For 55 years, the Red Carpet Bowl has been a showcase for high school sports in Warren County. Now the adults will have a chance to get in on the fun.

On Oct. 14 and 15, the inaugural Red Carpet Bowl 3-Man Invitational golf tournament will be played at Vicksburg Country Club. It’s a three-man scramble that offers cash prizes in each flight — $1,000 for the winners, $800 for second place and $600 for third — as well as an assortment of other prizes.

The entry fee is $120 per player, and you or your team can enter by calling the VCC golf shop at 601-636-8581 or e-mailing patrick@vicksburgcc.com.

In addition to the golf tournament, the Red Carpet Bowl is sponsoring a raffle for four tickets to the New Orleans Saints game against the Atlanta Falcons in the Superdome on Christmas Eve. Raffle tickets are $20 each and can be purchased at Cannon Toyota or Helping Hand Pharmacy.

The golf tournament was the idea of Cannon Toyota general manager Billy Crozier, a Red Carpet Bowl committee member who is spearheading the event. He’s hoping to draw 40 teams this year, and possibly double that in 2018.

The tournament has the potential to be a major fundraiser for the Red Carpet Bowl, which provides scholarships to each of Warren County’s four high schools. The number and value of those scholarships is largely dependent on how much the committee makes off of the annual football doubleheader each August, but usually settles around two $500 or $750 scholarships per school. If the golf tournament does well, the number and/or value of the scholarships will likely rise accordingly.

The tournament is also a chance to honor one of the Red Carpet Bowl’s founding members, Gene Allen. He coached Cooper High School from 1956-63 and was instrumental in getting the Red Carpet Bowl off the ground in 1962. He still golfs regularly at the Vicksburg Country Club.

The winner of the golf tournament each year will get their name on the Allen Cup, which will be on display at VCC.

So if you’re a golfer wanting to play for some prize money, or a Saints fan, here’s a chance to indulge your passions for a good cause. The Red Carpet Bowl’s football and basketball games will always be for the high schoolers, but now there’s a game everyone can get into.

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Ernest Bowker is a sports writer for The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com