Doc Stapleton Golf Tournament and Scholarship
Catalyst's annual Doc Stapleton charity golf tournament is a day of fun, prizes and celebration held to raise scholarship funds. The 12th Annual tournament in 2007 saw record participation and funds raised and supported scholarship payouts totaling US$21,000 to seven deserving students.
The tournament draws customers from all over the US, and honours the memory of salesman Doc Stapleton, who died in 1995 while on a business fishing trip to Powell River with a group of customers. Funds raised go to the Doc Stapleton Scholarship at California Polytechnic State University, which offers one of North America’s best programs for students entering the graphics and printing industry.
Doc’s scholarship is now the single largest for students in the Cal Poly Graphic Communications program. Since it was established in 1996, the tournament has raised more than US$160,000 through entry fees and raffle tickets.
Who was Doc Stapleton?
A printer by trade and a Canadian by birth, Doc Stapleton became sales manager and director of technical services for one of Catalyst's predecessor companies.
"He was well-respected in both the paper and printing industries," says Jim Wright, director, specialty sales, who organizes the Doc Stapleton tournament each year. "He was very knowledgeable -- any time we had printing questions, Doc was the guy we went to."
Since Doc loved to golf, Jim and Len Melville, Catalyst’s director of directory sales, decided to organize a golf tournament and to use the proceeds for a scholarship fund in Doc's name. Catalyst is pleased to have picked up the torch and to now play host to this much-anticipated event.
: