Dedicated Sponsors keep The Mountain State Golf Classic Rolling 

The 2025 Mountain State Golf Classic is in the books and once again, the tournament was a huge success.

From meager beginnings as a one-day event, referred to as the BNI Tournament, the event has developed into a three-day now known as The Mountain State Golf Classic.

Once again, the tournament was full of excitement.

Local favorite Chris Daniels rallied from six shots down going to the final nine holes to secure the title that had long eluded him over the years.

While the tournament has a huge following and is mainly a reunion of friends and competitors, the event almost came to an end back in 2018.

With Beckley Newspapers no longer possessing the ability to run the tournament for various reasons, three area business men, that also regularly participated in the event, stepped in to keep it going. They also renamed it the tournament The Mountain State Golf Classic.

"Myself, Mike Mays and Jeff Miller were on the (BNI Tournament) board and Mike felt like we could pull this off on our own, so we did," current Beckley Mayor Ryan Neal said. "Raleigh General Hospital was the biggest differential as if it would go or not. The CEO at the time, Matt Roberts loved the idea, loved the tournament and they were in with us. It took off from there."

With rising prices all around, the key to the on-going success was the tournament sponsors.

"The tournament has been here for over 45 years and the entry fee has stayed the same," Neal said. "That would not be possible mostly without Little General. Little General helps us out with everything that is going on."

"Then we have Raleigh General Hospital, L&S Toyota, JanCare Ambulance and the Register-Herald that all help," Neal went on to say. "Otherwise we would have to charge like $250 per person to play. The entry fee has stayed the same and it is the sponsors that make up for it."

The new approach also involved turning the golf tournament into a charity event which now assists the Raleigh General Senior Friends.

"The Raleigh General Senior Friends volunteer all three days of the tournament. They go out and get the holes sponsors for us," Neal said. "We had between 36-38 hole sponsors this year, along with our major sponsors. All of the money after we pay for the trophies, the golf courses and everything else, goes to them. It is usually between $4500 and $7000 dollars raised."

The full list of sponsors for this year's event include:

Little General

Raleigh General Hospital

JanCare Ambulance

Register-Herald

Wickline Insurance

R.T. Rogers Oil

Childers Enterprises

Olive Garden

Beaver Coal

Aflac Insurance (Chad Hutchison)

Design's by Barb and James

Sheets Chrysler

Raleigh County Memorial Airport

Cramer Security

Flying Mountain Signs

Mountain State Equipment

Cloud's Clothing

P&M Development

Melton Mortuary

Crossroads Chevrolet

Charleston Area Medical Center

Advanced Urology

Chick-Fil-A

Raleigh GI Care

Golden Corral

Rhonda's Home Medical

S.M. Consulting

Jenkins Delivery

W.C. Hydraulics

Leisure Lanes

Moore Insurance

Rose & Quesenberry

Serve Pro of Beckley

Raleigh General Cardiac and Vascular Center

Compliance HR/Payroll

The Dish

Campestre