August 6, 2025 • 11 mins
Losing a child through violence is easily at the top of the list of the most painful human experiences. Rob Pursley was 28 when he was shot and killed in Hyde Park, in Cincinnati almost 20 years ago, while parking his car to meet his girlfriend for dinner. The perp is serving life in prison, and the family is grateful they had that closure. Dan Pursley, his wife Edie and sons Dana and Jack are keeping Rob's legacy alive through sports scholarships at his own Sycamore High School. To fund those scholarships, fundraisers are essential.
That's the topic of this show. The Rob Pursley Memorial Golf Outing, Monday August 11, 2025. Contact Dan Pursley for tourney, donations, questions. 513-383-9405.
You'll meet Rob's father Dan, his brother Jack and learn more about the foundation that allows them to continually remember their lost son and brother, and perpetuate his legacy of passion for sports.
See Rob's story on Local 12.
That's the topic of this show. The Rob Pursley Memorial Golf Outing, Monday August 11, 2025. Contact Dan Pursley for tourney, donations, questions. 513-383-9405.
You'll meet Rob's father Dan, his brother Jack and learn more about the foundation that allows them to continually remember their lost son and brother, and perpetuate his legacy of passion for sports.
See Rob's story on Local 12.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week on iHeart Sense Today, we bring you a
story of a young man in the prime of his
life who was gunned down in senseless violence and the
tri State family who keeps his memory alive. You'll hear
all about Rob Persley today, how he lives, how it
was taken away, and you'll hear the family's commitment year
in and year out about raising scholarship money for students
(00:23):
at his own Sycamore High School.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
People coming from New York, Nashville, we get a lot
of the same sponsors, a lot of the same players,
and just warms our heart.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Rob's dad, Dan Pursley, and his brother Jack Pursley are
here to share their heartbreaking story, how you can be involved,
and how there is still good in the world and later,
saving money is what it's all about. The Ohio sales
tax holiday is now underway. My guest today will help
you navigate what you can buy for your family at
home without paying sales tax.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
What's near for this year, and some great tips and
so I was glad to read it and be able
to share it.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Categories the limits and whether it's available in Indiana and Kentucky.
Courtney Snow joins me from the Cincinnati Mom's Collective website
Cincymoms Collective dot com. Now on iHeart Cincy with Sandy Collins,
(01:20):
today we're talking about the Rob Persley Foundation. And if
you're a listener to the show, you've heard Rob's story.
We have it archived at the iHeart Sincey podcast on iHeartRadio.
Just look for my name, Sandy Collins for Rob Persley
and find his previous shows. But today we're going to
talk with Rob Persley's brother and father about golf outing
(01:45):
that is coming up soon this summer and they want
people to come out and participate and join in the
mission that they are carrying forward for Rob. So welcome back. Hi,
How are you Jack and Dan? How are you guys
doing real good?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now that's Dad and that's Jack.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Thanks for having us back.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So this is a memorial foundation. Before we get to
the tournament, I want people to know a little bit
about Rob and Dan. I want to ask you tell
me a little bit about your youngest son and you
know where he went to school and what he was
good at and then what happened to him, if you
would please. And I know it's difficult to go through
(02:26):
this every single time. But if we don't, people don't
know his story.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I appreciate that. We moved into the Sycamore district the
summer of Rob's senior year. They was blessed to have
a very good, solid team coming back. It was hard
for a new student athlete to come in not only
make the team, but to contribute. He was awarded the
Senior Pride Award, which spoke volumes of how good he
(02:51):
did fitting in. He was such a team player, had
such a charisma about him and got along with everybody,
whether it be on the past football court, in the
social world, if you would. He went on to play
basketball Bellman as a walk on down in Louisville, Kentucky.
He wanted to keep playing a basketball and unfortunately January
(03:14):
fourteenth of two thousand and six, he was going to
Mulligan's to meet couples and friends for dinner and there
was a bad person there tried to hijack his car
and shot him and hit his artillery artery, and unfortunately
he bled out. So after many months of grieving and
(03:35):
years and the fact of trying to find this bad
person who was able to do that, and he is
in prison now with a life sentence. So we wanted
to try to do something good out something so horrible.
So we went back to Sycamore and we started a
scholarship for any of the students athletes to continue to
(03:55):
play basketball. It could be football, tennis, anything sudents would
like to do. So we started a scholarship fund. Each year,
we try to keep increasing it each year. We try
to do as many students as we can. We're up
to sixty three students that we've been able to help.
So unfortunately, coming up January fourteenth to twenty twenty six
(04:18):
will be twenty years. We just we can't fan them.
We just don't know how that could be. But even
in our golf outing, I'll let JD or Jack speak
to it. But people come from New York, Nashville, We
get a lot of the same sponsors, a lot of
the same players, and it just warms are hard.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Jack. It was tough for you. You were almost twenty years younger.
