Scholarship

Kevin O' Connor was Caddie Master at the Omaha Country Club from 1933 until his death in 1983. Kevin was a very humble person who told you everything but specific facts about his own life no matter how well you knew him.

Kevin was born April 2, 1905 to Thomas W and Rose Faley O’Connor and lived at 2219 N 27th Street in Omaha, Nebraska. Kevin originally attended Sacred Heart Grade School beginning in September 1911. In September 1913, Kevin attended St John's grade school, which is no longer exists, but St John's Church is the center of the Creighton University campus.

On March 16, 1914 Thomas O’Connor, age 36 (and then a resident at 2554 Cuming Street, Omaha, NE) died and was buried on March 18, 1914 at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery after a funeral at St John’s Church.

Kevin entered Creighton University High School on September 6, 1919 (when he lived at 3402 Davenport) but (and no details as to why he transferred are known to us) then transferred to St Mary's Academy and College in St. Mary’s, Kansas in September 1922.

Kevin blossomed at St Mary’s. He played basketball. He was the team captain as a senior.

He played Football. In fact, he was the captain of the team and is oft mentioned in his HS yearbook.

He was the president of his Junior Class

He was the president of his Senior Class…and much more. He was in the Junior Literary Society in 1924 and 1925. He was the highest ranked member of Sodality, being both the chairman and prefect. He was the stage manager for plays.

He graduated from St Mary's in June of 1925 and entered the Society of Jesus at the Milford Novitiate of the Most Sacred Heart in Milford, OH (St Stanislaus Seminary at Florissant, MO was overcrowded).

He dropped out of the seminary, as nearly as anyone can tell, in order to take care of his mother. (It is not certain whether her problems were physical, perceived or otherwise). Rose Faley O’Connor, is believed to have married Kevin’s father’s brother, Michael, at some time after Thomas O’Connor’s death. Rose died at 73 years while living with Kevin at 1421 South 7th Street in Omaha, NE. Rose’s funeral was held at St. Philomena Church and she was interred at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery and later moved to Calvary Cemetery on August 19, 1953). Between 1925 and 1931 Kevin’s employment is unknown.

The next known employment for Kevin was at the YMCA in Cincinnati, OH from 1931 to 1933. When directed to lead fitness classes, Kevin’s plan was not overly scientific. He just kept people running and exercising to the point they sweated a lot, so they thought they had accomplished something. Weekend evenings at the dormitory of the YMCA, where he stayed, were often spent with the group of young men each choosing a part or parts in their single copy of Shakespeare’s plays and recitations.

He then moved back to Omaha and worked at Boys Town during the depression. While at Boys Town, he corresponded with Vince McAndrew, who worked in the golf shop at the OCC, inquiring as to whether he might find employment at the club. Just three years later, Kevin served as best man in Vince McAndrew’s wedding.

He followed up on the job of night watchman but was considered too young. He was looking for any job at the Omaha Country Club. He was offered the job of caddie master because of his willingness to carry a gun, a requirement of a paymaster in those difficult times. From 1933 until his death in 1983, Kevin was the caddie master at the Omaha Country Club (only interrupted from 1943 t 1945 when he served with the Army Corps of Engineers in Alaska (Alcan project), Hawaii, Canada, Saipan and Okinawa during WW2).

In the thirties, Kevin cleaned up a rough and tumble caddie yard which included many otherwise unemployed men with families. Although not everyone at the time was an adult caddie. Don Lee, a twelve-year-old, began caddying about that time.

Kevin ushered in the modern era of caddying at the OCC. He made certain his caddies were well-trained and respectful.

In fact, Kevin led the transition from bag-toting caddies to cart caddying in the 1960’s. Originally, all the carts were privately owned by individual members.

Kevin’s efforts evolved with the times to the establishment in 1952 of a scholarship which has been instrumental for over 600 Omaha Country Club caddies to go to college. This picture from the early 1950s includes caddies who were too young for the scholarship.

