By Dave Shelburne

"I look like a bumble bee with a glandular condition," Eric Tracy said. That'll play.

Outrageous plays well enough these days for Tracy, a longtime Los Angeles-area radio sports voice who is better known to thousands of charity-tournament golfers as Mulligan Man. When Tracy shows up at a charity event in his colorful knickers and argyles, he takes it as his personal responsibility to make sure everyone has a good time.

It's partly the nature of this outgoing man and partly business. Tracy fell into this love/work opportunity almost by accident but has thrived emotionally and professionally as a charity-golf jack-of-all-trades who offers his services as Webmaster, organizer, master of ceremonies and greeter. He can be found on course in gear at least once a week, plying his trade as the man tournament organizers hire to help make their events enjoyable and profitable.

"I'm running around the course with my bull horn doing schtick," he said, "keeping people in a good mood all day."

"He was great," said John Page, whose Fender Museum Kids Rock Free tournament at Paradise Knolls in Riverside benefited from the Mulligan Man's help on course, at the banquet and in Internet exposure. "We're a young nonprofit organization and we'd only done one tournament," Page said. "Eric added a level of professionalism. He took the emcee duties to a new level with his ease and having fun with it and in the sense that he was a golfer. And he gave us all kinds of recommendations -- like how to smooth out a raffle so it won't take forever and bore the golfers."

As Mulligan Man, Tracy tries to keep golfers comfortable in what for some might be an unfamiliar situation, and he tries to help their score. "I play one hole with every group, and since I'm a pretty good golfer, I can put teams in position to get a birdie or eagle. But my shot doesn't count because I'm not in the foursome, and that's why I'm Mulligan Man."

His duties don't end there. Tracy then serves as emcee at the ensuing banquet and auction.

"By that time I've met everybody," he said, "and I've got this God-given ability to remember names, so I'm on a first-name basis with my audience. And they're in a mood to spend more money."

Tracy secures many of the items up for bid. "Businesses that want to reach golfers donate everything from vacation trips to golf clubs to phone services to golf accessories," he said. "They know it's going to charity." Tracy estimates he helps businesses give away $6,000 to $10,000 in products and golf opportunities at every event he emcees.

How did this all get started? "Pure serendipity," said Tracy, 50, who is affiliated with KFWB radio and was playing in a lot of charity golf tournaments when one day ... "I thought they needed a master of ceremonies, so I volunteered, and I wound up doing 20 a year. I liked being involved with charities, but it was becoming my life, so I started charging. I thought that would slow the demand, but it turned out I got even busier.”

"Then I discovered the tournaments weren't getting the word out as much as they'd like," he said, "so (in 1999) I created a charity-golf-schedule segment on the radio station's Website. "This benefited the charities and the radio station," he said, "and it also gave more golfers the opportunity to play private courses they otherwise wouldn't get to play. Ninety percent of charity events are on private courses."

Then Tracy thought the hosting courses (which allow charity events on the days their facilities are closed to membership play) might as well benefit, too. So he began writing reviews for several Southern California golf magazines. The publications, in turn, listed the charity tournament schedules.

"I started thinking, what's the next step?" Tracy said. "Instead of being an expense, I could be an asset." Because of the Website, businesses saw an opportunity to reach golfers and asked him if he'd like to donate their products at the tournaments.

"This year, Mulligan Man distributed between $350,000 and $500,000 in goods and services," he said, "and the charities keep 100 percent of the bid money."

Tracy, who works for organizations large and tiny, worked 43 charity tournaments last year and might double that total this year. A bachelor until 47, Tracy now is married and has a 1-year-old daughter. But that probably won't slow him down.

"Somehow this thing I want to do is giving me a great sense of accomplishment," he said. "I'm helping the tournaments and putting grits on the table. I've reinvented myself without even knowing it."

By Michelle Flores

If there’s anyone from whom a tournament organizer should accept advice, it’s Eric Tracy. Available for hire as an entertainer and master of ceremonies for charitable golf outings, “The Mulligan Man” estimates he’s participated in 300-plus tournaments and knows well the missteps made at some well-intentioned events. For his tourney money, organizers would be wise to address three key areas:

(1) Registration. Registration should be organized and flawless. Even for events that draw a full field of tournament pros, count on nearly half the players to arrive in the last 45 minutes before the start “so you better be ready, “ Tracy said.

