‘A Home, A Community, A Life-Changing Experience’
Renovation of a residence hall at Rutgers–New Brunswick is underway to house former and current golf caddies awarded full tuition and housing scholarships. The program and the new scholarship house are made possible by generous gifts from the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation and the Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, which will host the PGA Tour’s 2027 BMW Championship, a primary supporter of the Evans Scholars.
Kenneth Maher hoisted a golf bag onto his shoulder for the first time as a caddie at the iconic Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey shortly after he had turned 16 years old.
That caddie job—often referred to in golf parlance as a “looper”—ultimately led to him enrolling at Rutgers–New Brunswick as a freshman in fall 2023 in the Evans Scholars program, a full college scholarship that covers tuition and housing.
“The Evans Scholars Foundation has given me the chance to pursue the education I’ve always dreamed of and be part of a truly great community,” said Maher, a senior on track to graduate with a biomedical engineering degree at the Rutgers School of Engineering in May 2027. A resident of Warren, New Jersey, Maher spent this summer doing research as an intern at Bristol Myers Squibb, although he still caddies occasionally.
Maher, whose older brother was an Evans Scholar at Indiana University, was in the second class of students in the program introduced at Rutgers in 2022. He will be one of 46 Evans Scholars who will study at Rutgers–New Brunswick the upcoming academic year.
The university and its partners, which also include the New Jersey State Golf Association (NJSGA), this summer celebrated the beginning of renovations to Jameson Hall D, a residence hall on the Douglass Campus built in 1927, and a new name: The Liberty National NJSGA Evans Scholars Scholarship House.
“A scholarship house means more group activities, impromptu study sessions, and a deeper sense of identity,” Maher told supporters of the project at a luncheon. “Fifty years from now, alumni who were Evans Scholars will share their stories about the history and traditions created within these walls.”
Rutgers and its partners plan a ribbon-cutting this time next year in partnership with the 2027 BMW Championship, a PGA Tour event to be held at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City. Since 2007, the BMW Championship has raised $63 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation, helping to send more than 4,860 caddies to college. This year’s BMW Championship was held last week in St. Louis.
The renovation of the Rutgers hall is made possible by a gift from the family of Dan and Paul Fireman, founders of the Liberty National Golf Club that opened in Jersey City in 2006. The Firemans are longtime supporters of youth caddie opportunities and the Evans Scholars program in New Jersey and throughout the region.
Dan Fireman said the project at Rutgers is meaningful to his family because his father, Paul, who would go on to be chairman and CEO of Reebok, worked as a caddie when he was growing up in Massachusetts. “That experience taught him many things—things like hard work, responsibility, communication, service, and perseverance. Those lessons have stayed with him throughout his life.”
Fireman, who noted that his father was inducted into the Western Golf Association’s Caddie Hall of Fame last year, said his family’s goal is for “Liberty National Golf Club to be known not only as a great golf club, but also as a place that creates opportunities that strengthen our community and use the game of golf as a platform to make meaningful differences in people’s lives.”
The scholarship house, he said, is one way of fulfilling that mission. “This scholarship house will become a home, a community, and a life-changing experience for generations of Evans Scholars,” he said.
Administered by the Evans Scholars Foundation, the Evans Scholarship has helped thousands of caddies attend college since 1930. This fall, the program will have a record 1,310 Evans Scholars attending 28 universities nationwide. Rutgers is among 14 Big Ten schools that benefit from the program and is the only partner school in New Jersey and in the New York area.
“The Evans Scholars Foundation has become one of Rutgers–New Brunswick’s most impactful philanthropic partners,” said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Jason Geary. “Through this extraordinary investment, talented young people have been able to pursue a Rutgers education while becoming part of a community defined by academic excellence, leadership, and service.”
Jeff Harrison, senior vice president for advisory and special Initiatives for the Western Golf Association/Evans Scholars Foundation, which is based in Glenview, Illinois, north of Chicago, said the partnership with Rutgers will lead to tremendous results.
“This is an exciting beginning for the Rutgers Evans Scholars and for the continued growth of the Evans Scholars program in the East,” Harrison said. “Since our first class of Evans Scholars arrived at Rutgers, this chapter has become an integral part of our program.”
Harrison thanked all the partners in the program. “You are truly changing lives of deserving caddies, and we look forward to returning to this site next August to officially open the Liberty National NJSGA Evans Scholars Scholarship House.”
Two incoming freshmen awarded Evans Scholarships starting this fall at Rutgers are excited about the journey they are about to begin.
Juah Awlime, a native of Newark who caddies at Montclair Golf Club, plans to study nursing. “This is a stepping stone for greater opportunities,” Awlime said. "The Evans Scholarship means so much to me. It inspires me to work hard and be an example for others, showing them that they can achieve their goals too.”
Litzy Pinto, an incoming freshman from Union City who caddies at North Jersey Country Club in Wayne, plans to study social work. “This scholarship truly means everything to me because without it I would not have been able to go to college,” Pinto said. “I’m the first one in my family to be able to go to college. It really means everything to me.”
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