By David Dahmer 

“This would have been an event that Rick really liked. He would have brought a lot of people, too. He was all in for everything we do,” says Sable Flames Chairman Doug Johnson. “I was glad that it was a success and we were able to give money to a scholarship that has his name on it. That made us feel really good.”

Twenty-nine-year-old Madison Firefighter-Paramedic Richard L. Garner Jr. passed away earlier this year after completing a 48-hour shift. The man with larger-than-life personality and kind, generous heart was on everybody’s minds at the first annual “Bowlieve in Education” event on Sunday, Aug. 26, hosted by Madison’s Sable Flames.

Funds raised at the event went to the Jones-Robinson Scholarship, the longtime scholarship provided by the Sable Flames. Funds also went to the brand-new Richard Garner Memorial Scholarship fund, established in honor of Johnson’s good friend, which will assist fire and EMS students, specifically.

“We had 26 lanes and about 120 bowlers and we were actually able to raise over $4,000, so that was really encouraging for the first one and having to move the venue at the last moment,” Johnson tells Madison365.

The first annual “Bowlieve in Education” event was originally supposed to be at Schwoegler Park Towne Lanes on the west side, but flood damage there forced a change in venue.

“Bowl-a-Vard was kind enough to take us in and offer the same price that we got from Schwoegler’s. I can’t say enough about Bowl-a-Vard,” Johnson says. “Their staff was great and they were very accommodating.”

The Madison flooding hit home for a lot of the firefighters and first responders at the event who deal with tragic events every day.

“A lot of us actually do live in Madison so we have firefighters whose houses have been flooded significantly and damaged,” Johnson says, “as well as the physical and mental damage it takes to respond to 100 calls in 12 hours when the initial heavy rain came. We still have issues with rain coming tonight and more flooding to come so it’s definitely something that we are aware of and we definitely want to help out with wherever we can.”

The Sable Flames, an organization of the Madison Fire Department’s African-American firefighters, are celebrating 25 years of making a difference in the greater Madison area. Their Jones-Robinson Scholarship Fund provides financial help for African American low-income students seeking higher education. The 2018 Jones-Robinson Scholarship recipients, awarded earlier this year, were Dacara Cooper, Jahdai Guerrero and Asha Thompson.

The Sable Flames are well-known for their biggest fundraiser – the Second Alarm Scholarship Benefit Dance – but Johnson believes that their new fundraiser has some potential, too.

“Absolutely. We called it our inaugural ‘Bowlieve in Education” fundraiser because we want to do it every year,” Johnson says. “We like having this other fundraiser besides the dance at a different time of year that’s a little less formal than the dance. Giving how well it went this year, we’re definitely excited and optimistic about how much better it can be in the future.”