(2) Pace of Play and Scheduling. “Golf does not run six hours,” warned Tracy. “If you can play in 5 ½ hours, golfers can accept that. Five hours is incredible. Five hours and 31 minutes and they’re miserable.”

(3) Banquet and On-Course Contests. Wrap things up with an organized and entertaining banquet. Tracy’s pet peeve: “nickel-and-diming golfers” for every beat-the-pro, longest-drive and similar contest that run up out-of-pocket expenses on game day. Tracy would much rather pay $10 more for the round and see organizers give that money back to players in the form of a more enjoyable tournament experience. “The revenue the charity makes (on contests) is not worth the bad taste it leaves in the players’ mouths – and it slows down the game,” Tracy said.

By Tom Hoffarth

The foursome on the ninth fairway at Valencia Country Club fidgeted about, hoping someone in the scramble group had some magical answer to getting their ball between two menacing bunkers and onto the green that seemed so distant even at 230 yards away.

None seemed brave enough to step up first to hit.  Which seemed kind of strange, since these were firefighters, participating in the first Firefighters Quest For Burn Survivors Charity Golf Tournament.  Some of these guys probably felt more at ease with an axe than an 8-iron.

Suddenly, a golf cart sped around a corner toward them. And from it came a booming voice.  "THIS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR THE MULLIGAN MAN!"  Startled already by the bullhorn, the four turned to watch as the fellow with an even-louder pair of purple knickers and argyle socks leaped from the cart, grabbed his fairway wood and bounced over to help like some golf superhero.  They couldn't help but burst out laughing.  "Where were you 15 holes ago?" one of them said. Eric Tracy had 'em.

All day long, Tracy, the longtime Southern California sportscaster and 12-handicap golf enthusiast, played as if he were putting out a brushfire.  By the time he was finished with a group, he knew all their names and was on to the next.  By the time the group finished the hole, they were usually one or two strokes better off than they thought they'd be when they teed off.  And, yes, Tracy's help counted on their card.

This anything-but routine that Tracy has created for charity golf tournaments over the past two years was born from an idea he came up with after playing in and organizing similar events.  While it was a tournament, Tracy saw a need for levity.  And he noticed that when people were playing well and having fun, it tended to make the whole event more successful as far as donations were concerned.

But his playing day didn't end there.  After participating on at least one hole with every group, it was time for the post-event awards ceremony and prize auction.  He noticed that serving as Master of Ceremonies wasn't always a job everyone volunteered for.  He knew he could have as much fun with that as he could on the course.  With that, The Mulligan Man was born.

"I just love to do them,'' said Tracy, a sportscaster at KFWB-AM (980), who also created CharityGolfOnline.com, a website linked to the radio station in 1999 that helps promote charity events.

"I have this gift of remembering names, and nothing seems to make a person feel better than if you really remember his or her name," Tracy said.  "It really makes a difference.''

The three goals Tracy hopes to accomplish at a charity golf event are simple:
1) Make sure everyone has a good time;
2) Try to raise more money for the organization than it would have otherwise; and
3) Make the banquet move at a brisk pace.

Aside from his bullhorn and cart with the KFWB/Mulligan Man banner, Tracy will do almost anything to help a group on a particular hole, while giving them something to take away from the experience.  If somebody hooks a shot, Tracy will reach into his pocket for a KFWB map of Southern California, telling them he hopes it helps them find the hole better next time.  He'll also give golf tips to those patient enough to listen.  And if he happens to shank one while he's playing, well, it's easy for him to drop another and hit again.  "After all,'' he'll explain, "I am the Mulligan Man.''

At the post-tournament banquet, Tracy keeps the procession moving with stories and jokes, calling out the participants by name in hopes that that will induce them to share in the fun and donate more to the raffles and auctions.  He also has plenty of items to giveaway, thanks to donations by the Dodgers and Angels, clubs he has a 13-year relationship with from his baseball reporting.

