Carl Townsend Memorial Golf Tournament raises scholarship funds for local students – Delta Dunklin Democrat
MALDEN, Mo. – The Malden Country Club once again became the host of the Carl Townsend Memorial Golf Tournament.
Honoring the late Carl Townsend, a former educator and superintendent for the Malden School District, the funds raised from this annual golf tournament are used to help give out two $2,000 scholarships to graduating seniors at Malden High School.
This is the fifth year for the tournament following Carl Townsend’s passing in 2020.
The tournament is organized by Carl Townsend Jr., who was filled with gratitude for another successful showing this year.
“The tournament was excellent,” Townsend Jr. said. “Everyone had a great time. This is all to honor dad’s memory and his legacy. We’ve raised several thousand dollars, so it went very well. It was hot, but it was for a good cause, so people showed up.”
Carl Townsend’s backstory and legacy followed a trend of giving back.
Carl Towsend grew up as one of 11 siblings. The family didn’t have a lot of money, but made ends meet.
He would go on to serve in the U.S. Air Force before enrolling and graduating from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. Upon graduating, Townsend began coaching and teaching at St. Mary’s High School before moving to the Bootheel and becoming the Principal at Malden High School.
“He valued education very much,” Townsend Jr. said. “He helped a lot of kids. He would buy tennis shoes for kids who made the basketball team and couldn’t afford to get new shoes. He bought school lunches if you didn’t have money for lunch that day. He knew what it was like to grow up poor and go to school hungry
To honor his legacy and imprint on the Malden community, the Carl Townsend Memorial Scholarship was created to help two students from Malden High School each year continue their post-secondary education.
“We don’t just look at achievements, but we also look at needs,” Townsend Jr. said. “That was important to him, so we make sure we are giving these scholarships to kids who need them.”
Townsend Jr. gives a lot of credit to those who helped him put this tournament together, while he lives over 1,000 miles away in El Paso, TX. This includes Wes Shelton, Betty Caldwell, Nick Green and Crystal Slaughter.
He also wants to extend gratitude to all the businesses who helped sponsor this tournament every year.
Among those is Jackie Farmer, the manager at Harry Blackwell Chevrolet, who had the first ace of his life on Hole 8 during this tournament.
“When I got to the hole, I used my range finder to get the exact distance,” Farmer said. “I chose the gap wedge and it went right in. I was excited, the guys were giving me high fives. This is a fun tournament, it’s for a good cause so we always enjoy sponsoring a hole and putting a team together to play.”
With the essence of Carl Townsend continuing to give back to this Malden community, Townsend Jr. said he knows the work they are doing would have made his dad proud.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind he has a smile on his face,” Townsend Jr. said. “My father is very proud. There’s not an ‘if’, ‘and’ or’but’ whatsoever. He’s very proud and honored by us doing this and by all the people donating.”
