2004 Bobby Mitchell/Toyota Hall of Fame Classic

2004 Bobby Mitchell/Toyota Hall of Fame Classic Raises More than $1/2 Million for Blood Cancer Research WANADA Dealers and Others Golf and Dine with Sports Greats

–There are only two types of people: those who can help and those who need help and those roles can change in a heartbeat,” said popular broadcaster Paul Berry, who was the emcee for Saturday nightês gala dinner at the Bobby Mitchell/Toyota Hall of Fame Classic sponsored by the Washington Area Auto Dealers. –We are here tonight to help and we can helpÄput the Classic over the half-million dollar mark.”

And thatês exactly what happened thanks to the strong support of the dealer community and the steadfast loyalty of 36 NFL and NBA Hall of Famers on hand for the event. Preliminary figures show the 14th annual Classic raised $505,000 for the benefit of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The highlight of the evening was a moving video and testimonial by the Bob and Florence Stewart family, whose teenage sons, Manni and Jabari, are both leukemia survivors. (A third son, Aziz, is unaffected.) The Stewarts offered heartfelt gratitude to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Bobby Mitchell and all in attendance for their –phenomenal support and commitment to finding a cure for these terrible diseases.”

In return, the crowd gave the Stewarts a prolonged standing ovation.

–Howês that for an example of why weêre here this weekend?” Berry asked the dinner crowd. As emcee Berry proceeded to do what he does well: get every last dollar from the attendees of the live auction.

One of the first items auctioned was a football autographed by all the Hall of Famers in attendance. The high bidder was DARCARSê Jamie Darvish, who promptly donated the prized item to the Stewart brothers.

Other live auction items helping to put the Classic over the top included a plasma TV, a first-class golf outing at Pebble Beach, a 4-day Caribbean cruise aboard a fabulous 147-foot yacht, and two round trip tickets to anywhere in the world Delta flies. A special attraction in the silent auction was a box of Sonny Jurgensenês custom made SJ-9 cigars. A raffle following the live auction resulted in Tony Patrick, a BMC participant, winning a 2004 Toyota Highlander.

Event co-chairs, Tammy Darvish of DARCARS Automotive and Todd Heavner of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, praised Bobby Mitchell and the eventês volunteers and supporters. –We set a fundraising record for this event because of Bobby Mitchellês tremendous dedication, the hard work of our volunteers, the Hall of Famers ongoing support, and the generosity of everyone here tonight,” said Darvish. On the progress front, it was noted that the cure rate for child leukemia is 80 percent a vast improvement from 4 percent in the 1960s.

–Today, we are about those families in the 20 percent group,” said David Timko, executive director of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. –If there is a worse day than when parents are told their child has cancer, it is when they are told that the child has relapsed. We can give those 20 percent hope.”

Mitchell returned the praise for his co-chairs, Darvish and Heavner, who he said kept the heat on the event coordinators and –just would not let us lay down. We have really made a difference, but we canêt stop our work until we find a cure.” he added.

Mitchell has been involved with combating leukemia since the death of Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis in the early 1960s. Since initiating the Hall of Fame Classic 14 years ago, the event has raised more than $3.5 million for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society research. In just the past four years, since WANADA got involved, the BMC has raised $1.8 million.

The weekend events, held at Lansdowne Resort in Lansdowne, VA, featured a –Tournament Practice Round” on Saturday, followed by a VIP private reception with all of the Hall of Famers and a chance to view and bid on a large number of items donated for the silent auction. The room full of guests at Saturday nightês banquet was treated to the off-the-cuff antics of emcee Paul Berry and the sharp and often humorous repartee among Mitchell, Berry and the sports legends who sat at each table.

A highlight of the evening was Bobby and his wife, Gwen, starring in a video tribute to major tournament sponsors, which besides WANADA and Toyota, were: BB&T, Comcast, COSTCO, DARCARS, Delta, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Jeep, Lansdowne Resort, Pepsi, SportsTalk 980, and VEHIX.com.

And talk about reaping what you sow, on Sunday Bobby Mitchell won the Grand Prize in his own golf tournamentãwith a lot of help from the Toyota/Ourisman team. Gallery attendees competed in the –Toyota Shootout” closest-to-the-pin contest for a chance to win a new Corolla.

In addition to former Redskins Bill Dudley, Ken Houston, Sam Huff, Sonny Jurgensen, Bobby Mitchell, and Charley Taylor, 2004 inductees Bob Brown and Carl Eller joined this years lineup of Hall of Famers, which also included Lem Barney, Bobby Bell, Elvin Bethea, Mel Blount, Lou Creekmur, Joe DeLamielleure, Hal Greer, Ted Hendricks, Charlie Joiner, Sam Jones, Leroy Kelly, Paul Krause, Willie Lanier, Yale Lary, Dante Lavelli, Tom Mack, Gino Marchetti, Mike McCormack, Tommy McDonald, Lenny Moore, Ace Parker, Joe Perry, Mel Renfro, Oscar Robertson, Billy Shaw, Bob St. Clair, Dave Wilcox, and Ron Yary.