Jermaine Dye shares a laugh before the start of the Fresh Start Surgical Gifts’ Celebrity Golf Classic in June at St. Charles Country Club. The former Chicago White Sox player is stepping down as head of the Golf Classic after 10 years. (Provided photos)

Jermaine Dye has retired – again.

The Chicago White Sox’s 2005 World Series MVP is stepping away from a charity golf outing that he has led for the last 10 years.

Dye has led the Fresh Start Surgical Gifts’ Celebrity Golf Classic at Chicago area golf courses since the event’s inception. The former Major League Baseball All-Star played a pivotal role in supporting Fresh Start’s mission, helping raise funds and resources to provide more than $5 million in free medical care for children about the world in need of transformative surgeries and medical care, according to Fresh Start officials.

“I’m going to miss being involved,” Dye said in a Chronicle Media interview. “I love the part of the (Golf Classic dinner) ceremony where the kids who have had the surgeries come up and tell about their journey through Fresh Start. Right there, it makes me feel good.”

With his three children all Division I athletes, and him likely getting into baseball again, Dye said the timing felt right to step down from the Golf Classic leadership.

His sons, Jalen and Devin, are both football players at the University of Kansas, and his daughter, Tiara, is a rower at the University of Tennessee,

“I want to see their last few years of playing,” Dye said,

The former Major Leaguer said he is probably getting back into baseball again in some form – either in the front office or coaching.

“I’ve been doing some of that the last two years, getting my feet wet, preparing for next phase,” Dye said.

He said a return to the White Sox could be in the cards.

“I might be doing something in Chicago,” Dye said. “Hopefully, we get these teams back on track.

Dye signs an auction item at the Golf Classic dinner at Hotel Baker in St. Charles.

“I’ve done some spring training and front office stuff with the Sox. They kind of let me do whatever I want to do and seeing what role I may want to play in the organization. I’m kind of narrowing that down. We’ve just been having talks. We’ll see where that goes.”

Getting started

Dye said he went to the Fresh Start tournament in San Diego for three or four years before the charity organization considered a Chicago event.

“My wife and I love what Fresh Start is about,” he said.

When Fresh Start was ready to start a Chicago event, Shari Brasher, CEO of the organization, asked Dye if he would want to be part of it.

“At the time, it was definitely a no-brainer,” the former White Sox said. “For me, everything that I have been involved with has been with kids, mostly with Boys and Girls clubs. To be able to do something like this and put my name on it, I thought would be something special, that I could use my platform and help out.”

Brasher said Dye’s leadership has been vital to the organization’s success.

Golfers warm up before the Golf Classic.

“Our 10^th annual Celebrity Golf Classic in Chicago marks an incredible milestone for our fundraising efforts and our mission of helping transform the lives of children from around the world,” Brasher said. “We want to thank Jermaine for his decade of support and our donors who make it possible for us to continue providing children critical surgeries and medical care, bringing a huge relief to patients and their families who otherwise could not afford it.”

Dye said he is thankful for the team that helped him put on the charity event for a decade.

“Anytime you host something, no matter what it is, it’s definitely a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of trying to go out in the community and spread the word about Fresh Start,” he said. “As we got going, we started growing and growing. The word got out there. A lot of my friends started to support it.

“It means a lot to just be able to change the life of a kid who doesn’t get a chance to use the insurance, to do the surgeries on them to change their lives. It’s pretty special. It’s not only me doing it.”

Helping hand

He credited his honorary chairman, Chicago advertising executive and former professional volleyball player Kevin Miller for helping carry the event.

“He’s a big part of what we’ve done,” Dye said. “Over these last 10 years, he’s kind of my backbone, the behind-the-scenes guy who kind of ties everything together,. I definitely have got to give him a lot of kudos for everything over the last 10 years.”

Dye takes aim with a putt on the St. Charles Country Club course.

Since 1991, Fresh Start Surgical Gifts has been transforming the lives of underprivileged infants, children and adolescents from all over the world through the gift of reconstructive surgery. With medical care offered in Illinois, as well as California, Texas, Massachusetts and Costa Rica, Fresh Start’s team of surgeons and medical professionals volunteer their time to treat physical deformities caused by birth, accidents, abuse or disease.

Dye said being in the operating room when doctors are working on Fresh Start patients is something he will never forget.

“I’ve actually scrubbed in and watched surgeries. I’ve talked to the kids before surgeries and after surgeries, to be able to listen to them and have them tell me about how they’ve been bullied and how doing the surgery is going to give them a fresh start in life. Just to see the smile on their face after coming out of surgery brings joy to my heart.

“Being in the surgery room, I never thought I’d be able to do that, to be able to scrub in and be 10 feet, 15 feet away from the doctors, watching them perform the surgeries, that’s one of the most memorable things that I’ll miss. Just talking to the kids and listening to their stories. I’ll miss everything about Fresh Start, all the patients’ lives they’ve changed who would have never gotten the care otherwise. It’s just something that I’m proud to be a part of. To be able to see Fresh Start now continue to grow, starting in California and now in Chicago and other places is amazing.”

He said being a former professional athlete, it is tough not to spread yourself too thin when charities come calling.

“If you do do a lot of stuff, you definitely have to have a team to help you out doing it. I try to support other athletes on what they do,” Dye said. “ I play a lot golf so celebrities tend to support each other and go to each other’s events.

“In the athlete world, if you support their tournament, they’ll support yours. You go around and see what everybody else is doing. It kind of helps you learn what you can do to help make your foundation better as well.”

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com