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NATCHEZ — Plenty of spots are still open in the 2025 Joe Fortunato-Allen Brown Golf Classic, which will take place on Saturday, May 3, at the Natchez Golf Club at Duncan Park with 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. shotgun starts. And probably more than usual with less than two weeks left.

As of last Saturday morning, Freddie Sandel, president of the Miss-Lou Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, said that fewer than 10 teams have already registered for the annual four-man scramble. He said he is hoping to reach the limit of 36 teams so that 18 teams can play in the morning and 18 can play in the afternoon.

This year’s tournament will also be the oldest-running golf tournament in the Miss-Lou area. The annual fundraiser for the Miss-Lou Chapter of the NFF-CHOF began back in the mid-1980s — when the golf course at Duncan Park still consisted of just nine holes, which, when expanded to 18 holes, became the back nine.

“We do things backwards,” Sandel said. “We give out the money for scholarships at our (scholarship banquet) held in February, then we raise the money in early May with this tournament. We need the golfers.”

Sandel added that registration runs until the morning of the tournament, but he would prefer that those participating register ahead of time “so they can get all their stuff.” Entrée fee to the tournament is $100 per golfer.

“We encourage everyone to come out and support this great cause as 100 percent of the proceeds, after expenses, go to our scholarship fund,” Sandel said. “The Miss-Lou Chapter wishes to take this opportunity to humbly thank each of our supporters, our golfers, and each of you who help us with our scholarship efforts. Without the help from our community, we wouldn’t be successful in achieving our goals of promoting our scholar athletes. Thank you … you are truly appreciated.”

He also hopes that the tournament does not go through what it went through last year when one of the teams registered at the last minute and decided to play at 1 p.m.

“Our problem is more the guys would like to start at 1 p.m. than 8 a.m. Last year we had 10 teams play at 8 a.m. and 19 teams play at 1 p.m.,” Sandel said. “One team we had to let them play. We needed the money.”

Sandel said that the Brown family, which included former South Natchez and Ole Miss football stars Tim and Burkes Brown, helped out a lot with last year’s tournament. And he was more than grateful for that.

“They got more involved in the tournament. They had four or five teams last year. They had former players from Ole Miss,” Sandel said. “This year if we make $10,000 we break even. We need to make more than that this year.”

One of the prizes up for grabs is the hole-in-one prize, which Sandel said will be on par-3 9th hole. If there is an ace on that hole, that player will win $10,000. But a few signatures must be signed for that to become official.

“It’s an organization. It’s called the U.S. Hole-In-One. We buy an insurance policy on them and we have a person at that green on No. 9. You’ve got to have a witness. If they make the hole-in-one, they have a witness that will be there one the green. He has to sign an affidavit that he saw it. So do the people on the team. They have to sign it as well and then they return it to us and we give away the $10,000.

Sandel has been associated with this tournament for the last 14 years. Before that, he said he never got to play golf because his job at International Paper would not allow him to do so.

“I worked at IP as a chemical engineer, but I decided to get on the manufacturing side. I worked six or seven days a week. The one day I did have off, I decided to relax at home,” Sandel said.

When the International Paper plant shut down in the summer of 2003, Sandel said he moved away from Natchez, only to come back in 2011. It was that year that he became a member of the Miss-Lou Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

As to what in his mind makes this tournament so special each year, Sandel said, “People like Joe and Allen were dedicated to the youth of this community. The Miss-Lou Chapter of the NFF-CHOF, it’s all about the youth and making them outstanding citizens, especially amateur football.

“Allen Brown was one of the founders (of this tournament). After Allen died, we decided to change it (from The Joe Fortunato Celebrity Golf Classic) to the Joe Fortunato-Allen Brown Golf Classic,” he added.

The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’s mission is to promote amateur football in developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, and competitive drive for academic excellence in America’s young people.

“What we do is we tell them in four of five years if you haven’t used it (scholarship money), it will still be there. If you want to go to graduate school after four years, call us and we’ll tell you that the money is still there,” Sandel said. “Some of the kids are on football scholarships, so they can’t get any other scholastic scholarships.”

Golfers and non-golfers have an opportunity to join the excitement by purchasing tickets for the ball drop, which awards $1,000 to the winner. There will also be prizes for each winning flight, ditty bags for each golfer, amazing raffle prizes, closest-to-the-hole prizes, and the longest drive prize for both the morning and afternoon flights.

“We have corporate, tee box/scholarship, and tee box sponsorships available. If one is interested in advertising a business, sponsoring a tee box, or making a scholarship donation, or even placing a political sign at a tee box or on the course, please call (601-493-6450,” Sandel said.