The Ohio Tire and Automotive Association (OTAA) held its annual golf outing this year at The Country Club at Muirfield Village, close to the renowned Muirfield Village Golf Club, home of the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament.

OTAA leadership welcomed around 116 OTAA members and thanked sponsors before teeing off and, following golf, attendees gathered for dinner, drinks and donations. OTAA leadership, including new President Jon Boyd, tire business manager, from Boyd’s Tire and Service, presented a $3,000 donation to the Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation (AACF). OTAA also presented the William Floyd Distinguished Service Award to Tom White, owner of the six-store Tire Source chain based in Canton. White received the honor in recognition of his long-term dedication and contributions to the OTAA board and the broader Ohio tire industry.

We spoke with Jeff Wallick, former OTAA president, to get his take on the day and find out why OTAA holds these types of events.

Christian Hinton, Tire Review associate editor: Tell me a bit more about the golf outing this year.

Jeff Wallick: We just finished up our annual golf outing and it was probably among the best we’ve ever had. We had a number of different sponsors. We donated some money to the AACF, an organization that means a lot to us and also to our friends at Yokohama Tire. I think it’s a golf outing we’ve done for quite a while. It’s something that engages all of our members and our sponsors, and it’s just a great event all around. We had a little bit of weather this year, but all turned out really well.

Can you talk about the Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation (AACF)?

JW: It’s something that means a lot to us. They support families of individuals in the industry, especially in the event they run into some kind of personal hardship. Obviously, that’s something that means a lot to us supporting our industry, especially in the state of Ohio.

Why a golf outing? What is the purpose of holding outings like this in this industry?

JW: Actually, in addition to our golf outing, we do an event each winter with the Columbus Blue Jackets as well. So for anybody who doesn’t play golf, the objective really is just to engage our members and bring them into the fold and help them understand the things that we do primarily behind the scenes to support them. There’s legislation that is brought up quite a bit at the Statehouse in Columbus by well-meaning legislators, and it’s our responsibility to make sure that the legislation that’s passed in the state of Ohio doesn’t impact them in a negative way. We operate behind the scenes in a lot of ways that the average independent tire and automotive dealer probably doesn’t know about. But we’re here, we’ve been at it since 1967, and we’re more passionate today than we ever have been.