History
The H-E-B Tournament of Champions was established in 1986 when
DeckerFood
Company asked H-E-B Grocery Co. to invite a few of their market vendors to play
in a golf tournament and donate the proceeds to Special OlympicsTexas. The
President of Decker Foods was the Chairman of the Board for Special Olympics
Texas at that time. The event raised $38,500 and the proceeds made it possible
to hire a Special OlympicsTexas Games Coordinator for Area 20 which included
San Antonio. Chuck Hendryx(H-E-B V.P.) and Kathy Ashwin (Admin Asst.)
organized the event in six weeks and concluded, if they had a year to plan the
event, more money would be raised. The following year the event raised
$78,000 and the rest is history!
Over the past 38 years, this event has raised over $160 million dollars benefiting
Special OlympicsTexas and other worthwhile organizations that focus on
children and educational initiatives throughout the State of Texas.
In 2003, the H-E-B Tournament of Champions Charitable Trust was established
and the event became a 501(c)3 tax exempt private foundation under the
Internal Revenue codes.