MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County Ducks Unlimited chapter will honor one of it most distinguished past members by naming the organization’s annual golf tournament in his honor.

The first Sherrod G. McCall Sr. Golf Tournament, whose proceeds will benefit the Ducks Unlimited conservation programs, will be held Friday, Oct. 21, at Sunset Country Club. The four-man scramble will begin with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. The tournament generally draws about 20 foursomes.

The entry fee is $80 per player and anyone interested in participating can call the Sunset Country Club pro shop at 890-5555 or contact tournament chairman Ben Fuller.

McCall, who died July 4, was one of the 12 men who formed the Ducks Unlimited chapter in Colquitt County in 1953.

Last June, just a month before he died, McCall and his son Sherrod Jr. were presented with Lifetime Membership Awards for their donations of more than $10,000 to DU.

“I think he would appreciate this being done, raising money for something he believed so deeply in,” said local Ducks Unlimited co-chairman Dan Couch. “He loved the outdoors, loved duck hunting.

“It seems strange not having him with us. He’s an icon. This will keep his name in front of a lot of people and keep his legacy going.”

Said DU co-chairman Richie Turner, “This will be a tribute to him for a long, long time.”

The local Ducks Unlimited chapter’s main fund-raiser is its annual banquet, which will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, at the Colquitt County Arts Center.

Tickets for the banquet are available from Couch or Turner.

The local Ducks Unlimited was honored as the state’s chapter of the year in 2003. Georgia Ducks Unlimited has 77 chapters.

The local chapter has some 300 members and raises more than $30,000 a year to support Ducks Unlimited programs.

Ducks Unlimited, which has a $188-million budget, uses 87 percent of the money it raises on habitat conservation programs. It is considered the most efficient of the nation’s 12,207 listed charities.

In Georgia last year, in a cooperative effort among the Georgia Department of National Resources, Georgia Ducks Unlimited and other partners, some $2.9 million was spent on huntable and conservation projects on more than 15,000 acres.

And Ducks Unlimited has pledged $15 million to help with the relief efforts connected with the damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Some $6.2 million has already been raised.