GOLF TOURNAMENT PAYS TRIBUTE TO BELOVED COACH

Jack Chadwick Golf Tournament brings alumni together to honor coach and see how their game has improved with age

By Christopher Braunschweig Newton News

To his kids, Jack Chadwick was known as “Dad,” but everyone else — including those who didn’t have him as a golf mentor or as a history teacher in high school — just called him “Coach.” In 2019, two years before Chadwick’s passing, Newton alumni honored the coach’s legacy the only way they knew how.

The Jack Chadwick Golf Tournament was formed as a commemorative gesture to Chadwick, who led the Newton High School golf team to two state championships and 12 conference titles. He was also twice nominated for National Golf Coach of the Year.

The tourney also formalized what other Cardinals were already doing when they returned home for Newton Alumni Weekend. Ed Ergenbright, former head football coach and a fellow Cardinal himself, told Newton News in 2019 that it only made sense to put the tournament together for his favorite teacher.

At the time the tournament was created, Chadwick’s oldest son Brian said he didn’t realize his dad’s impact on students and the community, nor the sacrifices his dad made until he was an adult, even when his dad brought him along to golf meets when he was just in middle school.

From what his son observed through the years, he learned his father had an obvious passion for the sport and wanted students “to be able to enjoy the game that he loved so much.” Chadwick taught them how to act and present themselves in addition to how to drive a golf ball a few hundred yards away.

Chadwick’s youngest son Chad knows his dad meant a lot to people who still referred to him as “Coach” or “Mr. Chadwick” long after graduation.

“Going through town with Dad there would be so many people that would just say, ‘Hey, Coach!’ or ‘Hi,

Mr. Chadwick!’ So I did kind of realize he was known throughout the town … but I don’t think I knew the full effect until later on and looking at all his accomplishments,” Chad said.

Daughter Carrie Williams said her father always wanted to share his knowledge of golf, and in turn he taught valuable life skills too.

“To be passionate about what you do and to be very competitive yet cordial, and to always be kind,” Williams said. “He was never one to ever push us, but he wanted us to know what it’s like to work hard and play hard but to also have fun at the same time.”

The tournament’s shot gun start begins at 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. June 10 at Westwood Golf Course. Call ahead at 641-792-3087 to reserve a spot. Teams of four are $300, or $75 per person, paid on the day of the event. Proceeds benefit the NHS Alumni Association Scholarship Fund.