Our History
In October 1991 the Saranac Lake General Hospital held a golf tournament at Loon Lake Golf Course. Art Niederbuhl was president of the hospital board at that time, and he wanted to put a team together to participate in the tournament. He asked his son-in-law, Mike Aumand, and Sandy Hayes to play on the team. Rick Greenier, from Florida, was planning to visit Sandy at the same time, so Sandy asked him to bring his golf clubs and join the team.
They played in the tournament and finished the last two holes in a snowstorm.
That night, Rick, Sandy, John Niederbuhl, Reg Brown, Gordy Cass, Karyl Willette, Darryl Willette and Gar Munn had dinner at the Brookside Hotel. During the evening, Rick asked if they still had little league baseball teams in town. Someone said yes, but they didn't have much equipment and a few mixed uniforms. It was decided that they should do something to raise money for new uniforms and equipment. So they planned to meet the next night at Sandy Hayes' house to figure out how to raise some money.
The next night they had a meeting as planned, and it was decided to contact as many former little league ball players as they could and ask them to put two quarters in a jar every Saturday morning, starting January 1, 1992. By Christmas, they would have put two quarters in the jar for 50 weeks and would have $25.00, the amount it would take to buy one new uniform. The "two quarter jar" program became very successful and by the end of the year, more than 50 people had donated to a new club which called itself the Bloomingdale Boosters.
As the winter of 1992 went on, the small group of original Boosters worked on a plan to have a golf tournament like the one the hospital had put on the previous year. Darryl Willette was the primary person making the contact with Loon Lake Golf Course and signing up sponsors for the various holes and contests and that year, the first Bloomingdale Booster Classic was held on the day before the Bloomingdale Labor Day field day.
On Labor Day, many of the "old timers", former little league baseball players of all ages, formed two teams and held an old timers game during the field day events.
From then on, the Bloomingdale Booster Classic was held every Labor Day until the Loon Lake golf course closed at the end of the 2003 season. For several years during that era, the Boosters also held a Cobweb Classic at various golf courses, but that was not nearly as successful at the Booster Classic.
In 2015, a new group of Booster supporters led by Ed Baltzly and Steve and Jackie Niederbuhl reorganized the Booster Classic at the Saranac Inn golf course and their fundraising for the youth of the Bloomingdale has been very successful.
Over the years, 10s of thousands of dollars have been raised for the youth and 7 to 9 teams starting at age 4, have been equipped with the best equipment and the youth field has seen remarkable improvements, including clay infield, fencing, bleachers and just about anything the youth need. They are protected by very expensive insurance coverage and all adults involved in the programs are required to undergo background checks at the expense of the Boosters.