08/17/2026
From an Outing to a Classic: The Sixth Annual Eric Scott Etnier Memorial Tees Off
There’s a moment every meaningful tradition passes through — the point where it stops being something you’re trying and becomes something you are. For the Eric Scott Etnier Memorial, that moment came last year. This Friday, August 21, golfers gather for the sixth time to tee it up in Eric’s name — and for the second year running as an official Classic.
How It Started
Eric Scott Etnier spent his life in Montgomery County — born there, raised there, and for ten years, serving it as a county health inspector. It wasn’t a job that made headlines; it was one built on relationships, with the restaurant owners who knew him by name, the employees on the other side of every inspection, the first responders he worked beside, and the residents he quietly helped protect. That first outing wasn’t about trophies. It was about showing up. And people did — for four years running, as a golf outing.
The Shift: Year Five
By year five, something had changed. The foursomes kept coming back. New faces joined familiar ones. The event had outgrown the word describing it — “outing” implied a one-off, but this had become a fixture on the calendar, a reunion as much as a round of golf. So in year five, the name changed for good: Memorial Golf Outing became Memorial Golf Classic. Not a rebrand — a recognition of what it had already become.
Why It Stuck
This year’s tumbler tells the story: “6th Annual” above Eric’s crest, and Memorial Golf Classic underneath — a name now carrying its own track record. The cause behind it hasn’t wavered. Every dollar raised benefits NAMI Montgomery County PA, carrying Eric’s name into work supporting the same community he served for a decade.
Friday, August 21
Six years in, this isn’t an event trying to establish itself anymore — it’s one defending a legacy it’s already built. Eric spent his career showing up for Montgomery County, one relationship at a time. Six years later, Montgomery County is still showing up for him.
See you on the course.
