Hammertime Golf Scramble honors beloved community member, softball coach
September 25, 2019LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Larry Smith was the director of operations for the Kentucky Lottery and a well-loved member of the southwest Louisville community, where he coached softball at Butler High School. Smith’s friends dubbed him “the Hammer” because of his powerful softball swing.
After Smith passed away from lung cancer in 2011, his colleagues and friends, along with his wife, Sally, created the Larry Smith Cancer Fund to help other cancer patients at University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center, where Smith was a patient. Later this month, Smith’s friends, family and members of the community will participate in the ninth annual Hammertime Golf Scramble to honor his memory and support the fund.
“Every one of the golf scrambles has been a success. We have a great turnout every year,” Sally Smith said. “People in southwest Louisville and throughout the city are amazing. They spend money, they donate and they really get behind us.”
In the past, the fund provided iPads for cancer patients to use while they are undergoing chemotherapy and donated $50,000 toward the purchase of the Horses and Hope cancer screening van. Funds raised at this year’s golf scramble will go to support cancer research at UofL.
“I recently had the opportunity to tour the research facility and attend a seminar with researchers at UofL. After hearing about the progress they are making and how close they are to curing cancers, I was on such a high. I think it will be within my children’s lifetime. That is my biggest inspiration,” Sally Smith said.
Larry Smith’s children and stepchildren, along with their spouses, now work with Sally to organize the golf scramble, ensuring continued support for the fund.
The 2019 Hammertime Golf Scramble will be held at Iroquois Golf Course, 1501 Rundill Rd., on Sept. 27 beginning at noon. The event includes a round of golf and competitions for closest to the pin, longest drive and putting. The entry fee is $80. To register and for more details, contact organizer Sally Smith at sallysmith.realtor@icloud.com.
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Betty Coffman is a communications coordinator focused on research and innovation at UofL. A UofL alumna and Louisville native, she served as a writer and editor for local and national publications and as an account services coordinator and copywriter for marketing and design firms prior to joining UofL’s Office of Communications and Marketing.