Huskies driven to assist our troops

In addition to sharpening their golf skills over the summer, John McIlree, Jimmy Morrow and Johannes Seemann, along with other Hersey players and students, pitched in to help the U.S. troops in Iraq.

One day Hersey coach Dan Caporusso was watching The Golf Channel and saw a military chaplain, who was stationed in Iraq, talking about how the soldiers were keeping their spirits up by designing a mini-driving range and practicing their golf in the desert.

Just one problem. The troops, members of an Illinois National Guard unit, were running out of golf balls and didn't have many clubs.

So Caporusso and company spearheaded a Hersey effort that collected over 10,000 golf balls and over 200 golf clubs that, with the help of fundraising from the soldiers' wives and a local motorcycle club to help offset the high cost of shipping, were sent to Iraq in June.

"Jimmy, John and Johannes were heavily involved in that effort," said Caporusso.