada shot a 44, “a personal best” he said. Par on the course is 55.

“It’s such a casual, nice, fun sport,” Daly said. She shot a 58.

The price of discs to play is low, about $30 for a starter set, and the courses in the area are free.

“It’s not elitist,” said Ed Bartholomew’s sister, Glenda Bartholomew Kelman. She said her brother would have liked that it is a game available to everyone.  

She and others in Ed’s family, including his 95-year-old mother, Lillian Bartholomew, and his long-time companion Maggie Cafaro, came out to support the tournament and foundation. 

Bartholomew Kelman said her brother would have liked this event and would have praised those who ran it, and then he would have asked: “What are you going to do next?”

Winners, Men:

  • First: Tyler Calazada 44
  • Second: Robert Harriman 54
  • Third: Tom Portuese 57

Winners, Women:

  • First: Karly Daly 58
  • Second: Elizabeth Little Hogan 66
  • Third: Susan Siplon 80