Mini Golf Tournament to Honor Late Local Legend

OCEAN CITY- A little early fall miniature golf tournament for a great cause is set for Monday at the Embers Island mini-golf course at 23rd Street.

The inaugural Scunny McCusker Memorial Mini-Golf Tournament in an honor of the late popular Ocean City local and later Baltimore area restaurateur is set for Monday at the mini-golf course at the Embers mini-golf course at 23rd Street beginning at 4 p.m. McCusker was a long-time Ocean City local who perished in August 2012 when he was struck by an Ocean City bus while riding his bicycle in the uptown area.

His passing sent shock waves through the resort area where he lived and worked in the hospitality industry for several years, and through his native Baltimore area community where he owned and operated multiple restaurants with the same flair for which those in Ocean City remembered him. His legacy lives on with the Nacho Mama’s restaurants in Canton and Towson, and Mama’s on the Half Shell also in Canton.

McCusker’s charitable nature was well-documented and his pet charity of choice was the Believe In Tomorrow Foundation and its respite vacation housing for ill children and their families, including multiple locations in Ocean City and the surrounding area. From his Baltimore restaurants, he donated tens of thousands of meals to the beneficiaries of the program over the years.

He once paddled a kayak from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor to a Believe in Tomorrow benefit at Seacrets in Ocean City, raising over $100,000 for the foundation in the process. Ten years after his passing, Believe in Tomorrow Foundation founder Brian Morrison and friends have organized the mini-golf tournament in Ocean City at the Embers Island mini-golf course on 23rd Street beginning at 4 p.m. on Monday.

For years, McCusker and his restaurants hosted the Elvis Open Golf Tournament each year in Baltimore with the proceeds going to Believe in Tomorrow. His vision was always to have a similar miniature golf tournament for charity with everything downsized and Morrison and long-time friends are picking up the ball and running with it in his honor with the tournament in Ocean City next week.

The idea is to celebrate the life and legacy of McCusker, while raising funds for a great cause in the process. The event will feature fun, food, drinks and, of course, multiple stories about the late local legend. The party will go on at the course and continue with an after-party at the Blue Crabhouse and Raw Bar. There will be 36 foursomes first come, first served at a cost of $200 per foursome. For more information or to register, visit [email protected].

About The Author: Shawn Soper

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Shawn Soper has been with The Dispatch since 2000. He began as a staff writer covering various local government beats and general stories. His current positions include managing editor and sports editor. Growing up in Baltimore before moving to Ocean City full time three decades ago, Soper graduated from Loch Raven High School in 1981 and from Towson University in 1985 with degrees in mass communications with a journalism concentration and history.