“The Summer’s Evening” with the Gus Percy Band for the benefit of the Todd Norman Memorial Scholarship Fund was a major success, VFW Post 2005 Cmdr. Ronny Knight said.
Norman, a coach of the high school’s softball team and a local business owner, died in the spring. A scholarship in his name will be awarded to a senior athlete graduated from Marblehead High School.
Originally, the VFW was just going to donate money to the foundation, but once the idea for an event came to be, its members decided they had to support the cause with the entire community.
Knight said people came to the 7 p.m. event as early as 4 p.m. He added that they were able to raise more than $5,000 in four hours.
“Oh my God, it was unbelievable,” Knight said. “The VFW is proud to have worked with Todd (Norman) in our Marblehead community on many fronts. Todd was larger than life and a true leader, We are honored to host this event in Todd’s memory and to benefit the scholarship fund to preserve Todd’s legacy as an inspirer of extraordinary student-athletes in Marblehead.”
He added that Norman’s children said, “I can’t believe you did this.”
Knight said when it was time for him to make an announcement at the event, he told the crowd of more than 100 people that he knew “Todd was looking down on us saying, ‘What the hell are you people doing?’”
He said that many people from the high school’s softball team attended the event and thanked the VFW for supporting the foundation and honoring Norman.
Knight said when he asked the Gus Percy Band if they would play at the event, its members said, “We will be there! Just let us know the date.”
Gus Percy said the outpouring of support for Norman was outstanding.
“We love playing music for our friends and family and that’s exactly what we got to do,” he said.
“Music is the perfect medium for an event like this because it brings people together. Specifically our kind of music which is Blues and Rock oriented,” Percy said.
Knight said that above all, the VFW was honored to host the event and is looking forward to doing more community-based events in the future.
