- April 25, 2024
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Ryan Burkhalter was wearing a blue Florida Gators hat and a matching polo shirt as he walked into the ballroom after a round of golf on a blistering Saturday afternoon.
As the treasurer of the Volusia County Gator Club, Burkhalter is by all accounts a devoted member of the Gator nation, but there is something ironic about it all.
He didn’t attend the university. Burkhalter went to UCF.
Burkhalter has been a fan of the Florida Gators since he was a kid. For Burkhalter, it’s hard to betray a lifelong allegiance for four years of fandom, and he hasn’t.
“The Gator Nation is everywhere and I can tell you that I went to UCF, but I’ve been a Gator fan since I was a child. It’s a family and everyone supports one another. We provide a lot of great activities for people to do, and this golf tournament is probably our biggest event because people come from out of town and it’s a great event every year,” Burkhalter said.
The 19th annual Volusia County Gator Club scholarship golf tournament was held on Saturday at the Halifax Plantation Golf Club, and it’s a fundraiser that gives thousands of dollars in scholarships to high school students in the Volusia County area on their way to the University of Florida.
The club has raised over $221,000 since the golf tournament’s inception. This year the club raised $13,000 for 13 local students with the help of dozens of local businesses who sponsored the event including Houligan's, the Daytona Tortugas, Cracker Barrel, Yellow Dog Eats and many more.
“We had a beach cleanup recently, a park cleanup and we collected quite a bit of trash from there,” said club president Rob Apgar. “We just want to give back to the community that supports us.”
We just want to give back to the community that supports us.
-Rob Apgar, Volusia Country Gator Club president
There are no annual dues to join the club and the only requirement is a passion for the Gators and a willingness to represent Volusia County.
As club members finished their rounds of golf, the rest of the club joined Burkhalter in the ballroom at the Halifax Plantation Golf Club for an awards ceremony and raffle giveaways.
“There’s just a lot of camaraderie and a lot of people that love and support the Gators,” Burkhalter said. “We get together, have a good time and go to Houligan’s a lot. It’s always a fun time.”
For more information, visit the club’s website at www.volusiagatorclub.com.
