Welcome Bill & Gail Engvall
Bill and Gail Engvall
- our new Hosts of the Brain
& Spine Center Lone Star Classic! Bill & Gail succeed "Host Emeritus" Doug English,
who "retired" in 2004
after 25 wonderful years of stewardship with the tournament.
Doug continues to be very involved with the Lone Star Classic and
serves as President of the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation.
One of Austin's best known annual events, the Lone Star Classic is a celebrity golf tournament
that has supported charitable organizations since 1979. After a quarter century of fundraising success,
the Lone Star Classic can also boast the creation of friendships, marriages, business ventures and many
long-lasting relationships.
Kent Waldrep and Doug English were friends in the early days of the tournament.
Doug knew Kent’s story: he was paralyzed in 1974, as a result of a spinal cord injury playing football for TCU.
Kent Waldrep would not accept the grim prognosis of permanent disability and helplessness he was given,
and he fought back. Not willing to accept that fate, Kent worked hard at physical therapy,
but realized that there was much to learn about paralysis. By 1979, he had founded the Kent Waldrep
International Spinal Cord Research Foundation, which evolved into the American Paralysis Association (APA).
In 1985, Kent founded the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis Foundation (KWNPF).
That same year, Doug’s football career ended with a debilitating neck injury.
Doug turned his energies into community involvement and made a long-term commitment to the Lone Star Classic.
Doug dedicates considerable time and support to his good friend, Kent Waldrep, in his promise to find a cure for paralysis.
The KWNPF was established with one mission: to find a cure for paralysis caused by injury to the brain or spinal cord.
Toward that goal, KWNPF established a major paralysis research center - the Kent Waldrep Foundation Center
for Nerve Growth and Regeneration at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas,Texas.
This comprehensive basic and applied research effort is endowed with a $10 million grant from the KWNPF.
In 1998, Doug English parlayed his fundraising expertise into the creation of the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation.
Created to help leverage fundraising efforts, the foundation has continued to grow.
It has become an important and recognized organization in Texas for raising money to
bridge the difference between here and a cure.
2003 was a year of transformation for the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation.
Two events are of particular importance to our foundation.
The LSPF joined forces with the Brain
& Spine Center at Brackenridge Hospital to assist in a first-ever research
project designed to measure the effects of functional
electronic stimulation exercise bicycles on spinal cord injured patients.
Christopher Reeve’s impressive results from this leading-edge treatment aired on ABC in 2002.
This new Brackenridge partnership allows our research dollars to be put to work right here in
Central Texas in a developing neurosciences center of excellence.
In addition, 2003 witnessed the closing of the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis Foundation.
For 16 years the KWNPF raised funds and awareness for spinal cord injury causes, and funds
from the Lone Star Classic had been directed towards Kent’s foundation. Kent Waldrep is still
very much involved with spinal cord injury research and fundraising, and he will continue to serve
on the board of the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation. Kent is committed to staying in the game until it is over.
Bill Engvall started playing in the golf tournament in the 1990’s and performing at the famous
Awards Banquet and Comedy Show. He played in the tournament and emceed the 20th annual banquet,
and returned to help with Doug’s 25th and final time to host the tournament. Bill & Gail Engvall
had been significant supporters of the tournament, and the Lone Star Classic was lucky when the couple
agree to host the 26th Lone Star Classic.
In 2004, the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation was supporting two wonderful organizations:
