Peter Ueberroth (right)
Peter Ueberroth (right)
Former MLB Commissioner and Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth has been inducted into the Western Golf Association’s Caddie Hall of Fame.
The 80-year-old Evanston native caddied at Northfield’s Sunset Ridge Country Club nearly seven decades ago and now co-owns Pebble Beach Company, owners of Pebble Beach Golf Links, with the likes of Arnold Palmer and Clint Eastwood.
The Western Golf Association is based in suburban Golf and runs the Evans Scholars Foundation, which awards college scholarships to select caddies.
Ueberroth said he is as honored as he is shocked by his hall of fame induction.
“I’ve gotten some important global honors for things I’ve done in my life but I didn’t think I’d be eligible (for the Caddie Hall of Fame),” he told the Chicago Tribune. “It completely stunned me.”
Ueberroth recalled how his life on the links came into focus as the son of a traveling salesman.
“My dad would get settled somewhere and we’d have to move,” he said. “I could apply to a country club and I had experience. You are meeting people, and it paid well. I liked the work.”
Ueberroth built on that experience as a student at San Jose State University. Not long after that, he became a single-digit handicap golfer.
Ueberroth is the third Sunset Ridge member to make the hall; and before the ceremony, he and his wife, Ginny, took time to reflect on all the ground he has covered since his days at Sunset Ridge and still hopes to.
“To be able to raise money and help Evans Scholars, there are a lot of young people that are getting a chance,” he said. “I can identify with those people.”
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