Toby Keith's Oklahoma charity golf event to continue in his memory: What to know

Although Toby Keith died earlier this year after a multi-year cancer battle, his hometown cancer charity event is continuing on in his memory.

Organizers announced this week that the Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic is returning for its 20th anniversary edition May 31-June 1 in Norman. The two-day hometown charity event raises funds for the Toby Keith Foundation's OK Kids Korral, a cost-free home-away-from-home for children with cancer seeking treatment in Oklahoma City.

"If you go in there and watch it work, it’s probably my greatest accomplishment," Keith told The Oklahoman in 2019.

Days after Keith's death, Armando Rosell, a member of the executive advisory council for the Oklahoma City-based Toby Keith Foundation, told The Oklahoman that the foundation board was planning to go forward with this year's 20th annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic. The event is the major annual fundraiser for the OK Kids Korral, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

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"We were going to do — and we still are going to do — a lot of great things for the 10/20-year anniversary," Rosell told The Oklahoman.

"We are 100% committed to making the OK Kids Korral continue on and to making it the OK Kids Korral Toby wanted it to be."

Eli Young Band, Bob Stoops and Jim West to headline Toby Keith Foundation dinner and auction

Texas country group Eli Young Band, who once opened for Keith on tour and was formerly signed to his record label Show Dog Nashville, will headline the fundraising dinner and auction May 31 at Norman's Riverwind Casino, with support from local band The Bottom of The Barrel.

Keith's longtime friends Bob Stoops, the former University of Oklahoma’s football head coach, and Jim West, business executive and founder of NCAA golf’s Jim West Challenge, will be the emcees.

Gene McKown will step in as auctioneer at the event, which will have its traditional denim and diamonds theme.

The shotgun start golf tournament is set for June 1 at Norman's Belmar Golf Club, which Keith co-owned.

“The first Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic was held under a tent, and people recall the ‘mud pit’ being one of the best parts. Toby and his friends came together that year to raise money for children with cancer, and they did it while having fun," said Juliet Nees-Bright, executive director of The Toby Keith Foundation, which organizes The Toby Keith & Friend Golf Classic, in a statement.

"Now, 20 years later, we are getting ready to host our first event without Toby acting as the emcee, ribbing us to donate and entertaining us throughout the night. This year will be a balancing act as we remember him, but also honor his wishes to continue throwing one hell of a party."

The public can bid online on celebrity memorabilia and more through the silent auction

This year’s invitation-only charity event sold out in less than a week, according to a news release.

Silent auction items include signed memorabilia from Oklahoma stars Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton; the late Jimmy Buffett; country music hitmakers Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson and Willie Nelson; and famed athletes Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Cal Ripken Jr. A personalized Garth Brooks cowboy hat also will be among the celebrity offerings.

Also up for bids are concert tickets from Jelly Roll and Oklahoma country music star Zach Bryan, a Grand Ole Opry experience, a Texas Rangers experience and more.

The public can bid on silent auction items or make a donation at us.givergy.com/tobykeithfriendsgolfclassic.

Live auction offerings will include trips to Portugal and Switzerland, a Taylor Swift guitar, hand-painted guitars honoring Keith and more items donated by the country music icon's celebrity friends.

Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic has raised almost $18 million

Long before he was diagnosed with cancer himself, Keith made helping Oklahoma pediatric cancer patients one of his top priorities. In 2004, he helped found Ally's House, a nonprofit group that aids Oklahoma children with cancer and their families. The charity is named for Allison Webb, the 2-year-old daughter of Scott Webb, one of the country star's original bandmates, and his wife, Linda Webb. Allison died Aug. 6, 2003, a month before her third birthday, of Wilms' tumors, a type of kidney cancer.

In 2006, he established the Toby Keith Foundation on a mission to build no-cost housing for pediatric cancer patients and their families. In late 2013, Keith, his family and supporters celebrated in OKC the grand opening of the $9 million OK Kids Korral, which houses Oklahoma children seeking cancer care at OU Medical Center.

"When you're coming from the outskirts of the state ... it's hard to travel for that care, especially when you have a sick child," Rosell said. "We house them, we feed them, we provide clothes for them, toiletries for them."

To date, the Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic has raised a total of nearly $18 million, with the 19th installment of the charity event having raised a record $1.8 million.

"It's amazing how much support we get. But it takes that kind of support to handle 300 families a year," Keith told The Oklahoman backstage during the 2023 event at Riverwind Casino.

"Next year, it'll be the 10th year for the OK Kids Korral, 20th year of my foundation party. So, we're gonna celebrate a 10 and a 20, and we're gonna blow it out."

Although he suspects this year's event will be bittersweet, Rosell said that's still the plan.

"Our donors are very committed to us, and they're very committed to Toby. And Toby was very committed to the cause," he said.

For more information, go to www.tobykeithfoundation.org.