Todd Chamberlain ’03 says leading B.A.S.S.A. and organizing the annual Beaver Golf Classic are the best ways to pay it forward for the smartest decision he ever made.
By Marc Glass
As director of Information Technology Contract Staffing Services at Pro Search Inc. in Portland, Todd Chamberlain ’03 oversees more than 100 developers, analysts, and administrators in providing businesses nationwide with direct-hire recruiting, temporary staffing, and IT consulting services. It’s a big job. But it’s not his only job.
Todd Chamberlain ’03, photographed in the Old Port, near his office at Pro Search Inc. in Portland. (Photo by Marc Glass.)
He’s also founder and president of B.A.S.S.A. (Beaver Alum Supporting Student Athletes), a Maine nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing educational and developmental support for UMF student-athletes as well as funding for UMF Athletics. Under Chamberlain’s leadership, B.A.S.S.A. has raised and donated to UMF nearly $60,000 over the past four years — most of that through the Beaver Golf Classic, an ever-more-successful annual tournament that brings alumni and friends of UMF back to Maine each summer to play a round in support of the University.
The 2018 Beaver Golf Classic will be held Saturday, June 9, at Fox Ridge Golf Club in Auburn. Register online at beaveralum.org/register
Organizing the tournament — and coordinating the essential vendors and sponsors — requires no small amount of Chamberlain’s time and his own financial resources. But he says bringing alumni and friends together every year in support of UMF Athletics is a passion project.
Shortly after he confirmed the course for the 2018 Beaver Golf Classic, Chamberlain spoke with Farmington First about the tournament, what drives him to organize it and lead B.A.S.S.A., and his love of UMF.
There are no shortage of fundraising golf tournaments held every year. What about the Beaver Golf Classic draws so many participants year after year?
“The really cool thing is it’s not just alumni, and it’s not just UMF faculty and staff who participate. We’ve got friends, relatives, folks who have no ties to UMF other than knowing someone from UMF — even folks who are members of the golf club where we host the tournament. People just want to come support a good cause and have fun. And it provides huge bang for your buck. You get 18 holes, a golf cart, food, and beverages. We have lots of giveaways and sponsorships from Bissell Brothers (founded and run by Noah Bissell ’12 and his brother, Peter) and Flight Deck Brewing. So it’s less about golf and more about having a great time. That being said, we draw some pretty good golfers. It’s fun to see the numbers that are posted at the end of the tournament.”
What about folks who don’t golf — or might consider themselves “duffers” at best? Is there a place for them at the Beaver Golf Classic?
“Yeah, I get a lot of that. Some folks say, ‘Todd, I don’t golf. I’ll just write you a check.’ I say, ‘No, no. You have to come out. This is a fun event. This isn’t about winning the tournament. It’s all about supporting UMF athletics and UMF itself and having a great time.’ If there are folks who want to play but don’t have a team, I encourage them to still sign up, and I work with them to get them on a team. If there aren’t enough people to field a team, they can play alongside another team. We make it work for everybody. For three years straight we had torrential rain and wind, and I coined this tagline on mailers that I sent out to everyone: ‘Rain or shine, we still have a good time.’ I believe in that and work to make sure the tournament lives up to it.”
Aside from a chance to play with friends and the food and drink, the tournament offers participants some significant prizes. For the uninitiated, take us through the tournament day and tell us what’s at stake.
“So we have a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. After the last team finishes, we do a buffet luncheon with awards and prizes. Depending on how many people are there, the tournament takes four and a half or maybe five hours. I’m very respectful of people’s time because I have my own family, too. We award prizes for the top three teams. We have hole prizes, too, with some big money up for grabs. I take out insurance on the par-three holes. There’s a $25,000 putt, a $10,000 hole-in-one, and other prizes like a set of clubs and a flight anywhere in the continental U.S.”
Running the tournament each year is a huge undertaking. You also serve on UMF’s Board of Visitors. What motivates you to do so much for the University?
“I played soccer and club hockey at Farmington, and my teammates were my best friends — people I could lean on both on and off the field. The tournament is a good way to give back to a program that gave so much to me. Here’s how it got started. I kept in touch with a lot of older alumni because those guys used to come out to our games and cheer us on, give us little tidbits of knowledge and advice that I took to heart and appreciated. So I always kept in touch with them as a student and even after I graduated. Coach (Bob) Leib saw that and asked me if I would be interested in helping him organize a few guys to get together to play golf. The tournament started out with Coach Leib and probably 12 other guys. We’d go play golf, catch up, and throw $50 to $100 in a hat so Coach Leib could donate it to the University. After a couple years of doing that, I started talking to the guys that were joining us and I said, ‘I think there’s an opportunity here for us to do something that hasn’t been done before.’ I asked them point-blank: ‘Would you be willing to give more and participate if I were to formalize a tournament?’ It was overwhelming. The guys were like, ‘I would absolutely do that. I would give more money if I know where it’s going and what it’s going to, and if it’s going to athletics — heck yeah, count me in.’ So that’s when I formed B.A.S.S.A. I had an amazing four years at UMF, I really did. It wasn’t just the soccer team and Coach Leib, it was the faculty and staff. You know the deal: UMF has that hometown feel. Everyone is there to help you out in any way they can. Going there was the smartest decision I ever made. I want the kids that are at UMF now to have that same experience.”
The Beaver Golf Classic has been drawing about 100 participants annually for the past few years. Clearly, it’s a huge success. Is there a ceiling for growth, in terms of what you can handle for logistics and planning?
“No. Definitely not. The more the merrier. When you get these people together, the energy is wonderful. For a lot of alumni who haven’t seen each other in many years, this is the one time they get together and they usually make a long weekend of it. There are people that fly up from Florida and in from California, and some who drive up from Massachusetts. From the alumni perspective, it’s a really fun event. Alumni and even people I do business with that come out to support B.A.S.S.A. say, ‘This is one of the more fun tournaments that we play.’”
Is there anything that you, personally, achieve from organizing the tournament — any specific satisfaction or goal?
“My wife, God bless her, she supports everything I do. We have two young boys, a 6 year old and a 4 year old, so a lot of the work I do for B.A.S.S.A. happens after we get the kids to bed, which would otherwise be our quiet, relaxing time. I also have a great Board* behind me, and they do a lot of work, too. Organizing the tournament is a lot of heavy lifting, but I look forward to it because I know it’s something so many other people look forward to. There are so many moving parts to the event. Seeing it all come together in the end is pretty exciting.”
*Joining Chamberlain on the B.A.S.S.A. Board of Directors are Michael Hauser ’01, First Vice President; Jamie Beaudoin ’97, Second Vice President; Katie Bernier ’02, Director of Marketing; Matthew Beckim ’00, Treasurer; Joshua Vetro ’03, Director of Community Relations; Scott Landry ’70, Business Development; Kevin Lynch, Business Development; and Mitch Wakem, Webmaster.