Rachel Mogielski's death remains a tragedy. Her legacy has become legendary.

The eighth Rachel A. Mogielski Scholarship Fund golf outing takes place July 16 at Lakevue North Golf Course. The event raises scholarship money for deserving high school seniors nationwide.

"Actually, all of the seniors to receive the scholarships so far have been in Pennsylvania," said John Bulger, one of the prime coordinators of the event. "We became an official federal charitable organization in 2002, so we have to open it up nationally."

Bulger is a close friend of Robert Mogielski, a Butler County resident whose 12-year-old daughter, Rachel, died of juvenile diabetes in 1997.

"They went to get her up for church Sunday morning and found she had died in her sleep," Bulger said. "It was completely without warning, totally unexpected.

"For the next two months or so, Bob and his family pretty much shut down socially. They went to work or school and that was it. I was best man at Bob's wedding, he was best man at mine ... I was concerned."

Finally, Mogielski called Bulger and wanted to get together.

"He said his family was imploding and he had to get out and do something," Bulger said. "We've always been golfers, so he asked if I could find two other guys and schedule a round of golf at Lakevue North the next day.

"I called the golf course and they had an outing scheduled. I explained the circumstances and they squeezed us in."

And unknowingly, the Rachel A. Mogielski golf outing was born.

After the foursome played golf that day, they drank a toast to Rachel's memory, pooled some money together and decided to donate it to the fight against juvenile diabetes.

They also vowed to get together at Lakevue North on the third Saturday in July each year to honor Rachel's memory.

"We had collected $150 to donate that first year," Bulger said. "Through word of mouth, other people wanted to join us at the golf course to honor Rachel and it grew into scholarship money."

In 1998, 24 golfers contributed $500 to the scholarship fund. In 2003, 196 golfers contributed $8,000, which was divided into four $2,000 scholarship grants.

Last year, 182 golfers produced another $8,000. In the seven-year history of this event, more than 700 golfers have produced more than $25,000 in scholarship money.

"A lot of good people turned a tragedy into a positive thing," Mr. Mogielski said in a released statement.

"This event is about a lot of good friends doing a lot of hard work to make it happen. The way it's progressed is truly amazing," he added.

Scholarships are awarded using the following criteria: grades, school, church and community activities and commitment to family.

"This has grown strictly through word of mouth," Bulger said. "Now we have friends of friends of friends playing."

The outing is a four-person scramble and entry fee is $60 per person. Shotgun starts take place at 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Any level of golfer and any age, male or female, is welcome to participate.

"We had 10 to 15 people play last year who had never played golf before," Bulger said. "I borrowed clubs from some golfers for them to use.

"We had a 12-year-old boy and 82-year-old man among last year's field. It's wide-ranging."

Mogielski said he played in last year's event with his sons, ages 16 and 13.

"It didn't matter what the scores were to me because I played a round of golf with my boys for the first time," he said. "I came out a winner regardless."

Bulger said 144 people have already paid to play this year. He's anticipating a field of approximately 200. A loose deadline date for entry is Saturday.

"We never turn anybody away," Bulger said.

Hundreds of prizes are donated each year, including items from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers and Penguins. Past scholarship winners have come back to help organize and run the outing.

For more details on the outing, call Lakevue North Golf Course or Heather Bixler at 724-816-2807.

"All in all, this has developed into a fitting tribute to a wonderful little girl," Bulger said.