Chick Evans

For other people named Chick Evans, see Chick Evans (disambiguation).

Chick Evans
Evans (right) with Robert A. Gardner (left), after beating him in the 1916 U.S. Amateur
Personal information
Full name	Charles E. Evans, Jr.
Born	July 18, 1890(1890-07-18) Indianapolis, Indiana
Died	November 6, 1979(1979-11-06) (aged 89)
Height	5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m)
Weight	158 lb (72 kg; 11.3 st)
Nationality	United States
Career
Status	Amateur
Professional wins	3
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 3)
Masters Tournament	51st: 1940
U.S. Open	Won: 1916
The Open Championship	T49: 1911
PGA Championship	DNP
U.S. Amateur	Won: 1916, 1920
British Amateur	T9: 1911
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	1975 (member page)
Bob Jones Award	1960

Evans on March 1, 1915

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 where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta 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. Chick Evans' long friendship with Chicago tax attorney, Carleton Blunt, proved to be the catalyst for launching the Evans Scholars Foundation. Blunt, an avid golfer and philanthropist, supported Evans' vision for helping caddies attend colleges and universities across the country but raising the necessary funds for decades. 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 (22)

Evans in 1915

• 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	[phone]=286)	2 strokes	Jock Hutchison

Results timeline

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

Tournament	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
Masters Tournament	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	2 LA	18	1 LA	NT	NT	T9 LA
British Open	T49	DNP	DNP	DNP	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT

Tournament	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929
Masters Tournament	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF
U.S. Open	T6 LA	4 LA	16	T14	T10	DNP	T13	CUT	CUT	DNP
British Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939
Masters Tournament	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	T54	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T50	DNP	DNP	DNP
British Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
Masters Tournament	51	DNP	DNP	NT	NT	NT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	CUT	NT	NT	NT	NT	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT
British Open	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	64	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
British Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

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

Tournament	1909	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
U.S. Amateur	SF	SF	SF	2	SF	R32	R32	1	NT	NT	R16
British Amateur	DNP	DNP	R16	DNP	DNP	R32	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT

Tournament	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929
U.S. Amateur	1	SF	2	R32	R32	DNQ	QF	2	R32	DNQ
British Amateur	DNP	R64	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	R128	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939
U.S. Amateur	DNQ	DNQ	QF	R32	QF	R256	R64	QF	DNP	DNQ
British Amateur	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
U.S. Amateur	DNQ	DNQ	NT	NT	NT	NT	DNQ	R256	R128	R256
British Amateur	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	R64	DNP	DNP	R128

Tournament	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
U.S. Amateur	R256	R256	R128	R256	R256	R128	R256	R64	R64	R128
British Amateur	R512	DNP	R128	R256	DNP	R64	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1960	1961	1962
U.S. Amateur	R256	R256	R256
British Amateur	DNP	DNP	DNP

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

Source for 1911 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1911, pg. 186.

Source for 1914 British Amateur: Golf Illustrated, July, 1914, pg. 28.

Source for 1921 British Amateur: The American Golfer, June 4, 1921, pg. 24.

Source for 1926 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1926, pg. 58.

Source for 1946 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 30, 1946, pg. 2.

Source for 1949 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 25, 1949, pg. 2.

Source for 1950 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 23, 1950, pg. 9.

Source for 1952 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 29, 1952, pg. 7.

Source for 1953 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 27, 1953, pg. 4.

Source for 1955 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 2, 1955, pg. 4.

External links

• Official Site of the Evans Scholars Foundation
• Official Site of the Western Golf Assiciation
• Evans Scholars University of Colorado Chapter Link
• 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
• Evans Scholars University of Minnesota Link
• World Golf Hall of Fame profile

Persondata
Name	Evans, Chick
Alternative names	Evans, Jr., Charles E.
Short description	Amateur golfer
Date of birth	July 18, 1890
Place of birth	Indianapolis, Indiana
Date of death	November 6, 1979
Place of death