NCI kept the Defelice Cup trophy this year after beating Leidos Biomedical Research, 15 to 9, at the 10th annual Ronald H. Defelice Golf Tournament held on Columbus Day.
Sixteen players on each team battled it out at the yearly contractor vs. government tournament held at Rattlewood Golf Course in Mount Airy, Md. NCI leads the series 6–4.
“The score was the highest NCI margin of victory in the 10-year series,” said Denny Dougherty, retired senior subcontracts advisor at what was formerly SAIC-Frederick. “The intensity of the annual competition has increased each year and has become a much anticipated event each Columbus Day.”
Dougherty served as team captain for Leidos Biomedical Research, along with Dave Heimbrook, Ph.D., president, Leidos Biomedical Research.
“The NCI team played really well, and certainly deserved the win. My first hole was representative—I managed to score an eagle, and I still lost the hole,” Heimbrook said. “It went downhill from there; just one of those days. However, the weather was gorgeous, the course was in good shape, and there was great camaraderie and sportsmanship throughout the matches. We’re looking forward to next year!”
Team captains for NCI were Jim Cherry, Ph.D., scientific program director, NCI at Frederick, and Marc Foltz, lead administrative officer, Administrative Resource Center, NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis.
In addition to the sunny weather and NCI’s win, Cherry said that a highlight of the event was “we all came together to enjoy each other’s company on a federal holiday.”
The most valuable player (MVP) awards went to Craig Hayn, senior security analyst, NCI, and Dom Esposito, Ph.D., director, Protein Expression Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research. Troy Taylor, research associate, Leidos Biomedical Research, received the sportsmanship award.
The tournament is named after Ronald H. Defelice, retired chief of the Management Operations and Support Branch, NCI at Frederick.
Slideshow photos courtesy of Carrie Belasco, Leidos Biomedical Research.