The Chris Massey Foundation

05/07/2021

True story about my brother Chris. One Friday back in ‘87 I drove from NAU to my home in Tempe and arrived in the early afternoon. I found Chris in his room with some friends working on a project. They had used stick-on lettering of various fonts, an enlarged photocopy of the Oklahoma State Seal, and poster board with a square in the upper corner cut out to create an enormous mock-up driver license. I watched as each would hold the poster board creation with their head showing in the corner while someone took Polaroid photos. I asked Chris “Why Oklahoma?” He replied that they had spent some time at the local library researching driver licenses. Oklahoma was one of the simpler licenses to reproduce. I suspect that was the most effort Chris had ever devoted to researching anything in a library. Once an acceptable Polaroid had been identified, trimmed, and laminated, alias “Robert Rayan Lewis” from Oklahoma City was created. DOB: 3/26/66.
Chris later told me that the first time he used the fake ID at the liquor store that he would end up frequenting, the guy at the cash register was having trouble reading it because the font size was so small. Chris actually apologized, and the guy said “it’s not your fault…the stupid DMV.” Rob Lewis became quite the popular dude for awhile.

05/04/2021

True story about my brother Chris. One summer he was back from college and had a part-time job as a pizza delivery guy. During one of his deliveries, a man commented on Chris’s sun-burned face. Chris said he had been boating at Apache Lake with his buddies over the weekend. The man told him that he had a motorboat and was looking forward to taking it to one of the lakes but he couldn’t get the motor to start. Chris asked him what type of boat, and he responded “Sea Ray.” We also had a Sea Ray, and Chris asked the man if he had stopped the engine while it was in gear. He said he had, and that he could not get it to start since. They went to the man’s boat that was parked in his driveway, and Chris showed him a little-known trick that wasn’t published in the owners manual. When a Sea Ray boat is stopped while in gear, the engine will not start again. This is a safety feature...the assumption is that the motor was stopped to prevent an accident, like an anchor line being drawn into the moving prop or someone swimming near the prop. The remedy is to position the linkage lever all the way in the reverse direction, then push it all the way to the forward direction, and then back to neutral…and Bob’s your uncle. Once reset, the engine immediately started up. The man was dumbfounded and elated at the same time. The pizza delivery guy fixed my boat!!!

02/15/2019

The Chris Massey Foundation has one additional and noteworthy “Thank You” message. Debbie Martinez, Marcos de Niza High School Counselor, partnered with us from the beginning and worked behind the scenes each year to promote our scholarship and help us identify outstanding students in need. She was awesome, and we would have been lost in this process without her assistance and guidance. We awarded her a plaque in December recognizing her essential contribution to our cause. Thank you Debbie!

02/05/2019

THANK YOU!!!!!!

We, the Board Members, have decided to bring The Chris Massey Foundation to a close. Running the Foundation and planning/hosting the tournaments has been a labor of love, but it has run its course. It has been such fun seeing long-time friends each year, and making new ones. However, as the saying goes, “all good things must come to an end,” and we have done so much good with your help and generosity. Again, THANK YOU, and we wish the supporters of The Chris Massey Foundation and our scholarship recipients all the best. The website will be gone soon, but we plan to keep our page with pictures up and running indefinitely.

The Foundation board members, friends, and family have hosted an annual charity golf tournament for the past twelve years to generate funds for scholarships awarded to promising Marcos de Niza High School graduates. Special consideration was given to students who were pursuing a college degree in education (Chris was close to completing his degree in Elementary Education and making a positive difference in the lives of children).

The Foundation has given 52 scholarships totaling $132,500 over a twelve year period.

The Chris Massey Foundation has always recognized and valued our sponsors, donors, and volunteers. In addition to the funds generated by our annual golf tournament, we relied on the generosity of our patrons to help us provide college scholarships to deserving Marcos de Niza High School Graduates. THANK YOU to everyone that provided their support and help to the Foundation.

Take care, and we wish you a wonderful 2019.

With Gratitude,

Scott Massey (President)
Marc Moser (Vice-President)
Gary Potter (Treasurer)
Cherre Potter (Secretary)

05/31/2018

The Chris Massey Foundation is pleased to announce our 2018 college scholarship recipients: Alexis Youngs, Andy Torres, Alex Torres, Madison Didea, Hieu Pham, and Shelby Cornforth.

Alexis will be attending NAU with a major in Special Elementary Education.
Andy and Alex are twin brothers that plan to attend ASU; Andy will major in Education while Alex will be pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree.
Madison plans to attend Chandler-Gilbert Community College before transferring to a university to continue her studies in Criminal Justice.
Hieu will be studying Chemistry with the intent of pursuing an advanced degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Shelby is interested in ASU College of Nursing and plans to become a pediatric nurse.

These individuals are highly motivated and we are confident they will bring value to our community.

05/31/2018

05/07/2018

One of our scholarship recipients, Dina, will be graduating from ASU next week. We wish her all the best!

10/11/2017

This was our last tournament. What a great time!

09/30/2017

09/30/2017

Beautiful morning at Ken McDonald Golf Course