The Downtown Curtice Athletic Club selects a local individual for its annual

DCAC Award.

For the past six years the 10-year-old club has honored individuals who have recently passed away, according to Tom Wuest, DCAC chairman of the board. This year the DCAC, which has approximately 30 members, is honoring former Curtice resident Andy Burris at its Aug. 22 event.

Burris was an iron worker who was killed April 19, 2007 in a bridge accident while finishing the Veterans Memorial Skyway (I-280). Burris, who was 36, was a member of Local 1138 and the Northwest Carpenter’s Union. He was on a work platform installing forms used to pour the bridge’s concrete bridge railing when the platform collapsed and fell to the ground just south of the westbound Summit Street overpass on the north side of the river.

"A couple of (the inductees) have been members of the Athletic Club," Wuest said. "We get a golf outing in their honor. The money we raise, we give scholarships to Genoa and Clay high schools. We've been giving $500 to each school. The schools submit resumes and we kind of go through them."

Wuest said Burris' wife, Shauna, may attend this year's event, to be held at Chippewa Golf Course followed by a dinner at the Crazy Lady Saloon in Curtice.

Burris' father, Dwayne, and his uncle, Jim, are both members of the DCAC, Wuest said, adding that choosing a local person to honor is sometimes informal.

"We have an informal committee, between Jimi Schimmel and Bill Rost," Wuest said. "We always make a little comment, anytime we sit at the end of the bar at the Crazy Lady, where we have a plaque that says 'Downtown Athletic Club. Founded in 1999.' Anytime two or more members are sitting at the end of that bar, we have a meeting. The rest of the club is very informal.

"Every year we've gone out and raised quite a bit. We put a sponsor's name on a sign at the golf outing and at the bar. The last couple years we've raised about $2,500, and that puts on the spread for the food and the beer and whatnot. We try to keep (the price) at a minimum for the golf outing."
This year's golf outing costs $50 and includes dinner and 18 holes of golf for a four-man scramble. A shotgun start will begin at 8 a.m. Wuest stressed that attendees do not have to golf, and donations are accepted.

For more information, contact Wuest at 419-270-1810.

"At a lot of the golf outings we also do a steak dinner," Wuest said. "We try to do something different. We've done a hobo dinner - last year we did a rib dinner - something unique. I have to think of something different this year."

The DCAC also plans to volunteer and donate a $500 sponsorship at this year's NABF College World Series, which is held at several sites around Toledo. The DCAC is looking for volunteer bat boys, age 10-14, as well as other area boys and girls to shag foul balls during the NABF event. For more information, contact Wuest.

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