Posted on Aug 07, 2012
On the gridiron, former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski put together quite an impressive career.
Over 28,000 yards passing, the 1980 NFL Most Valuable Player award, and a trip to the Super Bowl are some accolades many people could only dream about.
But Monday, none of that would help Jaws as he took to the links at the Carlisle Country Club with former teammate Mike Quick to take part in the 26th Annual United Cerebral Palsy Golf Tournament.
While it may have been a different field than he was used to in his 15-year career in the NFL, the golf course has become much more familiar to Jaworski in his post-football days.
“For me it’s the time of year I can get out there three times a week,” Jaworski said. “Once the NFL season starts, it becomes very limited.”
The former Pro Bowler, currently an NFL analyst for ESPN, said his golf game had been very good as of late, but due to his trip to Cortland, N.Y. last week to cover Tim Tebow and the New York Jets, he hadn’t had too much time on the greens recently.
The shotgun scramble style tournament took place Monday afternoon as a benefit for the UCP, a foundation that provides services to diverse groups of people with disabilities. Jaworski and Quick said they became involved with the event through longtime friend and honorary chairman, Rory Ritrievi.
“You make friends along the way and when they’re involved in a cause and they give you a call, you go help them out,” said Quick, who played wide receiver for the Eagles from 1982-90. “When you get a chance to go out and play golf and in the process you’re able to help some people, how hard is that to do?”
Ritrievi, President and CEO of Mid Penn Bank, said he was introduced to Jaworski about 20 years ago and they have been friends since.
“He’s a sports guy,” Jaworski said of Ritrievi. “Once you meet a guy you get along with and talk sports, you become friends forever.”
Once Ritrievi was named the honorary chair for the golf tournament this year, he said he immediately thought of Jaworski and Quick to take part and to “spruce up the tournament a little.”
Jaworski and Quick — who live in the same neighborhood and play golf together quite often — made sure to team up again on the links for the tournament. Both spoke highly of each other’s golf game and were happy to be teammates once again.
While Ritrievi said his game has been pretty good lately, he was quick to add he wasn’t sure if he could keep up with the former Eagles.
“Those guys are professional athletes,” he said. “They take that from one sport to another sport and play that really well too.”
In all, 115 golfers were in attendance to help the cause and hopefully come out on top of the field.
With the shotgun scramble format, teams simultaneously played on all 18 holes instead of all starting from hole one. Members of each team all tee off, but choose only the best ball from the team to finish the hole.
“That’s a good way to play, especially when you have a lot of players of different levels,” Quick said. “When you scramble, then it gives everyone a chance to participate and a chance to have a least a couple of good shots played throughout the course.”
Quick also admired the turnout at the event, saying it was nice to see the community come out and support a good cause with a fun day of golf.
For Jaworski, he said a lot of his sense of charity and giving back comes from former coach Dick Vermeil, who was his coach while playing for the Eagles from 1977-82.
“Dick was always a believer that you have to be involved in the community and you have to be active in the community,” Jaworski said. “Sometimes the coaches not only coach the players in football areas, but also coach people as human beings and we learned that from Dick.”