Golf can be humbling, but so can a scary trip to the hospital as Dillon Evert found out last year.
Just days before tryouts for the Cherokee Trail High School golf team, the seemingly always healthy Evert found himself headed into the uncertainty of surgery to fill a hole in his heart.
Nearly a year later, the 18-year-old Evert had a big smile on his face as he was presented with a Paul McMullen Aurora Junior Golf Scholarship, which will help him pursue business and marketing studies at Metro State.
His future now looks bright on and off the golf course, but for a short time 11 months ago, that wasn’t so clear.
“My appreciation for golf is a lot higher and being able to have the ability to play is so much more of a gift after what I’ve seen and been through,” Evert said June 6 after receiving the scholarship at Murphy Creek Golf Course, where he’s worked as an outdoor service specialist for the past four years and where he began playing the game as a child.
“You realize it can all be taken away just as fast as it was given to you. It’s been crazy,” he added.
Evert’s story of the events that unfolded for him in July of 2011 was a compelling part of what helped him win the McMullen scholarship, which has been annually awarded by the city of Aurora since 1989.
During a routine sports physical prior to his senior year at Cherokee Trail, the results of an echo test alerted Evert’s doctor to an irregular heartbeat. Further examination revealed a significant hole in Evert’s heart and surgery was immediately scheduled.
For Sue Ellinger, Evert’s mom, the news was a surprise considering the exceptional state of health her son had for his entire life.
“We didn’t move out of the house the whole weekend, we were sort of shocked,” Ellinger recalled of getting the news.
“I knew it was going to be fine, but for a kid who had never been sick a day in his life and never likes to go to the doctor, it was scary.”
Evert underwent a procedure at Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver, where doctors inserted an occlusion device through an artery. The device fell out, however, which required another procedure to put it back. Fortunately, the device was retrievable through the artery, otherwise Evert faced the possibility of heart surgery.
“They had a surgeon ready, so that was the scary part,” Ellinger said. “But they were able to do it all, he was home the next day and up golfing by Monday afternoon.”
What Evert saw during his stay in the hospital’s pediatric wing changed his perspective, especially when he saw the challenges facing the children around him.
Picking up a golf club, or doing anything for that matter, would be different.
“I was around a bunch of kids who have never had the opportunity to do half the stuff I’ve been able to do, so it was definitely humbling,” Evert said.
“It was meant to be, I think. It taught me a lesson for sure to be thankful and stay humble. It was a good thing in the end.”
With what he felt was a new lease on life, Evert couldn’t wait to play golf again with a new gusto and appreciation.
He didn’t have to wait long to get back in the tee box, as just a few days after his surgery he was out on the course trying out for the Cherokee Trail golf team.
Riding his generally consistent short game, Evert made the team and had a solid year of play in the tough Centennial League, but missed making the Class 5A state tournament for a second straight season by a single stroke.
“Every day it still upsets me a little, but now I’m over it,” Evert said. “It was a fun four years.”
At Murphy Creek, Evert has had a close relationship with Caine Fitzgerald, a PGA professional at the course who took him to his first junior tournament at the age of 11 and hired him at the course when he was old enough.
Fitzgerald didn’t notice any major change in Evert’s demeanor after his experience, but he’s long been impressed by the way Evert approaches life.
“I told Dillon I knew I would hire him when he was 16 because had that good personality since he was 11,” Fitzgerald said.
“He’s a fun-loving kid and he’s always been comfortable around adults, which is fairly uncommon at that age. His perspective may have changed a little, but he’s always been a good young man.”
Ellinger is thankful not only for her son’s health, but for how easy it has been to raise him.
“It was a life-changing experience for him and I think it caused him to appreciate life in a totally different manner,” Ellinger said. “He has good, clean, fun friends and he’s usually at the golf course.
“That’s his life.”
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com or 303-750-7555
Awesome story! Congrats, Dillon.