W. C. Green Trust Fund

2019-2026

William C. Green, a checker player from Morgantown, Kentucky established this fund in a Morgantown Bank. The bulk of the principal was collected from various checker players who participated in the Southern States Tournament which was usually held in late July. Regardless whose money or who were the major or larger contributors of it, you have to give credit to W.C. Green for promoting, collecting, and setting up the trust fund. His foresight facilitates the Southern Checker Tournament.  The perpetual interest is withdrawn annually for the Southern Open.  Several Southern Directors have attempted  to move the fund closer to our current home of the Southern which is now held in Lebanon, Tennessee.  Jim Guthrie of Humboldt worked diligently on this but the courts in Butler County, Kentucky ruled that the money had to stay in the bank at Morgantown.  No one knows much about this fund except the bank mails Frank Davis, President of the Southern States Tournament, a check each year just before the Southern Open which has been held in Lebanon since 2001 on the 2nd Friday through Sunday of July, before that, it was held in Ken-Bar Resort Inn, Gilbertsville, KY mostly from the mid '80 through the '90s.  From the amount of interest we receive on the principle it's probably around $10,000.00 but no one knows for sure or is able to find out.  William C. "WC" Green died July 15, 1994 at age 66 without revealing much about this trust.

Morgantown Bank & Trust of Morgantown, Kentucky, called Frank Davis, President of Southern States Checker Association (SSCA) and the Southern Tournament Director in 2012 about the interest check from the W.C. Green Trust Fund and disclosed the fund was a $7,300.00 CD at a fixed rate of 3.9%.  This being the first time anyone has known this information since the death of W.C. Green who died leaving no information and the bank would not volunteer any information until now.  2014 the yield on a small savings account is < 1%.   2019 W.C. Green Fund contributed $100. 2020 & 2021 it contributed $0. Frank Davis died 12/21/2018 leaving the TN Open and Southern to Larry Keen.  April 26, 2022 Larry Keen informed me he was able to get Morgantown Bank & Trust of Morgantown of Kentucky to release the W.C. Green Trust Fund to him which included the principal from the CD and a small savings account. He deposited the total $7,500 in the Bank of Halls of Halls, TN under three signatures: Larry Keen, Jerry Askins, and Randy Keen. Larry Keen is President of both TCA & SSCA who also indicated he wanted to later move this account to the F&M Bank in Clarksville, in Clarksville, TN where the Gene Lindsey Fund and Leonard Hickman Fund accounts were. He plans to contribute $1,000 from the W.C. Green Fund to the 2022 Southern. There was $2,400 in the W.C. Green Fund at close of 2025 Southern.

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