3rd Tony Etchison Memorial Golf Outing proves anyone can make a difference
By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The legacy of Tony Etchison continued Monday as the Tony Etchison Memorial Foundation conducted its third annual Golf Outing at Fox Prairie Golf Club in Noblesville.
The event raised money for the foundation, helping it to achieve its goals to “show love, kindness and make a difference in the lives of our community youth,” as stated on the foundation’s website (www.etch21.com). Those that attended played golf, enjoyed dinner afterwards and celebrated the life of Etchison, a Noblesville High School basketball player, farmer, insurance agent for Indiana Farm Bureau, and beloved husband and father.
“It’s gone great, honestly,” said JP Etchison, the oldest of Tony’s three sons. “The overwhelming support we’ve gotten from family, from friends, from community members, it’s been incredible. The amount of money that we raise every year, it seems to go up. It’s just exciting that we can give that all back to the community.
“I think we maxed out at either 35 or 36 foursomes. We’ve been consistently at that number because it’s the max we can get. I don’t think we can get any better than that.”
An example of the organizations helped by the golf outing is the Noblesville Boys & Girls Club. JP Etchison said the foundation gave the club $5,000. Helping the young people of Hamilton County fits in with the mission statement of the foundation.
“A lot of the times we’ll give money to Hamilton Heights Youth Assistance, Noblesville Youth Assistance, so they can disperse to different projects, send kids to camps, get them access to mental health counseling, just resources that wouldn’t be readily available to them,” said Etchison.
The tournament was attended by several friends and classmates of Tony Etchison, including some people that even his family and friends weren’t aware of Tony’s impact on them. Pete Smith, the retired Guerin Catholic boys basketball coach who is also one of the board members of the foundation, said many of Tony’s classmates “that weren’t even athletes or really in the same social group, while they were in school or outside of school, want to patronize this outing because of what Tony stood for and just how he was a leader of the Class of ’91 at Noblesville.”
Smith said those classmates have always respected Etchison, even if they were in different activities or social circles. “You wouldn’t have known it until you see all these people come out and support an outing like this where it’s a full field again,” said Smith.
Hearing stories like that ensures that Tony Etchison’s legacy will continue, which gives comfort to his family and friends.
“It’s incredibly heartwarming to see,” said JP Etchison. “Some people, you talk to them and you hear the stories and stuff that, you didn’t even know that he impacted their lives in certain ways. It’s across the generations. It’s people my age and my parents’ age, older than my parents. It’s all over the board. It’s just really heartwarming and every year I look forward to it because you just hear something new every time, so it’s great.”