Chick Evans' dream has been realized through the Western Golf Association.
If you didn’t watch the BMW Championship last weekend, you missed more than just a golf tournament. You missed one of the true feel good stories related to sports. A few years ago, the BMW Championship replaced the Western Open, one of the longest running tournaments on the PGA Tour. The mission of the tournament, however, remained the same. That mission: putting caddies through college.
That mission is accomplished through the Evans Scholarship, a scholarship that is funded in part through proceeds from the BMW Championship. The Evans Scholarship is aptly named after its founder: Chick Evans. Evans was one of the greatest amateur golfers ever. Evans was himself a caddy, but could not afford to pay for college tuition. To prevent the same fate for other young caddies, Evans remained an amateur and set aside his winnings to the creation of a scholarship for caddies. Chick’s dream was eventually realized in 1930 when the two first Evans Scholars started their education at Northwestern University.
We, as Evans Scholars, strive for ideals of the ideals of the community leadership – achieved not necessarily through popularity, but through character.
Today, Chick’s dream is alive and well. The Evans Scholarship is the largest privately founded scholarship in the country. The scholarship covers full tuition and housing for up to eight semesters contingent on maintaining good academic standing. There are over 850 Evans Scholars currently enrolled at 18 different colleges, mainly centered in the Midwest.
We cherish the ability to set aside pleasurable activities until the necessary ones are accomplished.
In college athletics, certain people transcend normal popularity to become legends for their respective programs. John Wooden at UCLA. Bo Schembechler at Michigan. Woody Hayes at Ohio State. Chick Evans is as big of a legend within Evans Scholars circles. In fact, he’s a bigger legend. You see, he’s not just a coach who started a rivalry or brought a program multiple national championships. He’s a man who is directly responsible for graduating thousands of young men and women. Without Chick’s vision, many of these young people may have never graduated.
We strive for group unity and loyalty through an interaction and appreciation of varied backgrounds and personalities.
The Evans Scholarship is not just a random scholarship awarded to anyone who can pick up a golf bag and last eighteen holes. It is rewarded to young high school seniors who show an outstanding academic record, excellent leadership and character, and legitimate financial aid. Many of these kids would not be able to afford tuition at schools like Michigan and Northwestern without the scholarship.
We strive for public esteem based upon the demonstrated ability to achieve and maintain positions of respect in our community.
And while the financial burdens relieved by the scholarship are certainly significant, the Evans Scholar program is a lot more than just about free tuition and housing. These Evans Scholars live together in the same house for four years. They see each other every day, go to class together, and eventually develop respect and lifelong friendships with each other. If you ask any Evans Scholar their favorite part of the program, the answer will be resounding and simple: the people. These people, for one reason or another, could not have made it through college on their own. But, working collectively, they graduate at an impressively high rate. Bo Schembechler would be proud. “The team, the team, the team.” Evans Scholars realize that their goals are best achieved through the collective efforts of their friends and house mates… a concept that Bo preached for years during his tenure at Michigan.
We represent an educational institution seeking to teach men and women to live and work with each other and instill in them the ability to embrace individual differences and to respect individual freedoms.
The impact that the program has on its beneficiaries cannot be overstated. The appreciation of Evans Scholar alumni can be seen in their generous donations back to the program (more than $4 million annually). Convinced yet? For more information on the Evans Scholarship or to donate, visit the Evans Scholarship Foundation website. I promise your money will be better spent there than it was on the Virginia Tech money line last weekend. How would I know, you may ask? Well, I am just another Evans Scholar alum who could not be more proud to be associated with the program with friends who can still benefit from your donations. You will not regret it.
Personal growth is our goal; group living is our means.
