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Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
Raymonf Floyd, Bart Starr and Joe Namath wait to drive from the first tee during the Thursday Pro Am at the 2005 Bruno's Memorial Classic, May 19, in Birmingham.
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Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
An unidentified golfer putts at the at the golf tournament when it was known as the Bruno’s Memorial Classic.
With the Regions Tradition golf tournament at Greystone Golf & Country Club set to tee off this month, 280 Living spoke with three men — David Manners, Gene Hallman and David McElroy — who have been with the tournament from the very beginning and illustrate the strong connection between the tournament and the community.
David Manners: Dream come true
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Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
From left: Michael Jordan, Ronnie Bruno, Charles Barkley and Gene Hallman at Greystone Golf & Country Club.
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Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
Crowds gather at the Bruno’s Memorial Classic at Greystone Golf & Country Club in the early 2000s.
By age 10, David Manners had become a golf nut. Growing up in Laurel, Mississippi, where his dad managed the local Sears, Manners was more into baseball until a neighborhood friend got into golf and needed a partner.
By the next year, Manners was riding his bike three miles across a highway, towing his clubs behind him to the Laurel Country Club.
Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
Regions Tradition has a star-studded past including Lee Trevino and Michael Jordan
“It was funny because we lived not real close, but not real far from the Laurel Country Club, and my dad was gracious enough to join the club,” Manners said. “I remember many a day, especially in the summer, riding my bike, carrying my clubs on a pull cart from the house to the golf course. I would stay there all day and play.”
The family later moved to Fort Walton Beach, where Manners played at the same course where Edwin Watts — founder of a national golf retail chain — had worked. Manners stuck with baseball and basketball until college, when he walked on to the golf team at Auburn University.
He moved to Birmingham in 1981 to sell insurance, started a family in Hoover and one day saw a report — though he can’t quite recall where — about a new golf tournament coming to town and looking for volunteers.
“I just couldn’t believe how great that was,” Manners said. “When I first moved to Birmingham, the only place to play, unless you were a member of a country club, was Oak Mountain State Park. We didn’t have the Robert Trent Jones facilities or Bent Brook or Timberline like we do now. To have the PGA Tour — or in this case, the Champions Tour — come to Birmingham was a dream come true.”
Gene Hallman: Leap of faith
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Regions Tradition Tournament Director Gene Hallman poses at Greystone Golf & Country Club where the tournament will be held. Hallman, with the leadership of Bruno's Supermarkets, started the tournament.
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Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
Gene Hallman, right, and Chi Chi Rodriguez enjoy a refreshment at the Bruno’s Memorial Classic.
Gene Hallman came to Birmingham in 1991 as a 31-year-old with an MBA and five years of corporate experience. After reading a Sports Illustrated article about Mark McCormack — founder of IMG and one of the most powerful figures in sports — Hallman was inspired to pursue a job in the industry.
“I sent out about 500 resumes, and one landed on the desk of Ronnie and Angelo Bruno, who at the time were running Bruno’s Supermarkets and were starting a Senior PGA Tour event,” Hallman said.
Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
Regions Tradition has a star-studded past. Past participants include Chi Chi Rodriguez.
“I’d quit my job, moved home with my parents at age 30, and was borrowing money from friends to chase this dream. I’d only been to Birmingham once before, for the 1990 PGA Championship. I didn’t know a soul. But I got the job on the spot.”
He was named director of the inaugural Bruno’s Memorial Classic, which launched in 1992.
“There were just four of us — a sales director, ops director, volunteer coordinator and me — working out of a small office off U.S. 280 in Meadow Brook,” Hallman said. “None of us had much tournament experience, but the community was incredibly supportive. The crowds were enormous that first year, and we knew it was going to be something special.”
Then came a game-changing moment.
On Oct. 6, 1993, NBA superstar Michael Jordan — coming off three consecutive championships — shocked the world by retiring. He soon announced he was going to play baseball for the Birmingham Barons, the AA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Hallman, always looking for big names for the Bruno’s pro-am, now had a golden opportunity.
“The third year, when fate brought Michael Jordan to town, he only did one thing outside his Barons commitments — and that was play in our pro-am, alongside Charles Barkley,” Hallman said. “That took the tournament to a whole new level.”
The tournament had already become meaningful to the Bruno family, even as tragedy struck early on.
At the original press conference in December 1991 at Greystone Golf & Country Club, Hallman stood alongside Angelo and Ronnie Bruno. Less than a week later, Angelo Bruno, vice chairman Lee Bruno and several company leaders died in a plane crash on Lavender Mountain near Rome, Georgia.
“I have a photo from that original press conference, with the logo ‘Bruno’s Classic,’ and six days later we renamed it the Bruno’s Memorial Classic,” Hallman said. “Charity became an even bigger part of the event because the Bruno family was so philanthropic.”
David McElroy: Charity begins at Hole 1
Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
Nick Saban poses with patients at Children’s of Alabama. A portion of the tournament’s proceeds go to the hospital.
The charitable side of the tournament is what first drew David McElroy of Hoover to volunteer.
Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
Crowds at the Regions Tradition at Shoal Creek Club.
“My mother worked at St. Vincent’s, and they said they needed volunteers. I signed up because one of the main charities was Children’s of Alabama,” he said.
McElroy’s motivation was personal. His daughter, Amy, had been born with VATER syndrome, a complex set of congenital conditions.
“She was born without an esophagus between vertebrae two and seven. She couldn’t digest food normally. She had to have a gastrostomy, a tethered spinal cord, an imperforate anus, a displaced hip — 38 surgeries at Children’s Hospital,” McElroy said. “She was a joy. A miracle baby.”
Amy lived until 2022, and her legacy motivates McElroy to keep volunteering.
“She was an absolute fighter in every way. This tournament is now the largest fundraiser for Children’s Hospital,” he said. “If you ever need it, you’re dang glad it’s here.”
Hallman said the tournament has now raised more than $21 million for charity, with Children’s of Alabama as the primary beneficiary.
Attitude of gratitude
Photo courtesy of Regions Tradition
Randy Owen, Bob Hope and Charley Boswell at the tournament when it was known as the Bruno’s Memorial Classic.
Manners, Hallman and McElroy have each played different roles through the years, but the tournament has left an impact on all of them.
For Hallman, it launched a career in sports event management.
“The support from the community was so overwhelming,” Hallman said. “It led to new opportunities and eventually to forming Eventive Sports, which is now owned by Troon — a global company with 35,000 employees. We went from a staff of four in ’91 to 70 or 80 employees worldwide.”
For Manners, it’s about lifelong friendships.
“I’ve built lasting friendships with volunteers I’ve worked with since the beginning,” he said. “We catch up every year like no time has passed.”
McElroy remembers what Ronnie Bruno told volunteers at their first marshals meeting.
“He thanked us for volunteering and even paying for our uniforms,” McElroy said. “Because of what we’ve done, this whole tournament is for charity. I challenge anyone who’s been out there to say they didn’t have a good time.”
