Friendship with Will Clark led to Ryan Theriot hosting a charity golf tournament

When Ryan Theriot was approached by his agents a couple of years ago and told he might want to start a charity, he told them he wasn’t ready.

He said he had to find causes worth championing.

The Dodgers second baseman has since found some, which is why he hosted the Ryan Theriot Celebrity Golf Classic on Friday in Baton Rouge, La.

Theriot said his friendship with former San Francisco Giants star and fellow Louisiana native Will Clark led him to hosting the tournament.

Clark has an autistic son who attends a Baton Rouge school at which Theriot’s mother is the principal. Theriot and Clark have become friends.

The Greater Baton Rouge Chapter of the Autism Society of America will be one of three organizations to which tournament proceeds will go.

“It’s something that affects a lot of ballplayers,” Theriot said.

Theriot said he grew up idolizing Clark.

“I hunt with him,” Theriot said. “We got to be budidies.”

The event will also benefit the National Wildlife Foundation’s Gulf Oil Spill Restoration Fund and Fore! Kids Foundation, which exposes underprivileged children to golf.

-- Dylan Hernandez