Ohio Golf Journal November 2018

John Kretzschmar was by training a plastics engineer. He saw the importance of plastics as a young man and along with his wife and a partner founded a successful plastics plant outside of Bowling Green, in northwest Ohio. Kretzschmar was a former caddie and became a tireless supporter of the Evan Scholars program not only in Toledo, but nationwide. He proudly served in various capacities with the Western Golf Association, the organization that is charged with administering and overseeing the Evans Scholarship program. In 2000, he WAS THE ÚRST 0RESIDENT OF THE 7ESTERN 'OLF !SSOCIATION TO reside outside the Chicago area. He has been a Director for the Evans Scholarship Foundation since 1982 and was the chairman of the prestigious, Western Junior golf tournament for 15 years. He always enjoyed meeting area caddies and their parents to answer questions about the Evans Scholarship program, and assure all applications were received in a timely manner. For the past nine years, John and his wife Sue annually gave the Kretzchmar Award to an area Evans Scholar student that excelled in the classroom, exhibited leadership in the Evans ScholarHouse, plus demonstrated outstanding community involvement. He was inducted into both the Toledo and the Ohio Golf Hall of Fames. John Kretzshmar was a true believer in the power of the Evans Scholarship program for providing college scholarships to deserving caddies. Alan Sprunk, a former Evans Scholar, who is a director of the Western Golf Association and has worked side-by- side with Kretzschmar to promote the Evans Scholarship program said, n(E TOUCHED A LOT OF KIDSm LIVES (E WAS SINCERE AND DEDICATED TO THE PROGRAM (E WOULD SPEAK ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND IT WOULD BRING TEARS TO HIS EYES AND EVERYBODY ELSEmS EYES o He will be sorely missed not only in northwest Ohio, but in the world of golf. Evans Scholarship Director John Kretzschmar Passes at Age 82 O h i o G o l f J o u rn a l