More Event Information

Please join us for the 5th annual KTO Classic, a golf outing to remember our friends Kurt and Keith Oblinger! This will be a great time to have fun and remember two amazing guys that touched the lives of so many. We have raised almost $50,000 in the first 4 outings!! Thank you for your continued support as we are looking to make this year the best yet!!

**All proceeds go to the Kurt & Keith Oblinger Elder Scholarship Fund, Life Center of Cincinnati & the American Heart Association**

Details:
SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2018
ASTON OAKS GOLF CLUB
SHOTGUN START AT 2:00 PM
4 PERSON SCRAMBLE

$100 per person
• Scramble format
• 18 Holes & Cart
• Beer & Soft Drinks
• Dinner provided by Maka Mia Pizza

$15 per person
• Dinner, Beer & Soft Drinks
• Door Prizes
• Split the Pot

*Golfer Registration starts at 12:30pm, rain or shine!

Dinner only guest are welcome to come after 6.

Checks can be made payable to “KTO Classic” Mail to:
4947 Delhi Pike, Cinti, OH, 45238
(Please include your name, golfers in foursome, phone number, and email address)

Pay via PayPal to Contact event using the form below. please email above info
Venmo @KTOClassic and please email above info

QUESTIONS OR GOLFER INFORMATION TO Contact event using the form below.

***Please note, accepting the facebook invitation does NOT automatically register you for the outing.

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The Oblinger’s Story:

On Friday, February 18, 2005, Kurt Oblinger, (Elder ‘03) thought he received the worst news imaginable. A sophomore at the University of Dayton, Kurt was having difficulty breathing and was incredibly fatigued. His mother, Carole recognized the symptoms and took Kurt to the doctor. Kurt was diagnosed with congestive heart disease. The following Monday, he would have to have a battery of tests to determine how much damage had been done to his heart. Kurt phoned his older brother, Keith from his hospital bed. Keith, (Elder ‘96), had been diagnosed with the same disease six years earlier when he was at Miami University. He told his little brother that he knew he was scared but that Kurt had to be “strong in front of mom.”

Keith wouldn’t make it to his brother’s bedside. On Sunday, February 20, 2005 Kurt and his family received the news that Keith had drowned after his Jeep slid on ice, overturned and rolled down a hill into a small creek in Fort Wayne, Indiana where Keith had been working. The next day, Kurt and his family received more bad news. Kurt would need a heart transplant. Carole and Tom, Kurt and Keith’s parents, were told that as soon as they could bury Keith, Kurt would need to be transported to Louisville and he would be placed at the top of the heart transplant list.

The Oblingers held Keith’s funeral Mass on Friday, February 25th at Our Lady of Visitation where 1,200 people came to say goodbye. Although he was unable to attend the funeral due to his health, Kurt was able to attend a private viewing with his medical staff and family, prior to the service.

The day after Keith’s burial, Kurt was taken to Jewish Hospital in Louisville. Kurt’s health deteriorated and he had to have open heart surgery. Kurt decided that he would be part of an experimental new procedure called a VAD (Ventricular Assistive Device) that was essentially a battery that would be attached to his heart to keep it running. Kurt had to recuperate before he could be placed on the waiting list for the heart, so he returned home.

On May 5, 2005, the hospital informed Kurt and his family that they had found a donor, and he received a new heart and returned home two weeks later. Kurt felt like he had been born again and he decided that he would do whatever he could to help others with heart disease and those who needed organ donations. He founded Team Oblinger to honor the memory of his brother, Keith and to raise money for the American Heart Association. In six years, the team, which is one of the largest teams that run and walk in the Cincinnati Heart Mini-Marathon, and has raised over $100,000 for heart research.

Kurt also became a spokesman for the LifeCenter Organ Donor Network. According to Andi Johnson, spokeswoman for LifeCenter, “He moved us miles ahead in terms of reaching out to the community about the need to register to be an organ and tissue donor.” He spoke to high schools and many community groups about the importance of organ donations. He was honored by his alma mater, The University of Dayton, for his contributions in getting students to consider donating life- saving organs. He volunteered for the biennial Transplant Games.

Sadly, as Kurt was playing indoor soccer in April 2011, he began struggling for breath. Two days later, Kurt checked himself into the hospital and the doctors realized that Kurt would need to return to his transplant team which is based at the Ohio State University Hospital. In Columbus, Kurt was stable and laughing and joking with his high school friend, Jeff Capannari (Elder ‘03). He sent his parents home and told them to come pick him up in the morning. On April 24th 2005, Kurt went into cardiac arrest and he never regained consciousness.

After Keith’s death, a permanent scholarship was established in his name at Elder. Now the scholarship includes Kurt’s name.