A new face was in the crowd of 50 four-person golf teams Saturday during the Corey Goodnature Memorial Golf Classic at Green Lea Golf Course.

It was Corey’s son, Shea Goodnature.

“This is my first year back since the accident,” Shea said. “It’s hard with my schedule, but I’m going to try to make it a regular thing.”

Shea followed in his father’s footsteps. He is a member of the U.S. Army, was accepted into flight school and is training with the hope to become an Apache helicopter pilot, he said.

Don Goodnature, Corey’s father, welcomed Shea.

“Having Corey’s son here is really nice,” Don said.

Before the air horn was blown to start the tournament, speeches were given by Larry Goodnature, Corey’s uncle; Deb Goodnature, Corey’s mother; and Don.

The focus was on remembering Corey — a pilot for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment of the U.S. Army, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2005 — and remembering all those who have served and are serving the country.

“This is such an awesome day, and it’s just overwhelming with the people and their support,” Deb said.

Corey was a three-sport athlete at Albert Lea High School. He participated in football, track and wrestling.

“He (Corey) always talked about survival school with pilots,” Don said with a smile. “Some say that’s pretty hard on them, but he said it was pretty easy because of wrestling practice.”

After the speeches, Don and Deb presented eight $1,000 scholarships to area high school students through a fund established in Corey’s name.

Scholarship recipients from Albert Lea were Toby Schmitt, Sydney Rehnelt, Erin Murtaugh and Larissa Hacker. Recipients from Alden-Conger were Rachel Kleinschrodt and Tyler Koenen. Sam Johnson and Dalton Nessett were recipients from Glenville-Emmons.

Along with the scholarship presentation, the event featured a silent auction and a meal at the clubhouse. Golf took a backseat.

“It’s not about golf,” said Gary Pestorious, a member of the board that started the scholarship. “The golf is just to have a little fun.”

Don said he was happy with the turnout.

“There’s probably more people here than there has ever been,” he said. “There’s around 50 teams (in the four-man best-shot tournament), but that’s deceiving because some teams have around eight people on them.”