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Evans in 1915

Evans (right) with Robert A. Gardner (left), after beating him in the 1916 U.S. Amateur

Charles E. "Chick" Evans, Jr. (July 18, 1890 – November 6, 1979) was a leading amateur golfer of the 1910s and 1920s. Evans was the first amateur to win the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in one year, a feat he achieved in 1916. Evans went on to win the U.S. Amateur in 1920, while finishing runner-up three times. Selected to the Walker Cup team in 1922, 1924, and 1928, Evans competed in a record 50 consecutive U.S. Amateurs in his long career. All this was achieved with only seven hickory-shafted clubs. In addition to his golf career, Evans is known for sponsoring a college scholarship for qualified caddies.

In 1960, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

History

Evans was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and grew up on the north side of Chicago. At the age of eight, Evans was first exposed to golf by being a caddie at a Chicago course, the Edgewater Golf Club. From these beginnings, Evans became one of the most acclaimed American amateur golfers of his time, eventually earning induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975. The accomplishment that gave him the most contemporary publicity came in 1916, when Evans won both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open in the same year. He was the first person to accomplish this task, and only Bobby Jones has done it since. Evans also won the Western Open in 1910, the only amateur to do so until Scott Verplank in 1985.

Into the 1960s, Evans was an active participant in senior tournaments. Even at his age, he was competing in the U.S. Amateur events, and eventually set a record of completing 50 of these championships. Evans played his last rounds of competitive golf in 1967. After his retirement, he continued to attend events as a spectator and converse with the fans and players. He died in 1979, aged 89.

Approaching the WGA

After his wins in 1916, Evans was given several thousand dollars in royalties for recording golf instructions for the Brunswick Record Company. If he accepted this money, he would have lost his amateur status. Evans's mother suggested that he could put the money to good use by sponsoring a scholarship fund for caddies. (Evans was himself unable to finish his matriculation at Northwestern University due to financial reasons.) Evans is quoted as saying: "My mother wouldn't think of accepting my money unless we could arrange it to be trusted to furnish educations for deserving qualified caddies." He also went on to say, "She pointed out that the money came from golf and thus should go back into golf -- It was all her dream -- her idea."

Evans went to the Western Golf Association (WGA), an organization that ran golf championships in the Midwest, to get their support for his scholarship. The organization initially declined to support Evans, but eventually agreed to oversee his fund. By 1929, the Evans Scholars Foundation had formed.

Forming the Evans Scholars Foundation

Evans's dream was finally made a reality in 1930, when two caddies by the name of Harold Fink and Jim McGinnis were named the first two Evans Scholars. The criteria used to choose these recipients were scholarship, fellowship, and leadership. Since that time, over 8,000 caddies have become Evans Scholars and attained college educations. The scholarship program continues today as the largest scholarship organization in sports and the largest privately-funded scholarship program in the United States.

Scholarship houses exist at the following Universities: University of Colorado, University of Illinois, Northwestern University, Marquette University, University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, Ohio State University, Northern Illinois University, University of Missouri, Indiana University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Miami University and the University of Minnesota.

In addition to those universities at which houses exist, scholarships recipients attend several other universities around the country.

Tournament wins

• 1907 Chicago Amateur, Western Junior, Western Interscholastic
• 1908 Chicago Amateur, Western Interscholastic
• 1909 Western Amateur
• 1910 Western Open
• 1911 French Amateur, North and South Amateur, Chicago Amateur
• 1912 Western Amateur
• 1914 Western Amateur, Chicago District Amateur
• 1915 Western Amateur
• 1916 U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur
• 1920 U.S. Amateur, Western Amateur
• 1921 Western Amateur
• 1922 Western Amateur
• 1923 Western Amateur
• 1925 Kansas City Open

Professional major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner-up
1916	U.S. Open	3 shot lead	+2 (70-69-74-73=286)	2 strokes	Jock Hutchison

Results timeline

Note: As an amateur, Evans could not play in the PGA Championship.

LA = Low Amateur
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Amateur major championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Winning Score	Runner-up
1916	U.S. Amateur	4 & 3	Robert A. Gardner
1920	U.S. Amateur	7 & 6	Francis Ouimet

Results timeline

DNP = Did not play
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

External links

• Official Site of the Evans Scholars Foundation
• Official Site of the Western Golf Assiciation
• Evans Scholars Northwestern University Link
• Evans Scholars Purdue Chapter Link
• Evans Scholars Miami University Link
• Evans Scholars University of Michigan Link
• Evans Scholars University of Missouri Link
• Evans Scholars Michigan State University Link
• Evans Scholars University of Illinois Link
• World Golf Hall of Fame profile