Gladney Center for Adoption
Howard Katz, left, and Mark Bettencourt — "the connector" and "the engine."
Much has been written — and said — about the game of golf. Like baseball, it’s tailor-made for prose — clever, caustic, or otherwise.
The internet tells me that Raymond Floyd gets the credit for saying, “They call it ‘golf’ because all the other four-letter words were taken.” Or was that Walter Hagen who made that remark after a hideous 78 he marked down one day? Only the artificially intelligent, or something, would know for sure. Maybe.
The one thought on golf I like best is from P.G. Wodehouse, a Brit who observed that golf is the “infallible test.”
Consider: The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies “is the man who will serve you faithfully and well.”
That notion of character — tested when no one is watching — brings us to Fort Worth native Howard Katz, who has used the game to serve children faithfully and well.
Katz, a partner at Standard Meat Co. and a lifelong Fort Worth resident, is the founder of The Gladney Cup, which raised a net $1.8 million this fall at its 16th biennial tournament — held in September at the famed Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California, site of Ben Hogan’s 1948 U.S. Open victory. It was the first of nine career majors for The Hawk.
Since its inception at Colonial Country Club in 1999, The Gladney Cup has grown into what many call “The Masters of charity golf.” It benefits the storied Gladney Center for Adoption whose mission to create loving families now spans the globe. It was named for the great Edna Gladney for her work there.
“What I didn’t realize was the gift I’d get in return,” says Katz, a man who clearly enjoys conversation and a light, informal quip. “The No. 1 gift is knowing that these dollars are helping to underwrite what Gladney is doing.”
The spark came some 30 years ago, when Katz was both a new member of the Gladney board — and a newcomer (and late comer) to golf. He took it up at age 44. That is akin to trying to learn Mandarin at 70.
“I was playing in tournaments and seeing people have a lot of fun,” he recalls. “I thought, wouldn’t it be neat to have a tournament that supports Gladney? We weren’t doing anything like this.”
The tournament — which this year attracted a noted former NFL quarterback with deep Texas roots — is played at courses across the country that have hosted the U.S. Open, beginning with Colonial Country Club in 1999, host of the 1941 national championship won by Craig Wood.
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Gladney Center for Adoption
Joan and Howard Katz
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The Beverly Wilshire Hotel hosted this year's Champions Dinner.
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These two little boys, who were recently adopted out of foster care through Gladney, reminded guests why they all gathered together in September this year and every other year.
The first event raised a net $400,000. Since then, The Gladney Cup has surpassed $15 million in total proceeds. The invitation-only tournament — $30,000 per foursome this year — attracts CEOs, entrepreneurs, and civic leaders from across the country, including former NFL QB Colt McCoy this year.
The second tournament was played was played despite it being scheduled a month after 911. CBS sports broadcaster and play-by-play personality Jim Nantz, a friend of Fort Worth, used his influence to help The Gladney Cup go to Winged Foot. Another connector was Billy Minardi of Cantor Fitzgerald, who was killed in the World Trade Center.
That same year, The Gladney Cup was introduced to Colin Burns, the longtime GM of Winged Foot, who instantly became a faithful friend of the cause. Katz says Burns has been a key figure in getting into other clubs.
“We didn’t make any money that year,” Katz says, “but we went up there because Colin Burns said, ‘Please come up here. Our city needs this; our club needs this.’ From the initial handshake and meeting, Colin has embraced Gladney and has helped us open up all the doors to these iconic places that we've been to.”
In 2005 while at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, President George W. Bush hosted a cocktail party for tournament guests. The tournament is going back to Congressional in 2027.
Each event opens with a welcome reception and city excursions, culminating in a Champions Dinner for 500 guests — headlined over the years by Harry Connick Jr., Hugh Jackman, and Ben Rector. NBC’s Craig Melvin emceed in 2019. This year, it was two young brothers who stole the show, sharing their journey from foster care to adoption.
So many of us need second chances. Too many others among us desperately need a first chance at life.
“We had two tiny little boys join us on stage [this year] with such courage as we shared their story of navigating out of foster care into permanency with their family and who had experienced tremendous abuse and neglect,” says Lisa Schuessler, Gladney COO. “That's why we do this, to advocate for lives like those.”
Katz, a Fort Worth native who went to high school at Paschal and then UT in Austin, has been in food manufacturing since 1978. In addition to his association with Standard Meat, Katz has also been a partner in KPR Foods and CTI Foods. He also was a founder of Kettle Cooked Foods. He’ll tell you without hesitation that his wife, Joan Katz, is the real nonprofit force in the family. Joan Katz has been a tireless community volunteer in Fort Worth over the decades. As part of the that vocation, Joan, was the co-founder, along with Rozanne Rosenthal, of the Susan G. Komen Greater Fort Worth.
During our conversation, he says he doesn’t like the spotlight of getting credit. In fact, he calls Mark Bettencourt the brains of the operation. The two met in Houston while Katz was out looking for tournament supporters. Katz discovered in Bettencourt a more-than-willing partner. Schuessler calls Bettencourt “the engine” and Katz the connector — the relationship builder.
“This tournament has become the vehicle for Gladney to gather the right people at the right time,” Schuessler says. “Without it, I don’t know that we’d have had the same staying power. We can pick up the phone and get to someone — within one phone call — for the support we need, the encouragement we need, and that can be in any office across the country. And that's not a normal charity model.”
Like many, including Bettencourt, who play in the tournament or attend its adjacent event, Howard and Joan Katz are a “Gladney family.” Their daughter Lori was born in 1983 to a 15-year-old girl who reached out for help at Gladney.
That young lady chose to give the gift of life. That Katzes’ daughter today is the mother of a 10-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter.
Says Katz: “There are three human beings who are living lives and have bright futures because of the Gladney Center for Adoption."
And three generations later, it’s clear that Howard Katz — even perhaps with a foot wedge here and there — passed Wodehouse’s infallible test.
The Gladney Cup Venues
1999 Colonial Country Club
2001 Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, New York
2003 Colonial Country Club
2005 Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Maryland
2007 Colonial Country Club
2009 Winged Foot Golf Club | Bethpage State Park Black Course, Farmington, New York
2011 Colonial Country Club
2013 Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pennsylvania
2015 The Olympic Club, San Francisco
2017 The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts
2019 Winged Foot Golf Club | Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Southampton, New York
2021 Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
2023 Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, New Jersey
2025 The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California
2027 Congressional Country Club