Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Raises $700,000 To Assist Children in South Florida


The 20th annual Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic raised $700,000 from two days of tennis action and the annual gala event held this weekend in Delray Beach and Boca Raton.

Since the event’s inception in 1989, the annual charity has raised more than $18.5 million to fight drug abuse and assist neglected and abused children in South Florida. Chris Evert Charities partners with the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, a public-private partnership in conjunction with the state of Florida to raise money supporting programs for at-risk children.

In Sunday’s tennis action, Martina Navratilova came up big in the feature match, teaming with Matt Lauer to defeat Chris Evert and actor Jeffrey Donovan, 6-3. Then musician Gavin Rossdale clearly claimed his position as one of the better celebrity tennis players, teaming with Lindsay Davenport to defeat Navratilova in the day’s final match, 6-2.

Sunday opened with morning television host Steve Doocy and Justin Gimelstob taking a 4-3 win over Doocy’s co-host, Brian Kilmeade and Vince Spadea. In other action Gimelstob and newsman Stone Phillips defeated Davenport and actress Elisabeth Shue in a close match, 6-5



Saturday Gala Auction Brings in $180,000

The auction at Saturday evening’s gala, held at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, brought in $180,000 to help the children and families of South Florida assisted by Chris Evert Charities. Among the larger contributions from the auction was a package of four roundtrip tickets anywhere in the world on Swiss International Air Lines, which went for $20,000 and a 2010 US Open ticket and travel package, which brought $17,000. Two gala patrons purchased a unique Miami Dolphins package that includes watching a game with former Dolphins coach Don Shula. The two packages were purchased for $12,000 each.