Sports bring people to Enid

By Bruce Campbell, Commentary

June 28, 2009 10:56 pm

— Sports still are Enid’s main tourist attraction.
Take a look at July, August and September and you’ll see why.
David Allen Memorial Ballpark will be holding a Fourth of July American Legion baseball tournament, beginning Thursday.
It will be the site of a national regional Aug. 6-10, which is sure to bring some big bucks into town.
Go to the downtown ballpark almost every evening and you’ll see some kind of game, whether it’s the Majors or one of the AAA teams.
David Allen hosted the Division II National Junior College World Series last month which locals embraced.
Kellet Ballpark does the same thing for softball on a smaller scale.
Enid will be hosting three state softball tournaments this summer — the women’s slow pitch, July 24-26; the men’s slow pitch July 31-Aug. 2; and the coed Class C state, Aug. 7-9.
Government Springs was the site of last weekend’s Class C state girls 14-under tournament which brought in six out-of-area teams as well as the Oklahoma Attack of Enid and the Pond Creek-Hunter Lady Panthers.
A men’s slowpitch classifier will be at Kellet July 10-12, followed by a coed classifier July 17-19.
A full parking lot at Kellet is certainly good for the local economy, especially if there is some out-of-town cars.
Softball officials here long have been known for running quality tournaments.
Oakwood Country Club will be hosting two elite golf tournaments — the Senior PGA Professional National Championship qualifying Aug. 17-18 and the Oklahoma Senior Golf Association Team Championship Sept. 15-17.
Meadowlake Golf Course will be hosting the Wheat Capital Tournament Aug. 1-2, the highlight of the season for many local golfers. Meadowlake hosted a stop on the junior PGA South Central Sectional tour earlier this month.
Pheasant Run will host a Ryder Cup-like tournament Saturday.
Four tennis tournaments are coming up locally — Enid Junior Satellite, July 25; Chick-fil-A Enid Junior Open, July 31-Aug. 2; Chick-fil-A Oakwood Junior Open, Sept. 18-20; and the Chick-fi-A Oakwood Family and Adult Open, Sept. 25-27.
Like softball, Enid has a solid reputation as a golf and tennis host because of the work of professionals such as Tim Mendenhall, Jim Shaughnessy, Cody Lack and Tom McDaniel.
Basketballs will be bouncing around town during the MAYB tournaments July 24-26 for grades 4-12.
Steve Johnson has been coordinating the efforts locally for several years, a challenging task with so many different age groups at so many different sites.
One could be seeing some of the stars of the future here.

Campbell is a News & Eagle sports writer.

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