Local Boomer shoot raises $225,000 for Children’s Hospital

To find a cure for cystic fibrosis

By Tim Mandell
timm@owentonnewsherald.com

— Photo by TIM MANDELL
Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason shoots at a target during Boomer Esiason’s Sporting Clays Pro Am on June 7 at Elk Creek Hunt Club. The event helps raise money to fight cystic fibrosis. This year’s event was expected to raise $225,000.

Former National Football League (NFL) quarterback Boomer Esiason returned to Owen County last week to help raise money for charity.
Boomer Esiason’s Sporting Clays Pro Am was held at Elk Creek Hunt Club on June 7-8.
The event was expected to raise more than $225,000 to help fight cystic fibrosis.
“This is the eighth year of this event,” said Esiason, who holds anywhere from 15-20 charity events each year.
Esiason said the Owen County event has raised more than $1,500,000 in eight years.
“It’s remarkable an event in Owenton, Ky., could garner this kind of following,” Esiason said. “All the money goes right to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.”
Sixty-two teams competed in the sold out event.
Each team was made up of four amateur shooters and one professional shooter.
Each group went through 20 stations, where each competitor had a chance to shoot at four clay targets.
Esiason competed on a team that included his son Gunnar, who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
Esiason played in the NFL from 1984-97, competing for the Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals.
He now works as a studio analyst on CBS.
When Gunnar was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in 1993, Esiason and his wife, Cheryl, became involved in various charities to help raise money to find a cure for the disease.
Esiason met Jack Cassidy, the CEO for Cincinnati Bell Inc., about 10 years ago.
The pair decided to combine Cassidy’s love for shooting clay targets and Esiason’s devotion to his cause, forming Boomer Esiason’s Sporting Clays Pro Am.
“When a guy is trying to save the life of his child, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to help him,” said Cassidy, who thought that a sporting clay tournament would raise more money than something such as a golf tournament, because it would be more unique and less expensive to put together.
For Esiason, it’s all been about raising money to help his son, and others like him.
And with this year’s event sold out, the Esiason family and their friends will be handing over a big check to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to help stamp out cystic fibrosis.