SOMERSET —
Steelers fans got a chance to rub shoulders with the likes of former linebacker Robin Cole and former tight end Randy Grossman on Sunday during a tailgate party hosted by Steelers great Louis Lipps at Somerset Country Club.
The preview for today’s Flight 93 Celebrity Golf Tournament featured a picnic-style meal. Afterward, everyone watched the Steelers’ season opener against the Denver Broncos on big-screen televisions.
Lipps said 17 celebrities agreed to participate in the golf tournament and related events to raise money for the Flight 93 National Memorial construction.
The events surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, crash of United Flight 93 in a field near Shanksville, Somerset County, must be remembered, Lipps said.
“This event not only shook the world,” Lipps said. “It changed our way of life. We need to raise money to create that memorial.”
This is the second year Lipps has sponsored the golf tournament, organized locally by Somerset Country Club Manager Bill “Willie” Aldom.
Aldom said he got to know Lipps and many of the other Steelers greats during his time as manager at Seven Springs Resort.
“Back in the 1980s, a lot of Steelers used to come up to Seven Springs, and we got to know them,” Aldom said.
“They would come up, 30 to 35 of them, after the last game of the season.”
Last year’s premier Flight 93 benefit tournament brought in more than $11,000 and was matched by the National Park Foundation. This year’s event is expected to raise a similar amount, Aldom said.
His brother, Somerset Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ron Aldom, commended the former Steelers and other celebrities for donating their time for the event.
“They do this for a donation,” Ron Aldom said. “They want the Flight 93 Memorial to be finished.”
Spectator passes for today’s celebrity tournament are $30, which includes lunch and drinks from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The tournament begins at noon.
All-day tickets, which include the reception and dinner, are $100.
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