LARGO – Just a few months before he died, Sean Caroline, 12, logged a hole-in-one at the 12th hole on the Largo Golf Course.
On Nov. 5, that hole will be the focal point of a competition in remembrance of the young man’s death at the hands of a playmate with a loaded gun.
As part of the Third Annual Sean Caroline Memorial Tournament, whoever comes closest to matching Sean’s feat wins a special award – three nights in a local resort hotel.
Largo Police Chief Lester Aradi will be among those vying for the special award and dozens of other prizes during the tournament, according to Sean’s mother, Jeanne Caroline. Other players will include law enforcement representatives from as far away as Citrus County who have been working with the boy’s mother to produce a dramatic videotape on gun safety featuring re-enactment of the boy’s death.
On Sept. 5, 2003, Caroline drove her son to school because it was raining. He didn’t stay long. Unknown to his mother, Sean Caroline Jr., his mother calls him Seanne (pronounced Shawny) – left school with several friends. At one friend’s home, Sean’s playmate pulled his father’s loaded pistol from under a couch.
The boys didn’t realize the gun was loaded as they played with it. It fired once and Sean died instantly.
“Nothing or no one can replace the loss of my son,” wrote Jeanne Caroline on the Web site created by her husband, Sean, for The Seanne’s Wish Foundation.
“The only thing I can do now is try to make a difference. Try to make this world that seems so unfair and so unpleasant at times, a better place to be in, especially for the children’s sake.”
Caroline has launched a number of campaigns including efforts to encourage all gun owners to obtain, and use, gunlocks that are free at law enforcement offices. She has also visited local schools with a team of students who re-enact her son’s death to warn students about the dangers of playing with firearms.
Money raised through the golf tournament will go toward production of the videotape and a curriculum Caroline hopes school districts would adopt to teach all children the dangers of firearms.
Sponsorships are available as are openings for golf teams, Caroline said last week. She said signage will be prominently displayed on the golf course.
In addition to the “closest to the hole” on the 12th hole, prizes also will be offered for other feats during the tournament as well as lunch and a raffle featuring a number of prizes.
In remembrance of Sean, Caroline said 300 doves are planned to be released.
And, for those who want to go after that 12th hole award, it is one of the course’s 10 par-three holes and one of its shortest, at 92 yards.
For more information, or to register, call 596-6967 or send an e-mail to jeanne@seanneswish.com.
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