Local schools benefit from Clody's One Eye generosity

Sunday, January 11, 2015
A gift back to Putnam County for years of support for the Riley Children's Hospital Ophthalmology Department, Dr. Dan Neely (left) presents juvenile vision screening kits to Clody's One Eye Golf Tournament founder Terry "Clody" Clodfelter. On Saturday, Clody and the Greencastle Elks Lodge presented the kits to the school nurses of Putnam County. (Courtesy photo)

In 21 years, money from the Clody's One Eye Golf Scramble has helped kids from around the world.

The annual tournament has raised $160,000 for Riley Hospital for Children over that time, with the money not only going to the hospital's ophthalmology department in Indianapolis, but supporting programs teaching pediatric ophthalmology around the world.

But even as the money has gone to support better and better technology in Indianapolis and better sight for kids in places like Romania, Haiti and Syria, it has also remained a Putnam County tournament.

The school nurses of Putnam County receive vision screening kits from Clody's One Eye founder Terry "Clody" Clodfelter (back right) and Elks 1077 Exalted Ruler Dave Wells (back right) on Saturday at the lodge in Greencastle. Receiving the kits are (front, from left) Marilyn Unger of North Putnam, Rhonda Kessler of Greencastle, Rita Bain of South Putnam, Lisa Baker of Cloverdale, (back) Wells, Polly Shuee of Greencastle, Julie Williamson of Cloverdale, Marcy Young of South Putnam and Clodfelter. (Photo by JARED JERNAGAN)

The tournament remains at Old Hickory Golf Course, organized by local golfers, including Terry "Clody" Clodfelter.

The money raised by the tournament has also always been available to serve local kids, a fact made clear Saturday morning when Clodfelter and other organizers at Greencastle Elks Lodge 1077 presented Putnam County school nurses vision screening kits from the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS).

While Clodfelter has tried to be a connection over the years between local school nurses and the experts who can help kids at the Riley Ophthalmology Department, the AAPOS screening kits were a surprise gift from Riley.

With tournament organizers at Riley to make the annual donation, Dr. Dan Neely, one of the main doctors involved in the Clody-supported programs, presented Clodfelter with the kits last fall.

In turn, Clody's One Eye and the Elks presented the kits to the school nurses on Saturday, a way of giving back to the community that has supported the tournament, and therefore Riley Hospital, for more than two decades.

"This is sort of our gift back to the community and to you people," Clodfelter said.

The kits are specially designed with children in mind, including eye charts with letters or shapes, depending on the age and reading ability of a child, as well as "fun frame" occluder glasses for kids who might not be willing to use the paddles or patches normally used for adults.

The kits also include training materials for the nurses who will perform the screenings on the children.

And if a problem is found with the kids, Clodfelter urged the nurses to contact him, and he will get them in touch with Riley.

"Let's hope we don't have any problems with little children," Clodfelter said, "but if we do, I'm just a phone call away."

Modest about the program that started as a joke with some golfing buddies, Clodfelter spoke briefly Saturday about the ophthalmology department at Riley, including a digital diagnosis lab bearing the sign "A gift from Clody's One Eye Golf and Greencastle Elks Lodge 1077."

"I can't say this organization has paid for that totally, but they tell me it has," Clodfelter said. "That's very nice and very humbling."

The humbling experience began in 1972, when a 14-year-old Clodfelter suffered an eye injury that caused him to lose sight in one eye.

Years later, responding to the good-natured ribbing of friends, Clodfelter challenged to play golf his way -- without depth perception.

"I told all my buddies, one of these days, I'm gonna make you cover your eyes and you're gonna play my game," Clodfelter said.

Having played with eye patches just for fun a few times, the buddies upped the ante, deciding to raise money for Riley.

In the time since, the donations have grown from around $600 the first year, to annual figures well into the thousands, including $7,500 in 2014.

While Clodfelter and his friends organized the tournament for nearly two decades, three years ago they brought in reinforcements, with the Elks Lodge joining the fold.

Since then, interest has again picked up and the tournament is going strong each fall.

"It's a very long running event," Elks Lodge Exalted Ruler Dave Wells said. "The doctors are surprised it's still going."

Clodfelter himself acts less surprised, understanding that this group of friends has simply been doing the right thing for more than two decades. His real hope is to see more involvement, both in Putnam County and elsewhere.

Beyond more players, Clodfelter would really like to see more events, perhaps with other lodges in the district organizing one-eyed tournaments in support of the same cause.

"I know plenty of golfers in the lodge over in Rockville," Clodfelter said.

Like most health issues, children's eyesight problems are not going away entirely, but with kits like those Friday, Clodfelter hopes that many of the issues for the affected kids can be curtailed.

"I'd just like to get more people involved in the cause of children's eyesight," he said. "Early detection takes care of all the problems, hopefully."

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