September 6, 2025

‘PISTOL PETE’ HELPS MOTIONBALL GOLF TOURNEY RAISE $110,000 FOR SPECIAL OLYMPICS FOUNDATION CANADA AT TABOO

GRAVENHURST — “Pistol Pete” drove for show and his supporters put up the dough.

A two-day golf tournament mid-week at Taboo netted $110,000 in support of the Special Olympics Canada Foundation.

Golfers and donors exceeded their goal by $10,000 with two rounds and an evening dinner and auctions Wednesday and Thursday.

With Special Olympian Pete Flagler the most congenial star and Motionball co-founder and chair Paul Etherington the driving force of the third-year event held here also last year.

Canadian sports broadcaster Rod Black and Leafs alumni were among 85 who teed off including the wet second day.

Special Olympians Ruby Lappin and Peter Flagler tee up practice balls on the driving range at Taboo during Wednesday’s opening day of the two-day fundraising tournament at Taboo as Brock Zinken looks on. PHOTOS Mark Clairmont MuskokaTODAY.com

Flagler, this year’s honorary athlete of the year, was busy on the driving range beforehand whacking balls and high-fiving old friends from previous years and sports events and meeting greeting new supporters.

He was warming up to go out on course and be any team’s designated celebrity driver of choice on a select hole — his long ball services of course demanding a donation fee, which helped surpass this year’s six-figure goal.

The 29-year-old Special Olympian golfer, swimmer, baseball and hoops player from Toronto is also a paid employee of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team as their stick and water bottle provider and an assistant equipment manager during home games and practices doing laundry.

In summer he works as a counsellor at a camp here on Lake Joseph.

Motionball is a national not-for-profit organization with a mandate to introduce the next generation of donors, volunteers and sponsors to the Special Olympics movement through integrated social and sporting events like the one in Gravenhurst.

**Motionball co-founder and chair Paul Etherington and celebrity host ‘Pistol Pete’ Flagler give thumbs up to supporters and donors who exceeded the goal of $100,000 by $10,000.**

Sitting down with Flagler before the first round, Etherington said: “We’ve been very successful at convincing young professionals to roll up their sleeves and to get involved and run events like this with us.”

And while they’ve “shied away from relying on celebrity ambassadors to push and run Motionball (as many athletes run their own foundations) we’ve had some great support from Morgan Rielly of the Maple Leafs. And his wife (2010 and 2018 Olympic pairs champion) Tessa Virtue is on our board. We’re purely volunteer driven.”

He like supporters to “come out and volunteer, rather than just cutting cheques. Cause long-term we get a lot more out of them.”

Etherington, who works for Etherington Generations a wealth management company, said Motionball and Special Olympics is “100 per cent about providing” athletes like Peter and Ruby Lappin — another golf host here — “opportunities.

“I think that’s the biggest part of what we do at Motionball and Special Olympics. And giving them that opportunity to shine.

“Sports is the excuse to get together. But it’s about giving Peter an opportunity to become a more active part of society. And to learn to socialize.

“And if you know Pistol Pete — we call him Pistol Pete — he’s the biggest partier and socializer we know. And that’s what it’s all about.”

Pistol Pete got the nickname from his former Toronto high school friend Connor Brown, who went on the play with the Leafs and is now with the Dallas Stars.

**Golfers greeted Pete who was the congenial celebrity host of the third-year event – it’s second straight in Gravenhurst.**

Etherington said Special Olympics is “part of the triangle with the Olympics and Paralympics. But all are very separate entities.

“There are 140 countries globally that compete in Special Olympics. When they run their international world games they’re the largest games that year of any (sports event) in the world. They’re massive.”

Special Olympics are also on a four-year cycle, so will follow the Olympics in 2027.

Etherington adds, though, that while “there are over 2 million Special Olympic athletes internationally,” due to COVID the number of volunteers dropped. “We were relying on too many shoulders to keep up the number of events required.

“So we’re trying to rebuild the volunteer base. And Special Olympics is also slowly rebuilding the athlete count. Which means we’re back to 48,000 athletes in Canada. Which is pretty good since we were at 50,000 and that had dropped in half. So we’re getting back to where we need to be.”

Flagler hopes to still be competing “for a long time” in sports and on teams that can have an age range of 14 to 65, said Etherington a former Special Olympics coach.

“It depends on their level of ability and that’s how their divisions are divided and teams are ranked,” he added.

Muskoka also has teams competing through Community Living.

The tournament was a time to “have some fun and recognize our sponsors.”