Tell me how it affected you and your family.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, Rob, my brother, best friend, we lived together. It
was very very hard, very very hard. But as my
father Dan shared, we do feel blessed that we were
able to get some closure and with the help of
the Sincini Police and the prosecutor's office. Chief Striker did
(05:07):
a great job, Lieutenant Carolin Whalen and prosecutor was Rick
Gibson at the time, and so we were thankful that
we did get justice for Rob. And since that point
we just have been completely focused on helping other people
to keep Rob's legacy alive. So we're proud of what
we've done from the foundation's perspective. And we've got a
(05:31):
couple of major fundraisers every year, and the golf outing
is one of them.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
The basketball tournament happens in the winter, and then in
the summertime, we're taking up your passion of golf, you
and your son.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
That's right, that's right, so good, good memory, Sandy. In
the winter we have a basketball term.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well let me just stop you right there. It's not
my memory. It's Dan sending me pictures of Jackson playing
golf or at a car show with him or wherever
they are. Christmas. I just I love keeping in touch,
So go ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
So we are excited about the golf outing on August eleventh,
it's a Monday, and you guys, anybody could reach out
to us if there's an interest in participating. We're doing
pretty well, Sandy on the teams. We think we're going
to have over one hundred and twenty golfers that are
all there willing to participate and support the foundation and
(06:26):
our family and Rob. What we're lacking is is just
some donations, things that we could give away for prices.
So we're still working on that part of it. But
it's going to be another wonderful day. The day always
starts off with my son Jackson hitting a ceremonial first drive.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And how old is Jackson.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
He's eleven, So he'll do that in front of the
one hundred and twenty golfers and thirty or forty volunteers,
so that'll be a big crowd and they watching.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But no pressure, young man, no pressure at all.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah. But every single year, and maybe he's getting some
help from Rob, but every single year he just hits
one right down the middle. So we're excited him to
do that again this year.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
That's terrific. And that's somebody that his uncle he never
got to meet. And this is he said this going
on in his life, his entire life. It's got to
be tough, but I know your family really has great
faith and you really have struggled with all of the
different things that happen when you lose someone. We're seeing
more and more violence these days, and it just breaks
(07:30):
my heart to think that people have to lose their
loved ones in this town and because of bad actors.
Let's talk about the tournament. Is it competitive tournament?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, we have several different divisions, right, Golfers of all
skill levels are welcome. We have some people that knew
rob and just want to be there, even though they
may not golf. It might be the only time the
whole year that they all see. It sounds like they
show up every year and they have fun. So we've
got a prize. We call it the Best Sports Award,
(08:04):
and it's actually the team that has the highest score,
which in golf that's a bad thing. You want to
have a low score. So we have prizes for the
worst team there. And also we've got a lady's division,
a senior division, and then more of an open or
competitive division. So just just so blessed and thankful to
have people of all different skill levels come and participate.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
It's more likely that people listening right now would be
able to donate items for the giveaways as opposed to golfing,
So how can we get those items to you? You're
looking for anything from gift certificates to sports giveaways, to
you know, baskets of you know, themed you know, chocolates
(08:48):
and you know, champagne or whatever. I mean, what what
are you looking for?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, everything you mentioned would be fantastic. You know, gift
cards are always great, gifts are certificates, Yeah, anything that
people are willing to donate. We do have several ladies
teams there, right, so the prizes don't have to be
specific to, you know, to golfers. But if there's anybody
out there listening that would be able to provide a
(09:15):
gift card or gift certificate for a restaurant, a sporting
goods stores, any retail location, an Amazon gift card, sports
memorabilia like, we would be appreciative of anything that's provided
to us.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
People are listening from all over Cincinnati that have deep
pockets and giving to This would be very very easy
calling up and ordering some gift certificates and sending them out.
Where can we get those to you guys?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
One of the easiest way You're saying, they when they
can and just go to the website Remembering Robpersonally dot Com.
