CLEVELAND, Tenn. — When Bradley Sunrise Rotary Club president Keith Munford began looking for a speaker for the club’s annual fundraising gala this past weekend, it didn’t take him long to settle on Tom Glavine.
“We didn’t just want somebody who was a great athlete,” Munford said of the Hall of Fame pitcher and former Atlanta Braves star. “We wanted somebody who cares about others, and Tom and his wife are active in helping other people.”
The list of those helped by Bradley Sunrise Rotary over the years, especially the six years it has staged the gala, is both long and generously supported, beginning with Habitat for Humanity, whose houses have been both funded and built by the group.
The club raised more than $75,000 for 18 Bradley County charities and organizations a year ago, and judging from both the crowd and auction items at Cleveland Country Club on Saturday, that number may be topped this time around.
Whether the club — which has previously welcomed such big names as Vince and Barbara Dooley, their son Derek during his University of Tennessee coaching days, ageless “Newlywed Game” host Bob Eubanks and Steve Spurrier — can top Glavine a year from now is another matter.