The Western Golf Association and amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. established Evans Scholars Foundation to send deserving caddies to college. Shown is Western Golf Association Evans Scholars Foundation Representative Chris Hoke, left, and scholarship recipient Sydnee Keith. Photo by Blair Baumgartner.

By Blair Baumgartner
InkFreeNews

LEESBURG — When Sydnee Keith attended Wawasee Middle School, two guys visited her classroom and told students about a summer job caddying at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club.

Keith, who grew up on Dewart Lake, went home and told her parents about the caddying opportunity. Her dad asked if she had ever seen the movie Caddyshack. She watched the movie and ended up going in for caddy training the very next weekend.

She said caddying was difficult at first. She didn’t know much about golf. There were many successful people and she didn’t quite know how to talk to them. It took a couple years to build a reputation and understand how to build rapport with the golfers.

Now she has golfers exclusively requesting her caddy services.

“I didn’t realize at that time I could eventually get a scholarship,” Keith said. “I was just trying to make some money in the summer and not put an extra burden on my parents.”

“Sydnee checked all the boxes,” said Western Golf Association Evans Scholars Foundation Representative Chris Hoke.

“We recruit caddies in the spring and a handful emerge as potential candidates. Currently, there are 15 total caddies at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club and Sydnee is the current scholarship recipient. Austin Fleming is working in the pro shop now and is at Purdue on the Evans Scholarship.”

Hoke noted there may be more scholarship recipients emerge from the group.

Keith applied for the scholarship during the fall of her senior year of high school.

The scholarship provides four years of paid tuition and housing to 24 leading universities nationwide. Keith decided to attend Indiana University in Bloomington.

She said, “I’m really excited about living in a house (Evans Scholars house) for four years. Everyone is very smart, talented and a good influence on others.”

Keith is currently unsure about her major, but would like to minor in sign language interpreting.

She had a teammate on her Concord High School swim team who was deaf. She felt like her teammate didn’t have a lot of people who could communicate with him and he was often overlooked. She wanted to be there for him and be able to communicate with him, so she dropped her Spanish class and took four years of sign language in high school.

Hoke, who outside of his role with WGAESF, is the superintendent of schools for Northwestern Consolidated School District of Shelby County, said, “This scholarship opportunity fundamentally changed my life and most of the people of significance in my life are directly related to this scholarship.”

Hoke was a past scholarship recipient and studied engineering at Purdue.

“I learned about being a leader and understanding that people are from different backgrounds, but we’re really very much alike. Communal living will teach you that.”

Keith laughed as she said, “I’m an only child, so they said I’m going to have 50 new brothers and sisters.”

In 1930, the Western Golf Association and amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. established Evans Scholars Foundation to send deserving caddies to college. The first two Evans Scholars enrolled at Northwestern University.

Since then, 11,815 men and women have graduated as Evans Scholars. There are currently 1,100 Evans Scholars enrolled at 24 leading universities nationwide. Hoke said it’s one of the largest private scholarship foundations in the country.

“It’s a financial need based scholarship, it’s based on academics, caddy record and community service,” he said.

“With the upperclassmen in the house, they can always help me with whatever I need, so I think I’m set up for a pretty good freshman year,” Keith said.