On that page, it tells my home address, tells how
they can do Venmo, Apple pay, how they can mail
checks and donation. Obviously there's a phone number there that
they can call, so we try to make it very
accessible so that people can get to us easily. So
(10:08):
in turn, you know, we appreciate that the gifts and
the help, right, So please go to Remembering Robpersonally dot
com and there's my phone number on there, the address
and should tell you everything you need to know.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
That's good stuff. So that's Rob p U R.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
S l e.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Y Remembering Rob Persley.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Thank you, Sandy. It's just so good to be with
you and your audience. You've been so supportive of the
foundation and you helping us get the word out of
our wonderful cause, and our nonprofit just allows us to.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Help more people.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So yeah, that's my father's share. We're proud to have
helped over sixty families, but we want that number to
be one hundred or two hundred, so we're going to
keep pushing and couldn't be more appreciative of you giving
us a chance to share our story with your audience.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Jack personally and his dad, Dan Persley. They are here
today promoting their golf outing memorial golf outing for Rob
Persley Foundation. Guys, thanks so much, good luck, it's August
the eleventh. They've got room for more golfers if you
want to go to their website. Guys, thanks so much
for your time today.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Thank you Sandy again.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
That's remembering Robpersley dot com. Coming up, it's basically anything
tangible that's under five hundred dollars per item all the way. Next,
this is iHeart Sinsey
This week on iHeart Sense Today, we bring you a
story of a young man in the prime of his
life who was gunned down in senseless violence and the
tri State family who keeps his memory alive. You'll hear
all about Rob Persley today, how he lives, how it
was taken away, and you'll hear the family's commitment year
in and year out about raising scholarship money for students
(00:23):
at his own Sycamore High School.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
People coming from New York, Nashville, we get a lot
of the same sponsors, a lot of the same players,
and just warms our heart.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Rob's dad, Dan Pursley, and his brother Jack Pursley are
here to share their heartbreaking story, how you can be involved,
and how there is still good in the world and later,
saving money is what it's all about. The Ohio sales
tax holiday is now underway. My guest today will help
you navigate what you can buy for your family at
home without paying sales tax.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
What's near for this year, and some great tips and
so I was glad to read it and be able
to share it.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Categories the limits and whether it's available in Indiana and Kentucky.
Courtney Snow joins me from the Cincinnati Mom's Collective website
Cincymoms Collective dot com. Now on iHeart Cincy with Sandy Collins,
(01:20):
today we're talking about the Rob Persley Foundation. And if
you're a listener to the show, you've heard Rob's story.
We have it archived at the iHeart Sincey podcast on iHeartRadio.
Just look for my name, Sandy Collins for Rob Persley
and find his previous shows. But today we're going to
talk with Rob Persley's brother and father about golf outing
(01:45):
that is coming up soon this summer and they want
people to come out and participate and join in the
mission that they are carrying forward for Rob. So welcome back. Hi,
How are you Jack and Dan? How are you guys
doing real good?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now that's Dad and that's Jack.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Thanks for having us back.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So this is a memorial foundation. Before we get to
the tournament, I want people to know a little bit
about Rob and Dan. I want to ask you tell
me a little bit about your youngest son and you
know where he went to school and what he was
good at and then what happened to him, if you
would please. And I know it's difficult to go through
(02:26):
this every single time. But if we don't, people don't
know his story.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I appreciate that. We moved into the Sycamore district the
summer of Rob's senior year. They was blessed to have
a very good, solid team coming back. It was hard
for a new student athlete to come in not only
make the team, but to contribute. He was awarded the
Senior Pride Award, which spoke volumes of how good he
(02:51):
did fitting in. He was such a team player, had
such a charisma about him and got along with everybody,
whether it be on the past football court, in the
social world, if you would. He went on to play
basketball Bellman as a walk on down in Louisville, Kentucky.
He wanted to keep playing a basketball and unfortunately January
(03:14):
fourteenth of two thousand and six, he was going to
Mulligan's to meet couples and friends for dinner and there
was a bad person there tried to hijack his car
and shot him and hit his artillery artery, and unfortunately
he bled out. So after many months of grieving and
(03:35):
years and the fact of trying to find this bad
person who was able to do that, and he is
in prison now with a life sentence. So we wanted
to try to do something good out something so horrible.
So we went back to Sycamore and we started a
scholarship for any of the students athletes to continue to
(03:55):
play basketball. It could be football, tennis, anything sudents would
like to do. So we started a scholarship fund. Each year,
we try to keep increasing it each year. We try
to do as many students as we can. We're up
to sixty three students that we've been able to help.
So unfortunately, coming up January fourteenth to twenty twenty six
(04:18):
will be twenty years. We just we can't fan them.
We just don't know how that could be. But even
in our golf outing, I'll let JD or Jack speak
to it. But people come from New York, Nashville, We
get a lot of the same sponsors, a lot of
the same players, and it just warms are hard.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Jack. It was tough for you. You were almost twenty years younger.
