CLAYTON D. POOLE '02

Whether transitioning from high school to college, getting a new job, working through illness or loss, everyone faces challenges. For the lucky ones, what got them through hard times was a friend who was compassionate, kind, and understanding. That friend, to many, was Clayton Poole, a 2002 graduate of CBHS, who left behind a legacy that continues to bring people together, well after his passing.

To honor his legacy and love for CBHS, alumni Robert Keller ’01 and Blake Biggs ’02 created the Clayton D. Poole Memorial Golf Tournament, that now continues into its seventh year. They both work in the same field. Keller is president/owner of Keller Insurance, and Biggs is a risk consultant at Kemmons Wilson Insurance Group.

Before Poole’s passing in 2016, Keller says, “Just a few months prior to that, everyone went out and played golf because we were just trying to get together one last time.” Biggs remembers, “This was something Clayton was adamant about doing every year. He called me one night and said, ‘Let’s do this!’” With that same sentiment in mind, after the sudden loss of Poole, the Brothers’ Boys came together to simply play golf. Soon, this once small and occasional golf outing became a celebration of Poole’s life and the passion he had for the CBHS community.

While attending CBHS, both Keller and Biggs felt their experience there made them eager to give back to their community in any way they could. Keller reflects on the importance of the tournament and his own role in helping Memphis. “We are getting to that age where we can make bigger impacts than smaller,” he says, “and we are trying to leverage that to keep the spirit of brotherhood and Clayton alive.” Overall, Biggs and Keller find the tournament a great display of how “this small group of people can change something.”

The tournament creates an opportunity where younger and future generations can come together as one.

“Everyone in our world has unfortunately dealt with tragedy and death,” says Keller, “and obviously there have been other people who have gone to CBHS and passed away. So, we encourage those names to be brought forward during the tournament.”

For Poole and his Brothers, playing golf together was a time for them to grow in their friendships and show their love and support for one another. In a similar way, the tournament provides a place for every member of the CBHS and Memphis community to connect and grow as individuals and friends.

Over the years, the tournament has steadily expanded. Biggs notes that the tournament “started with eight teams, then grew into 16 teams, and we hoped to get another 36 teams out this year.” Played at the Links at Audubon, the tournament is held on one special Friday in October and is filled with friendly competition, fun, food, and friends. The cost per participant is $100, with donations of any amount accepted. Those donations, no matter the size, make a great impact on the current and future students at CBHS.

A one-day event can make quite a difference in the life of a CBHS student. Over the course of the tournament, Biggs says that with entry fees and donation “we have raised about a hundred thousand dollars” and Keller adds that “we are averaging a full year of tuition by doing this on a Friday afternoon.” He encourages all people interested to attend and emphasizes his desire “to have everyone feel included.”

As the tournament continues to grow, Biggs and Keller hope to inspire the younger generations of CBHS students and “are hoping for this to be a legacy tournament, with one day hopefully, some of the younger guys running it.”

Keller considers Memphis as “the largest giving city in the world.” One way this can be seen is not only what this golf tournament gives back to the Memphis community, but what Clayton Poole gave to others during his life.