TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
The Russ Sukow Memorial Golf Outing was held in June 2022 in honor of the late Russ Sukow who died in 2013. His brothers, Sid Sukow and Mort Sukow, ensure he is not forgotten by holding an annual golf outing in his memory, to have fun golfing with family and friends, and to donate the money they raise to a good cause locally. Specifically, they like to donate to a cause that somehow relates to Russ or to support a sport he once played.
This year the Russ Sukow Memorial Golf Outing raised $500 and those proceeds were donated to the Merrill Traveling Bowling Team where they will be used primarily to cover entry fees and equipment, Bowling Coach Tyler Catlin said.
A photo with the Sukows presenting a check to Catlin and two youth bowlers, representing the Merrill Traveling Bowling Team, was taken by the Russ Sukow memorial on the Merrill Golf Course near hole #15, the hole where Russ Sukow once made his local claim to fame when he tee’d off, shot out of bounds, re-tee’d his third shot, and then par’d the hole, getting the ball in the hole on the fourth shot from 400 yards to get a par on the hole, according to brother, Sid.
Catlin recalls that bowling was a sport Russ really enjoyed. “I bowled with Russ when I was first coming up into adult leagues,” he said, adding that he has also bowled with Mort.
As a youth, Catlin bowled for the Merrill Travel Bowling Team and now coaches the team, along with Scott Smith. He said the late Dan Adamec grew the program in a “huge” way and now he and Smith are continuing to grow the program to take it to the next level, and he is grateful for this donation to the bowling program.
Youth in our area start picking up speed in third and fourth grade already, and Merrill had four or five traveling teams the last couple of years.
“We do have one of the biggest programs in the area,” Catlin said. “We’ve taken it up a notch and try to compete every year for the State tournament. So we want to win.”
In the last couple of years, two high school bowlers from Merrill received college scholarships for bowling, and “Dylan Smith’s up and coming, and I’m going to presume he’s going to get a college offer, whether it’s Division 1 or Division 2,” he said.
Students as early as sixth grade–as young as 11 and 12 years old–can start earning scholarship money doing tournaments and getting noticed, Catlin added.