There are more than 5,000 charity golf events each year in Southern California.  By the end of 2000, Tracy will have helped with more than 50 of them, with many being return engagements.

"As far as I'm concerned, Eric has earned a long-term position as Master of Ceremonies at the Big Brothers Golf Classic,'' said Robert Howard, chairman of the organization's event at Riviera Country Club the past six years.  "I received many more compliments and renewals than normal with Eric.  I might also add that this year we raised more money than ever as Eric put our golfers in the mood to spend."

"I was fascinated by how quickly he made friends,'' said Cynthia Short, Western Regional Director for the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, which sponsored the Real Estate Industry Cure Asthma Golf Classic at Industry Hills Sheraton Resort.  "He made the banquet move smoothly, kept the crowd laughing and, most important, raised significantly more money on the auction items than we anticipated."

The grass-roots tournaments like the one put on by the Glendale firefighters are the kind that Tracy seems to enjoy most.  The volunteer group started as a response to help people after several firefighters were burned during the Malibu-Calabasas fires in 1996.  Aside from setting up a web site and trying to raise money through other means, it was suggested they try a golf tournament.  Tom Propst, the organization's executive director, said that without Tracy's help as a consultant -- long before he even stepped onto the course -- it would have been next to impossible to pull off.

"We had never done this before, so he was a lifesaver in that aspect,'' said Propst.  "I realize this is the first time and people are still getting to know who we are and what we do, but this really helped, and Eric made a great impression.  Everyone enjoyed themselves.''

Tom Hoffarth is a columnist and media beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News.

By Patrick Wilder

David Munoz's father Augustine died after battling pancreatic cancer. He had been treated by the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Munoz family was grateful for the care and treatment Augustine had received.

But David Munoz decided to go one step beyond gratitude, establishing a research fund in his father's name and starting a golf tournament to help raise money for early detection of pancreatic cancer. In the event's first year, it raised $60,000, proving that golf and determination can be a driving force.

Eric Tracy has taken that kind of individual determination one step further. There are more than 5,000 charity golf tournaments every year in Southern California alone, 250,000 countrywide. But while these golf tournaments can raise much-needed funds, getting the word out is the hardest part. Word of mouth is one way to publicize golf tournaments, and FORE Magazine's Upcoming Tournaments section is another. Now, in addition to those there's the Internet.

Tracy is a familiar name to Southern California sports enthusiasts after nearly 20 years in radio. For the past three years he has been a sports anchor for KFWB. Prior to joining the all-news station, Tracy was the morning sports anchor and an ensemble player on The Ken and Barkley Company, one of Southern California's more popular morning drive radio programs on KABC Talkradio.

In 1994 and 1995 Tracy co-hosted KABC Sportstalk with Steve Edwards. Beginning in 1983 he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers radio broadcast team as the creative force and host of Dodger Forecast, Dodger Confidential, Baseball Spotlight and Dodgertalk.

Even though 12 years of reporting on the Dodgers may make his name more synonymous with baseball than golf, Tracy has been swinging a driver since he was age 20. "My father died when I was very young," he says, "and I remember what a golf nut he was. Golf was a link to my father."

Eric serves as master of ceremonies for dozens of charity tournaments and organizes the Big Brothers Golf Marathon. But inspiration meets innovation at the KWFB Charity Golf Website (www.kfwb.com/charity). The interactive website gives every charity a chance to list its tournament for the world to see, free of charge. The information goes straight to the people who want it -- the players. It's a public service website, by a golfer for golfers.

With a few clicks of the mouse, even the least Net-savvy user can send all the information needed to Tracy. Once at the Charity Golf Page, click in the link marked "Register Your Tournament," fill in the name of the event, the course it is being played at, the date and city, what charity it benefits, the entry fee, contact information and charity information, and hit "Register me." Tracy then formats it for the web and posts it to the website.

Players can search by date or by course. More than 100 courses are listed, with dates up to several months in advance.

Tracy's future plans include automating the entry system and listing all 5,000 events that are held in Southern California yearly. Right now, he's just happy to list as many tournaments he can, and hopes that the clubs will get the word out to the people who organize their events.