Friends and Neighbors: Henry Heeg

Henry Heeg, Sr., comes from a long line of community "doers" in Kimball, and he is no different. Heeg, his family and extended families host the annual Vince's Corner Golf Tournament, one of Kimball's most successful golf weekends.

This will be their seventh year and they will host between 120 – 140 golfers for the event, 75 percent of whom travel to Kimball for the contest.

The format of the two day, four person, golf scramble tournament is a blind draw for both Saturday and Sunday. The fun begins on a Friday evening, when competitors meet at the Wind Break Bar and Grill, go through the blind draw process and meet their teammates for the following day.

Succeeding a day of golf fun on Saturday everyone will then go through the same process to be teamed up for Sunday's play.

When tournament play concludes on Sunday the totals are combined to determine the overall winners from all four classes.

"It's been a great success for us," offered Heeg, "It's fun and we really enjoy it."

Heeg further added that the event was started as a way to advertise for Vince's Corner and draw people to Kimball, as well as, encourage alumni to come back and visit. The vast success of the event doesn't come without challenges.

"It's a unique format," shared Heeg on the tournament, "we have people from California, Arizona, Iowa, Florida and so on. We have quite a few that have graduated from here that come back to compete in the tournament. We get probably over ninety percent of all people wanting to come back the next year – it's hard because we have a waiting list – it's a challenge."

Heeg who is the chairman for the event shared that it is common knowledge amongst all of his family and extended family members that they will all be busy working and lending a hand when the second weekend of July rolls around, but he adds that everyone enjoys helping out and being involved in the event.

"We have different wives that sit at each the holes," he stated, "and hand out refreshments."

Heeg believes that most golfers who play in the Vince's tournament return at another time to play the course, because they've enjoyed their experience.

Potentially the fun weekend event will draw people back to Kimball for good. Heeg believes that there is a recent trend for younger generations of Kimball graduates to return to Kimball and reside here with their own families.

"That is a big positive for Kimball. I see Kimball growing in that aspect and that's a good thing. I don't see Kimball getting any smaller. I think Kimball is a great area – minus the snow," he joked.