Tourney to honor Rhea’s memory

FLORENCE — Almost seven months later, Rod Jernigan still fights back tears when he talks about Will Rhea.

Rhea, along with six other college students, died in a house fire at Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., in the early morning hours of Oct. 28.

Jernigan, a Florence attorney and president of the Florence County Gamecock Club, said he has known the Rhea family since the early 1980s.

And, Jernigan said, if Rhea, who was 18, loved two sports more than any other, it was baseball and golf. So it makes sense that his name will be memorialized in the inaugural William Rhea Golf Tournament, scheduled for June 3 at Florence Country Club.

All of the proceeds from the tournament, Jernigan said, will go to the University of South Carolina baseball fund in Rhea’s name. Rhea was one of six USC students to die in the fire. One Clemson student also died.

Jernigan said his last image of Will was seeing him, his brother, Andrew, and their father, Dr. Andrew Rhea, on the No. 10 tee box at Florence Country Club.

Jernigan said that was shortly after the fall semester at USC had begun. About two months later, he awoke that fateful Sunday morning to phone calls asking if he had heard about the fire.

“Sick,” is the word Jernigan used to describe his feelings at the time.

Then at a Gamecock Club meeting in November, Jernigan said he and the board hatched the idea of the golf tournament.

“We were thinking, ‘What can we do for that (Rhea) family?’” Jernigan said. “We hoped that they would let us use William’s name as a memorial, not use it as a fund-raising vehicle, but for when somebody five, 10 or 15 years from now might say, ‘Who is William Rhea?’

“My thinking was for nobody to forget William Rhea.”

Jernigan said Rhea’s mother, Dr. Genie Lee, embraced the idea, and the William Rhea Golf Tournament was born.

Jernigan said several USC football assistants are scheduled to be at FCC for the tournament, including receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr., recruiting coordinator David Reaves, defensive line coach Brad Lawing and new defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson.

The cost for a four-man team in the captain’s choice event is $500 and the field is limited to the first 25 teams to sign up. Registration forms can be picked up at the Billy Jeffers Center at Timrod Park, All Star Sports and the Jeffers Company on Second Loop Road or at Strike Zone on Freedom Boulevard.

“In the grand scheme of things, it might not be that big of a deal,” Jernigan said. “But it’s big for (the Rheas). We’re doing our part to keep Will’s memory alive.
“It’s a way to just let the family know that we love them, we love William and we don’t want to forget him.”

IF YOU ARE GOING
WHAT: William Rhea Golf Tournament
WHEN: Tuesday, June 3
WHERE: Florence Country Club
COST: $500 per four-man team
INFO: Entry forms can be picked up at the Billy
Jeffers Center at Timrod Park, All Star Sports and
the Jeffers Company on Second Loop Road and at Strike Zone on Freedom Boulevard.