Interim director offers grim analysis of PCCC financials 

Representatives of charities that purchased entry into the Price Cutter Charity Championship golf tournament lined up to receive reimbursement checks yesterday at a Missouri Sports Hall of Fame news conference that also served to introduce the organization’s next leader. 

The same nonprofit reps typically gather this time of year around an oversized check, accompanied by fanfare and photographs, in the PCCC Celebration of Sharing event, which had been set for Nov. 19 this year but was canceled abruptly due to lack of funds. 

The 2024 tournament had 42 nonprofit beneficiaries, according to a spokesperson. 

PCCC and MSHOF interim CEO and Executive Director Jerald Andrews took to the podium yesterday to offer an explanation of the series of events that led to the charities receiving reimbursement checks instead of proceeds from the tournament. 

The reimbursement checks disbursed at the event totaled $325,107 – less than Andrews’ salary of $351,475 in 2022, the last year for which salary figures are available via a Form 990 filing with the Internal Revenue Service. Andrews was the MSHOF’s longtime leader before his recent retirement from the organization. 

Most charities pay to participate in the tournament, with entry starting at $5,000 and one paying more than $50,000, according to Andrews. Andrews said media publications are reporting that all charities have to pay an entry fee, but this is not true; some – MSHOF Chair Dan Nelson says about 10 – participate for free as some of the original partners in the event. 

Yesterday’s event also introduced a new executive director for the MSHOF: Rob Marsh, who will begin Jan. 6 after a 27-year career with Pyramid Foods, which operates the Price Cutter supermarket chain. Marsh exits as chief operating officer of the grocery business. 

Neither Andrews nor Nelson would disclose Marsh’s future salary. 

“That’s a confidential matter,” Nelson said in an interview after the event. He noted that the information would be disclosed in a future Form 990. 

What happened 
Andrews was CEO of the MSHOF for 27 years. He stepped down as CEO of the organization in July 2022 and left the organization entirely in February 2023. His successor as CEO was his son-in-law, Byron Shive. Shive, who resigned effective at the end of 2024, was not acknowledged or mentioned by name during yesterday’s event, though Andrews introduced five MSHOF staff members. 

Andrews said at the time he retired, he felt concerned about waning attendance and participation at tournament events. 

“I also noticed things were very, very well done,” he said. “The gifts were nicer than they had been. The tents were nicer than they had been.” 

Everything was attractive, he said – but from what he saw, he suspected revenues were falling and expenses were increasing. 

In mid-October of this year, Andrews said he was contacted by one of the lead sponsors of the tournament – someone who had been involved for many years. 

“That person contacted me to inform me that it was his understanding that the Price Cutter Charity Championship and the Hall of Fame were both in some financial trouble,” he said. 

This was concerning, he said, because he knew the financial conditions of both entities when he left the job. 

Shortly after the annual celebration event was canceled, Andrews said, the board reached out to him to see if he would be willing to help in a part-time, interim role. He accepted the role, he said, because the MSHOF and the PCCC were both so important to him. 

“They’re my legacy, for the most part,” he said. 

Andrews said he had five ordered objectives for the MSHOF and PCCC: to figure out where both businesses were financially, to stop financial bleeding, to stabilize both companies, to start developing calendars of events for 2025 for both entities, and to get them back in the black. 

“We’ve made some progress on each of these fronts,” he said. 

He said both entities are cash-strapped. 

“It appears to me in reviewing everything I can get my hands on that this really started in 2023,” he said. 

The tournament did not do as well in 2023 as it had done in previous years, he said. 

“For the charities to receive what you got in 2023, money was borrowed from the Hall of Fame by the tournament to the tune of $350,000,” he said. “Obviously, that benefited you as charities, but it obviously hurt the Hall of Fame and our financial position at that time.” 

The Hall of Fame has been at risk since that time, he said. 

The tournament distributed $1.025 million to 53 charities in 2023, according to its news release at the time. The total included reimbursement of the charities’ buy-in amounts. 

In 2022, Andrews said, the tournament grossed about $2.5 million and spent about $1.3 million on expenses, giving about $1.1 million to charities. 

This year, the tournament grossed about $1.8 million, he said – a significant drop from two years previously. It spent about $1.7 million, he said. 

“Thus, the tournament actually netted this past year less than $100,000,” he said. 

The MSHOF was also struggling financially, he said, in part because of long illness-related absences of its long-time accountant. 

Andrews said when he came into his interim role, he eliminated some staff positions, cutting the payroll dramatically. 

“We’re only paying bills such as insurance, salaries, utilities and other necessities at this point in time,” he said. “The Hall of Fame does owe quite a bit of money to vendors as well.” 

Andrews said the upcoming 2025 Hall of Fame enshrinement event is expected to gross about $400,000, which will put the organization in a much better position for the year.  

Collecting accounts receivable is also a focus, he said, as the tournament is owed money from sponsors and the MSHOF is owed money from fall events.  

Andrews said the tournament owes quite a bit of money to various entities. 

“We’re making sure that we’re paying critical payables as well,” he said. “We’re working through that, and to be blunt with you, that’s going to take a while to pay everyone back that we owe money to.” 

Andrews said the PCCC currently has about $340,000 in the bank with about $100,000 still owed to it. The tournament owes about half a million dollars to vendors, including the purse to the PGA Tour, Big Cedar Lodge, Sunbelt Rentals, Silo Ridge Country Club, Highland Springs Country Club, insurance and other expenses. 

Charities should be receiving $742,410, he said. 

“If we had that amount of money, that’s what we’d be writing checks for today to you,” he said. 

An additional $417,000 remains owed to the charities, he said. 

“Our plan is that you will receive those funds,” he said. 

He noted that one local corporation, which he did not name, gave a gift of $100,000 because it knew the tournament was in trouble. That made the day’s disbursements possible, he said. 

Andrews said the organization would try to raise money through donations to take care of its shortfall. Other options are to take out a large loan on the Hall of Fame facility or even to sell the building. 

“Nothing’s off the table in terms of looking at how we’re going to get out of this financial trouble that we’re in at this point in time,” he said. 

New CEO 
Marsh said he was excited to take on the role of CEO. 

“I think I bring a huge asset in the expense side,” he said. “If you know the grocery business, you watch your pennies – so on top of the revenue side, I’ll be really working the expense side and making sure that every one of our donors and everyone that contributes to charities that that money goes to where it’s supposed to go.” 

He added that Price Cutter is a huge believer in the tournament, having sponsored it for 25 years and agreeing to do so for the next five. 

“I like to use the term value engineering; I’m going to value engineer it to make it the best possible – give it the look that it needs and, again, watch those pennies,” he said. 

His priorities, he said, would be to take care of the community and continue to put on a first-class event.