Twenty years is a long run for any charity golf tournament, and Tee-Off for a Cure at Lakewood Golf Club in Point Clear has reached the milestone the hard way: one family’s determination to turn a daughter’s leukemia diagnosis into funding for research. The tournament, launched by Children’s of Alabama development coordinator Kerrie Benson with the family of a young patient, has raised roughly $1.5 million for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia research since it began.
The story starts with Frances Grace Hirs, diagnosed as a child with A.L.L., a cancer that arrives without warning, often beginning with back pain, and is difficult to diagnose but carries a strong cure rate with modern treatment. Her father, a avid golfer and member at Lakewood, wanted to do something for research and awareness, and the tournament was the answer. “When first diagnosed, there really was no fundraising presence for A.L.L.,” Benson said.
Frances Grace, now 25, has beaten cancer three times, is in nursing school, and has served as the event’s host for all 20 years, choosing the theme of the pre-tournament party each time. Past themes have included a pajama party; a Roaring Twenties party, complete with Charleston-ready music from longtime Grand Hotel musicians David Ellis and Bill Clark, marked the 20th year. The pre-party at Lakewood has grown into a premier community event with music, food and a live auction, with items that have included jewelry and a golf trip to Pinehurst, home of the 2024 U.S. Open. Admission is free, and the event’s fundraising record stands at $90,000 in a single year, with $100,000 the recurring goal.
The Golf Ball Drop, and Where the Money Goes
The tournament’s signature moment is the golf ball drop, in which a hole-in-one wins $5,000. There is an unspoken rule, Benson explained, that the winner donates the prize back to help cover expenses for families whose children are in treatment. The need is real and extends beyond medical bills: some parents must leave their jobs during a child’s treatment and can end up unable to afford hotels, sometimes sleeping in their cars. “As a parent of a special needs child, there is nothing you won’t sacrifice,” Benson said.
Lakewood’s support has been constant. Not many golf tournaments reach a 20th year, and most of the planning committee members have been in place since the beginning. The Hirs family, meanwhile, has become part of Benson’s own; Frances Grace tutors her son.
A Fundraiser’s Unusual Path
Benson herself took an unusual route to fundraising. Born and raised in Birmingham, trained professionally in dance studios from Jacksonville and New York to Chicago, London and Las Vegas, and a member of the Jacksonville State University dance team, she danced professionally with the Birmingham Steeldogs arena football team’s Showsteelers, named AFL2 Dance Team of the Year from 2002 to 2005, while earning degrees in psychology and forensic science. Her first job out of college was at a children’s abuse agency in Birmingham, where the realities pushed her toward nonprofit development work at Children’s Hospital, planning small events and meeting grateful parents.
Her perspective deepened when her son Rock, named for Rocky Balboa, was diagnosed with severe autism at around age two. Semi-verbal, Rock responded to music, and music became how mother and son learned to communicate. “He changed me for the better,” Benson said. “He taught me to strive to help others like him.” A job transfer brought the family to Mobile, where the hospital’s foundation encouraged her to build a Gulf Coast presence, and the family settled in Midtown.
Dance Without Limits and a Calendar of Causes
Benson’s childhood dream of opening a dance studio finally happened, but not the way she planned. She founded Dance Without Limits for students with special needs, staffed by a dozen teachers including occupational and physical therapists, with studios in Mobile, Fairhope and Birmingham and a stated goal of never having a waiting list. The program’s students overlap with pediatric cancer patients facing physical limitations, which often brings them through Children’s Hospital.
Her charitable calendar extends far beyond one tournament: an annual sailing regatta at the Fairhope Yacht Club, now in its 14th year and held in honor of the late Children’s of Alabama CEO Jim Dearth, which takes patients out on the water; the Barn Bash each October at Moe’s Original BBQ in downtown Mobile, funding early screening for arthritis and autoimmune disease; Birdies for Barron, a Rock Creek golf tournament honoring patient Barron Welch, now a Samford sophomore who hosts a spearfishing tournament in Panama City; and an 80s night at OSO at Bear Point. She also choreographs the Miss Alabama preliminary pageants, the FUSE Project’s Lip Sync Battle and coastal high school dance teams, though her favorite choreography, she says, is for her special-needs students.
Twenty years in, Tee-Off for a Cure remains what it has always been: a party, a golf tournament and a promise that families facing childhood cancer on the Gulf Coast will not face it without help.