BRIAN KAPKO MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
November 14, 2005
(c)
Don Leach / Daily Pilot
A mother's pride
Nancy Kapko, left, mother of Bubba Kapko, shares a laugh with Julie Johnston as they make their way around the Los Lagos course at the Costa Mesa Golf Club Monday taking pictures of the players in the Bubba Kapko Memorial tournament.
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EDITORIAL
THE
LAST WORD
Community
remembers Bubba
Daily
Pilot
November 20, 2005
It was an amazing day Monday at the Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club.
Some 150 members of the Newport-Mesa community came out, teed up and played
a brisk 4 1/2 hours of golf.
Yes, yes, that doesn't sound amazing. Golfers consistently fill the fairways
and greens of Costa Mesa's two courses. But Monday was different.
On Monday, the community members came out in memory of Brian "Bubba"
Kapko, the Estancia High School graduate who was killed in a tragic car
accident this summer.
And this wasn't the usual crowd pulling out the irons (not to take anything
away from the usual crowd). Monday, the course was filled with regular
folk who took time out of their busy week to remember Bubba and raise
about $8,500 for Estancia Athletic Booster Club and the Bubba Kapko Memorial
Fund. There were seniors, there were seniors in high school and just about
everyone in between.
Why this crowd? Because these were the people Bubba touched during his
19 years. These are people who crowded his funeral and have pledged not
to let his memory fade.
These are people whose spirit of giving and sportsmanship on Monday would
have made Bubba proud. And happy.
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Fore
Bubba
Kapko is remembered
More than 150 golfers participate in Bubba Kapko Memorial fundraiser
tournament Monday in Costa Mesa.
By Chris Yemma
Daily Pilot
November 15, 2005
COSTA MESA -- He was an Eagle Scout and a captain on his Estancia High
football team.
He was a member of the student government, and is described as having
an infectious laugh and sense of humor.
Brian "Bubba" Kapko wasn't supposed to die at age 19. But on
Aug. 28, the 2004 Estancia graduate died in a car accident while traveling
to Denver with four other people after attending a volleyball tournament
in Boulder, Colo.
On Monday, his memory lived on.
More than 150 people participated in the inaugural Bubba Kapko Memorial
Golf Tournament on Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club's Los Lagos course.
Approximately $8,500 was raised, designated for the Estancia Athletic
Booster Club and the Bubba Kapko Memorial Fund. It has yet to be decided
how the funds will be divvied up, tournament director Jim Huffman said.
Regardless of how the money is divided, the theme of the day was moving
forward, Huffman said.
"Everybody seems to have had a great time," said Huffman, also
the girls' volleyball coach at Estancia. "This was all about having
fun and it wasn't a whole lot about looking back. It was about looking
forward."
Huffman said tournament entries sold out within 24 hours of being announced.
Estancia Athletic Booster Club President Dan Oliver said the goal was
to raise around $5,000. But near the end of the tournament, event treasurer
Rosie Tomasek estimated the actual number would be up around $8,000.
Huffman confirmed the $8,500 figure later in the evening.
The booster club held a similar tournament last year, raising approximately
$10,000 for the Eagles athletic program. There were nearly 100 more golfers
at Monday's event, however.
"This has been a blast," Oliver said. "We were all out
here just to have fun."
Brian Kapko, who made the Daily Pilot Dream Team as a senior running back
and linebacker, was the only one to lose his life in the accident.
According to authorities in Colorado at the time of the accident, the
crash occurred when police were chasing a stolen red Honda. When the Honda
merged from one freeway to another, it collided with two vehicles, one
being the Toyota 4Runner that Kapko and his friends were in.
Kapko was a student at Johnson & Wales University in Denver before
the accident.
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Golf Roundup
Daily
Pilot
December 1, 2005
After final calculations were tabbed, about $14,000 was raised in the
Bubba Kapko Memorial Golf Tournament, tournament director Jim Huffman
said.
More than 150 golfers participated in the event Nov. 14 on Costa Mesa
Golf & Country Club's Los Lagos course.
Named in memory of Brian "Bubba" Kapko -- a 2004 Estancia High
graduate who died in a car accident in August -- the tournament was held
as a fundraiser for the Estancia Athletic Booster Club and the Bubba Kapko
Memorial Fund.
About $1,200 is designated for the Estancia athletic teams, Huffman said,
while $4,000 is for the booster club. About $9,000 will be donated to
the memorial fund, Huffman said.
Huffman said it hasn't been decided how the memorial fund will be used,
though it will probably be designated for some type of athletic scholarship
fund for current or former Estancia athletes.