Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. was one of the early stars of the Western Amateur Championship, and amateur golf in general, and his influence is still felt at the event today, more than 100 years after his first victory.

Evans was born in 1890 at Indianapolis, but he grew up on the north side of Chicago. At age 8, he began caddying at nearby Edgewater Country Club.

He soon became a top amateur. He won his first Western Amateur title in 1909 at Homewood Country Club in Flossmoor, Ill., and by 1923 he had won the event eight times, including four consecutive titles in 1920-1923.

In 1910, he became the first amateur to defeat the professionals at the Western Open. The feat stood unmatched for 75 years until Scott Verplank won as an amateur in 1985.

Evans’ greatest year on the course was 1916, when he won both the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia and the U.S. Open at Minikahda Club in Minneapolis -the first person to win both titles in a season. He added a U.S. Amateur victory in 1920at Engineers Country Club in Roslyn Harbor, N.Y.

He eventually played in 50 U.S. Amateurs, the final one in 1962 at age 72.

Evans resisted opportunities to turn professional. Following his success in 1916, as was allowed during the era in order to maintain amateur status, he placed all of his earnings in an escrow fund. That set in motion the Evans Scholars Foundation, which still exists today.

Evans decided the funds would go to help finance college educations for needy caddies. In 1928, he convinced the Western Golf Association to oversee the trust fund, and in 1930 the first two Evans Scholars enrolled at Northwestern University.

Since then, more than 10,000 male and female caddies have been awarded full tuition and housing at top universities. The Evans Scholars Foundation, one of largest privately funded scholarship programs in the nation, owns and operates Scholarship Houses at 14 universities.

In 1960, Evans was given the Bob Jones Award, the United States Golf Association’s highest in honor, and he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975.

Evans died in 1979 at age 89.

Sports, Pages 31 on 07/28/2013