“Bill is still bringing us all together,” Ed Mangold said, and his friends Greg Bealer and Mike Sophy agreed, as they prepared to play for the 20th and final year in the annual Bill Sugra Memorial Golf Outing Aug. 27 at Green Pond Country Club, Bethlehem Township.

All three were friends of Bill Sugra, who lost his life at age 30 working in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City during the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“We don’t golf much, just one time a year,” Mangold said. “Even if we don’t see each other often, it’s a special time for us being here for all 20 years.”

Mangold and Sophy were classmates of Sugra’s at Allentown Central Catholic HS, and Bealer was Sugra’s roommate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), along with Kurt Cannon, who arrived later to complete the golfing foursome.

Bealer, a lieutenant with the Whitehall Police Department, was part of the Whitehall Police Honor Guard that performed before the shotgun start. The 2018 golf outing marked honor guard’s first performance anywhere.

The golf outing is the cornerstone of fundraising for the Bill Sugra Memorial Fund for Needy and Disadvantaged Peoples, launched by the Sugra family – parents Bill Sr. and El Sugra and sister Tracy Sell. Bill Sugra was a network administrator in Cantor Fitzgerald’s eSpeed division on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center.

This year, the 144 afternoon golfers were joined by a new morning golfing event of approximately 40 of Sugra’s Theta Chi fraternity brothers and others from a waiting list, as the event was sold out.

Children participated in the Lehigh Valley First Tee Program, a junior golf morning event where children receive instruction from PGA professional volunteers. The event wrapped up with a dinner at Green Pond that included a raffle and silent auction.

The fund has raised $1,011,902 over 20 years – “Making a Million Dollar Difference” – as the family describes it, to help those in need. As part of that total, $127,300 is being awarded this year.

“We’re just overwhelmed with the love and support we’ve received,” El Sugra said of the day that is emotional yet festive, a gathering of golfers and volunteers enjoying the day and keeping Sugra’s memory alive, as he continues bringing people together.

The fund will continue after the golf outing ends. Contributions can be made through the fund’s website https://billsugramemorialfund.com/.