Pat Cody looked at Bob Klas and said: “You’re out of your mind.”

The two men were partners in Tapemark Company and Klas was thinking about starting a charity golf tournament to benefit organizations helping those with developmental and learning disabilities.  The year was 1972 and after Cody threw out his response, including an expletive or two, the two friends started the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am.

The inspiration for the tournament was Frances Klas, born in 1951 and mentally retarded.  Her dad and mom, Bob and Sandy Klas, learned about organizations available to help children like Frances, and they wanted to help.

And help they did!  Next month will be the 40^th Tapemark and the tournament has raised millions for local charities benefitting the developmental and learning disabled.  Along with a women’s golf tournament and charitable gambling efforts approved by Klas, about $6.7 million has been generated since 1972 to help those charities.

“We have a chance this year to get to $7 million,” said Bob Klas Jr.  “It would be special to make that total on the 40^th year.”

He and his dad remain active with the tournament and continue to be inspired by Frances who passed away in June of 2009.  “I have very fond memories of Frances,” her father said.  “She tried very hard and did a great deal with her limited capabilities.  She was always happy and we miss her very much.”

Frances, who had five siblings including Bob Jr., was married and for 25 years worked in a Hastings hospital.  She proudly wore a button that said: “I am a U.S. taxpayer.”  Each year she would attend the Tapemark tournament and greet spectators and golfers.

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Charity golf tournaments come and go but the Tapemark, which this year will be played June 10-12 at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul, has staying power.  “I think it’s probably the oldest charity golf event in the country with the possible exception of the Bing Crosby,” Bob Jr. said.

The Tapemark is a golf tournament, not a glitzy show featuring the rich and famous.  In that regard the tournament reflects the Klas family──low key, hard working and humble Minnesotans.  “Almost all the other tournaments are designed around celebrities,” Bob Jr. said.  “People (spectators) come out to ours because it is the same as 40 years ago.  If people liked what they saw in 1972, they like it now because it’s the same product.

“It’s one of the four majors in the Minnesota PGA Section and has been for decades.  It’s arguably the only event on the golf calendar that the fairly serious amateur can play with the pros in a competitive environment.”

Tournament winners have included Don Berry (six times champion), George Shortridge (five times) and Tom Lehman (1990 title).  And Bob Jr. offered this trivia question that has Lehman as the answer: “Who is the only man ever to win the Tapemark and the British Open?”

The tournament, although mostly volunteer supported, is a year-round effort and now attracts corporate sponsors including the Anderson Agency and U.S. Bank.  About 10,000 man-hours are probably devoted to it and the annual women’s golf tournament in September.  “It’s not easy (managing the tournaments),” Bob Sr. said. “It’s very complicated.”

He refers to volunteers as “teammates,” and they do everything from registering golfers to running the scoreboard.  Although Pat Cody passed away years ago, the volunteers include sons Tom and Brendan.  “We couldn’t put the tournament on without with them,” the elder Klas said.

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The late Pete Boerboon was among those most involved with the tournament.  Bob Jr. recalls an amusing tale about Boerboon when the tournament was on local cable TV years ago.

 

“His ball was in a bunker near the green and on his first shot he could not get out,” Bob Jr. said.  “On his second shot he knocks the ball across the green and into another bunker.

 

“By his ninth shot he was on the green.  Pete thought his saving grace was that the TV cameras had only been covering him from the start of playing No. 17, not all the way through his shots near and on the green.

 

“A few days after the tournament, he was taking the garbage outside when a neighbor said, ‘Hey, Pete, I saw you on TV and you had a rough time.’

 

“Pete replied, ‘Yeah, I had nine blows.’  The neighbor disagreed and countered, ‘No, you had 11.’ ”

 

There are a lot of Tapemark stories but the best one is its success all these years.  The tournament is pretty much year to year but it keeps coming back, and there are no plans to change the commitment now, particularly during these difficult economic times when funding for nonprofits is challenging.

 

And the philosophy of the Klas family remains the foundation for the pro-am. Bob Sr. talks about how none of us know what abilities and handicaps we will be given.  “You have to play the cards you are born with,” he said. “You can’t change in the middle of the hand.”

 

His son said the tournament puts life in perspective. “It gives you a sense of balance in life,” he said. “It reminds you there are others in the community who need help.”

 

The tournament website includes a request for donors to consider a $40 special gift to recognize the 40^th anniversary.  https://tapemarkgolf.org/.

 

 

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