After the Reid & Fiorentino Call of the Game Dinner came the celebrity golf classic which hosted current and former athletes as well as a plethora of influential business and sports people here in Miami. This years celebrity golf classic was held at the beautiful Turnberry Isle Miami Resort Golf Club in Aventura, FL.
I arrived to Turnberry Isle to see the Sports Brothers doing their daily broadcast live from the clubhouse. After a quick hello we were greeted by Tony Fiorentino, one of the hosts of the events and after a brief chat he was off to handle tournament business and I headed out to see what was happening on the putting greens and driving range.
As I was walking out to the driving range I was reminded at the same event last year the Shake Shack was out there serving their delicious burgers and how I hoped they would be there yet again. Sure enough they were out there and I headed straight for them. In total I had about 4 burgers. Gluttonous I know but they were so good.
After my Shake Shack indulgence I began to photograph the golfers warming up. There wasn’t too many former athletes or celebrities out on the driving range yet, so I was just walking up and down the driving range photographing random golfers. I probably wasn’t out there for more than 15 minutes before I got a text saying Elliot Stares, the PR point man for the event, wanted me inside the clubhouse to photograph the celebrities coming in. I was walking back to the clubhouse and I ran into Burnie, the Miami Heat mascot who promptly bent over while I was trying to photograph him. That got a little chuckle out of me. I gave Burnie a high five and he returned with a slap on the butt as only a mascot could.
Once inside Elliott guided me through the ballroom where all the golf swag that was being handed out to the participants was and we made our way down to the step and repeat banner at the end of the room where Eric Reid and Tony Fiorentino were stationed taking photos with participants. Right away I spotted University of Miami legends, Bennie Blades and Randal Hill. They made their way up and I grabbed a few photos. After that only former NBA player Eddie Jones made his way through so I went back to the driving range.
As soon as I hit the driving range again I saw former NFL players Keith Byars, Bert Emmanuel and Quatrine Hill. Soon after Eddie Jones made his way out and former Dolphins great Jason Taylor soon followed. It seems the former athletes just bypassed the swag line and hit the driving range.
Prior to the golfers hitting the links I ran into Bennie Blades and we ended up talking about the current state of the University of Miami Hurricanes football and our thoughts on the upcoming season. Photographing aside, that was the highlight of my day. Talking to a legend about football.
Shake Shack burgers, photographing a great event and talking football with a local hero and football legend; well that sums up a great day to me.
