Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson come to Riverhead for golf tourney

Friar’s Head Golf Course in Riverhead hosted the second annual MENTOR’s Champions Golf Challenge yesterday, which featured some of the greatest athletes in sports.

NFL legend Jim Brown and NBA greats Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, Clyde Drexler, John Havlicek and Alonzo Mourning were among the athletes to participate in the charity tournament.

Eleven-time NBA champion Bill Russell hosted the event, although he was unable to attend this year because of an illness. Russell was a founding board member of The National Mentoring Partnership.

Russell’s daugher Karen served as a co-host for the event in her father’s absence.

“It was great to see how my dad has touched all of their lives in different ways,” she said in a press release. “The fact that each of them has gone on to be mentors for so many people is the very essence of what mentoring is all about — you’re impacted, and then you go on to make an impact on others.”

The two-day event also featured a celebrity roast hosted by actor Samuel L.Jackson and David Feherty, a former professional golfer who works for the Golf Channel.

Read more about the mentoring program here.