The Omaha Country Club was a perfect fit for Kevin. His commitment to his faith, his close relationship with so many of the Jesuits, and his vocation toward the education of young men continued strong through the rest of his life. Kevin was the complete mentor, offering adult supervision for young grade school age caddies, an attic to study in for former caddies attending local colleges, and a place to stay for more than a few kids and young men from troubled homes.

He was not a one size fits all person in that if you were to attend one of the annual meetings of the Omaha Country Club Caddie Alumni Association, each alumnus probably has a story, unique to himself, about how Kevin led him through a watershed moment in his life. Judges, doctors, lawyers, clergy, businessmen and fathers all sought Kevin’s advice and counsel.

Kevin got along with the membership of the OCC and counted many friends among its roster. He was invited to parties at the gun shack and to black tie events in the main dining room. As an Irishman with a quick wit and being extremely well-read, Kevin always fit in comfortably and put those who met him at great ease.

Kevin attended daily mass at Creighton Prep for most of his life and managed to finagle an annual golf outing at the Omaha Country Club for his friends in the Jesuits and the parish priests of Omaha.

He moved to his final residence which he purchased with his Aunt Veronica Mary O’Connor on October 25, 1951. The house at 3521 N 64th Avenue in Omaha, NE was home to Kevin and Veronica until her death on March 28, 1960. Kevin shared the house with two black Labradors, both named Charlie, but not at the same time.

Monday night steak barbeques at Kevin’s house were regular events, particularly memorable with the start of Monday Night Football in 1970, attended by many friends in the Jesuits, including the Fr. Reinert, the president of Creighton, and much of the Omaha Jesuit community, Omaha mayors and business leaders, many members, many former caddies and friends.

Kevin was known for entering a room and asking a theological or philosophical question which usually led to an argument and then going on to the next room to do it again. Meanwhile, upstairs in his attic, which he had outfitted with desks and typewriters, high school and college students, usually 3 to 5 at a time, took advantage of a regular place to study. In true Kevin fashion, the students were not of a particular mold such as extremely studious on one hand or in dire need of help on the other. It was more that they were balanced to get the most out of their studies.

Kevin’s second Labrador, Charlie, was put to sleep just outside of the caddie shack in the mid-seventies. Kevin watched while the veterinarian, Dr. Wiltfong, and Pat Kerrigan held the dog while he took his last breaths. Minutes later, a very misty-eyed Kevin said he’d just better go and went for a drive. It was probably the first time for many years Kevin was alone in the house.

The OCC showed its gratitude to Kevin with a special event for him on April 26, 1979. It was declared “O’Connor Day” and the first hole was named “the O’Connor Hole” and a plaque was placed in a large stone on the first tee as a remembrance of the event and the man. Also, that evening Kevin was made an admiral in the Great Navy of Nebraska by Governor Charles Thone. Of note as well is that Kevin was inducted into the Creighton Prep Hall of Fame in 1978 and received the Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame Dr. Herbert H. Davis Award 1994 for his special service to the game.

As Kevin’s health deteriorated, one of his former caddies assisted him by moving in with him and assigning loops as needed while finishing college. Kevin was determined to continue as caddie master and made it out to the club nearly every day that last summer- his 50th, in spite of his failing health. Kevin died early in the morning on September 12, 1983 of renal failure.

Kevin was buried from a standing room only St. John’s Church on the Creighton campus on September 14, 1983. One of Kevin's former caddies recognized a person who attended the funeral but had never known Kevin and asked him in the parking lot why he was there. His answer was that he just knew it was something special and he could not stay away.

As former caddie and Omaha World Herald columnist Don Lee noted in his column published the week of Kevin’s death, “O’Connor’s prescription for a good caddie is a young person who wants to make money for a good purpose, is often interested in golf and accepts each loop given as a challenge to provide the member with an intangible product we call service.”

Mr. Lee went on to note that Kevin over the years received countless employment offers from OCC members with more lucrative payoffs. He declined preferring that his “fortune” be the memories in the photographs in the den of his bachelor quarters in Benson and in the success of his caddie “graduates”.