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ALS golf event still going decade later
Amy Dalrymple, The Forum
Published Saturday, August 23, 2008

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Jordan Sing holds a family photo of him and his dad, Larry Sing. Jay Pickthorn / The Forum

A benefit golf tournament organized by a man afflicted with ALS is still going strong more than a decade after he died.

Larry Sing, diagnosed at age 38 with the degenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, spent his last years raising money and awareness for ALS.

The 14th annual Larry Sing Golf Classic will be Monday at the Moorhead Country Club and Edgewood Golf Course in Fargo. The event has raised nearly $770,000 for people with ALS in the Red River Valley.

Now his son, Jordan, a senior at Concordia College, helps organize the tournament and views the event as a way to get to know his father better.

“It’s kind of a window into who my dad was,” said Jordan Sing, who was 7 when his father died. “It shows me the determination and the heart that he had.”

Larry Sing, formerly of Hillsboro, N.D., spent his career working in the agribusiness industry, primarily in the Red River Valley.

ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, left him paralyzed.

But Sing always considered himself fortunate because unlike many people with ALS, he was still able to speak, said his wife, Shawn Sing.

Larry Sing, living in Burnsville, Minn., at the time, decided to organize a golf tournament to raise money for others with the disease, particularly for devices that helped communication.

Sing typed letters seeking sponsors using the movement he had in one finger and a specialized computer. He had his arm in a sling and a quarter taped to his finger to weigh it down to compensate for the strength he lacked.

“That was where he spent the majority of his days,” said his wife, who still lives in Burnsville.

Larry Sing brought together former colleagues in the ag industry to set aside business for a day each year in support of a common cause.

He attended the first two tournaments, but died in 1997 at age 43.

Shawn Sing said she didn’t expect the tournament to keep going much longer after he died, let alone a decade later.

“I am just totally blown away that these people are still committed to having this event,” she said. “To me it speaks volumes about who he was and the lives he was able to touch.”

Doug Dufty, who’s been on the golf tournament committee for 14 years, said there are 52 four-person teams this year sponsored by area seed, chemical and fertilizer companies and implement dealerships.

This year, one team will golf in memory of Larry Kvasager, the elevator general manager in Forest River, N.D., who died recently from ALS.

Jordan Sing said he often hears from people that it was too bad his father died from ALS. But he disagrees because his father was able to raise a lot of awareness.

“In a way, it couldn’t have happened to a better person,” Sing said.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Amy Dalrymple at (701) 241-5590

adalrymple@forumcomm.com <adalrymple@forumcomm.com>

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