AUBURN, Ala. – On a hill overlooking the program’s picturesque 30-acre practice range, Auburn Athletics dedicated the Kim Evans Student-Athlete Lounge Thursday in honor of the hall of fame coach whose vision helped make the Jack Key Golf Teaching Facility possible.
“I remember Coach Evans walking in the office and she’d have napkins, she’d be drawing the facility,” recalled Nick Clinard, Auburn’s men’s golf coach since 1999. “Where you’re sitting is her vision. The student-athletes we have today would not have this without Coach Evans so we’re incredibly grateful for that.”
“I’m humbled and I’m grateful to be an Auburn Tiger,” Evans said, thanking by name the donors, administrators, staff, coaches and student-athletes who have supported Auburn’s golf programs. “This honor was never in my wheelhouse, so I’m very taken and very moved.”
When Evans arrived at Auburn as a freshman nearly 50 years ago from Decatur, Alabama, there were two golf courses in town.
“When I came to college, we worked out of our car,” said Evans, an Auburn golfer from 1977-81 who returned to coach the women’s team in 1994. “It was always our dream to have our own facility and we got it. A lot of people chipped in and made this golf house – we call it our home – come to life.”