Tell me how it affected you and your family.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, Rob, my brother, best friend, we lived together. It
was very very hard, very very hard. But as my
father Dan shared, we do feel blessed that we were
able to get some closure and with the help of
the Sincini Police and the prosecutor's office. Chief Striker did
(05:07):
a great job, Lieutenant Carolin Whalen and prosecutor was Rick
Gibson at the time, and so we were thankful that
we did get justice for Rob. And since that point
we just have been completely focused on helping other people
to keep Rob's legacy alive. So we're proud of what
we've done from the foundation's perspective. And we've got a
(05:31):
couple of major fundraisers every year, and the golf outing
is one of them.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
The basketball tournament happens in the winter, and then in
the summertime, we're taking up your passion of golf, you
and your son.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
That's right, that's right, so good, good memory, Sandy. In
the winter we have a basketball term.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well let me just stop you right there. It's not
my memory. It's Dan sending me pictures of Jackson playing
golf or at a car show with him or wherever
they are. Christmas. I just I love keeping in touch,
So go ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
So we are excited about the golf outing on August eleventh,
it's a Monday, and you guys, anybody could reach out
to us if there's an interest in participating. We're doing
pretty well, Sandy on the teams. We think we're going
to have over one hundred and twenty golfers that are
all there willing to participate and support the foundation and
(06:26):
our family and Rob. What we're lacking is is just
some donations, things that we could give away for prices.
So we're still working on that part of it. But
it's going to be another wonderful day. The day always
starts off with my son Jackson hitting a ceremonial first drive.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And how old is Jackson.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
He's eleven, So he'll do that in front of the
one hundred and twenty golfers and thirty or forty volunteers,
so that'll be a big crowd and they watching.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But no pressure, young man, no pressure at all.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah. But every single year, and maybe he's getting some
help from Rob, but every single year he just hits
one right down the middle. So we're excited him to
do that again this year.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
That's terrific. And that's somebody that his uncle he never
got to meet. And this is he said this going
on in his life, his entire life. It's got to
be tough, but I know your family really has great
faith and you really have struggled with all of the
different things that happen when you lose someone. We're seeing
more and more violence these days, and it just breaks
(07:30):
my heart to think that people have to lose their
loved ones in this town and because of bad actors.
Let's talk about the tournament. Is it competitive tournament?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, we have several different divisions, right, Golfers of all
skill levels are welcome. We have some people that knew
rob and just want to be there, even though they
may not golf. It might be the only time the
whole year that they all see. It sounds like they
show up every year and they have fun. So we've
got a prize. We call it the Best Sports Award,
(08:04):
and it's actually the team that has the highest score,
which in golf that's a bad thing. You want to
have a low score. So we have prizes for the
worst team there. And also we've got a lady's division,
a senior division, and then more of an open or
competitive division. So just just so blessed and thankful to
have people of all different skill levels come and participate.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
It's more likely that people listening right now would be
able to donate items for the giveaways as opposed to golfing,
So how can we get those items to you? You're
looking for anything from gift certificates to sports giveaways, to
you know, baskets of you know, themed you know, chocolates
(08:48):
and you know, champagne or whatever. I mean, what what
are you looking for?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, everything you mentioned would be fantastic. You know, gift
cards are always great, gifts are certificates, Yeah, anything that
people are willing to donate. We do have several ladies
teams there, right, so the prizes don't have to be
specific to, you know, to golfers. But if there's anybody
out there listening that would be able to provide a
(09:15):
gift card or gift certificate for a restaurant, a sporting
goods stores, any retail location, an Amazon gift card, sports
memorabilia like, we would be appreciative of anything that's provided
to us.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
People are listening from all over Cincinnati that have deep
pockets and giving to This would be very very easy
calling up and ordering some gift certificates and sending them out.
Where can we get those to you guys?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
One of the easiest way You're saying, they when they
can and just go to the website Remembering Robpersonally dot Com.
On that page, it tells my home address, tells how
they can do Venmo, Apple pay, how they can mail
checks and donation. Obviously there's a phone number there that
they can call, so we try to make it very
accessible so that people can get to us easily. So
(10:08):
in turn, you know, we appreciate that the gifts and
the help, right, So please go to Remembering Robpersonally dot
com and there's my phone number on there, the address
and should tell you everything you need to know.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
That's good stuff. So that's Rob p U R.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
S l e.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Y Remembering Rob Persley.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Thank you, Sandy. It's just so good to be with
you and your audience. You've been so supportive of the
foundation and you helping us get the word out of
our wonderful cause, and our nonprofit just allows us to.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Help more people.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So yeah, that's my father's share. We're proud to have
helped over sixty families, but we want that number to
be one hundred or two hundred, so we're going to
keep pushing and couldn't be more appreciative of you giving
us a chance to share our story with your audience.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Jack personally and his dad, Dan Persley. They are here
today promoting their golf outing memorial golf outing for Rob
Persley Foundation. Guys, thanks so much, good luck, it's August
the eleventh. They've got room for more golfers if you
want to go to their website. Guys, thanks so much
for your time today.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Thank you Sandy again.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
That's remembering Robpersley dot com. Coming up, it's basically anything
tangible that's under five hundred dollars per item all the way. Next,
this is iHeart Sinsey
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