Newton alumni name tourney after longtime golf coach

To his kids, Jack Chadwick is 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 many years ago, just call him "Coach."

Brian Chadwick said his dad had that kind of effect on people. And that impact will no doubt be felt when Cardinals return to the nest for Newton Alumni Weekend and take part in the inaugural Jack Chadwick Best Shot Golf Tournament at Westwood Golf Course, a gesture Brian Chadwick said is “pretty special.”

Organized by Ed Ergenbright, head football coach and educator at Newton High School, the tourney is a culmination of former Newton golfers’ interests in scheduling golf outings during NHS Alumni Weekend. A lot folks, he said, would go to Westwood to play a few rounds while catching up with old friends.

Transitioning what was already common practice with former classmates during class reunions into a tournament only made sense, even more so by naming it after Jack Chadwick, who led the high school golf team to two state championships and 12 conference titles and was twice nominated for National Golf Coach of the Year, according to the Iowa High School Golf Coaches Association.

“We really need to honor Coach Chadwick,” Ergenbright said, noting Jack Chadwick was his favorite teacher. “So I decided that I would take responsibility for organizing the tournament. I bounced my idea off the other members and they thought it was a great idea … I know a lot of his former players have heard about it and decided to come back and play.”

Coincidentally, the 80-year-old Jack Chadwick is also going to be one of four individuals to be recognized Saturday at the NHS Hall of Fame ceremony. He will be inducted alongside Herman Deaton, Karen Paschal and Greg Thielmann.

Jack Chadwick’s sons and daughter said their father will be at the ceremony and will likely make an appearance at the tournament in Westwood Golf Course, a place Ergenbright said his former coach and teacher was a “fixture” of for many decades.

“You’d go out there to play on Sunday and Coach Chadwick would be there,” Ergenbright recalled. “He’s very highly thought of and I just think a lot of these guys coming back are doing that in honor of him and what he’s done for them, not only as a golfer but as a person. I think it’s just a really neat tribute to him.”

Brian Chadwick, the honored coach’s oldest son and 1984 graduate of Newton High School, 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 on the bus to travel with the high school golfers on the weekends when he was only in seventh or eighth grade.

“I was still just a kid going with his dad to watch some guys play golf,” he said.

From what Brian Chadwick observed through the years, he learned his father, who was also his golfing coach, had an obvious passion for the sport and wanted students “to be able to enjoy the game that he loved so much.” Jack Chadwick made an effort to stay in touch with players, and taught them how to act and present themselves in addition to how to drive a golf ball a few hundred yards away.

He added, “I started meeting the people that played for him and getting to know them, because when you’re in the moment, when you are there on the team, he’s just your coach and your father. You don’t really departmentalize them. But then as you get older and you get away, and then after I was done and off in college and married and into my businesses … all of a sudden you start seeing all these kids that keep coming back as adults. That guy gave a lot.”

Youngest son Chad Chadwick knows his dad meant a lot to those who called and still call him “Coach” or “Mr. Chadwick.” Like his older brother, Chad Chadwick said he didn’t fully grasp his dad’s significance to the people of Newton, especially those enrolled in the school system.

“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 Chadwick said, who graduated in Newton High School in 1990.

The youngest of the three siblings, Chad Chadwick vividly remembered how his dad would stay awake until 10 or 10:30 p.m. writing down notes, talking to other students and other golfers to make sure they had the “right frame of mind to be able to compete.”

Daughter Carrie Williams, the middle child who graduated in 1985, said her father always wanted to share his knowledge of golf. In addition to teaching the golfing fundamentals, Williams said her father taught valuable life skills.

“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.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com