June 12, 2012
NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State golfer Ricky Hearden was awarded the 2012 D.A. Weibring Endowed Scholarship Tuesday, as announced by head men's golf coach Ray Kralis. Hearden is the 17th recipient of the award.
Hearden completed 34 rounds and held the lowest team season-stroke average of 75.2 during the 2011-12 season. He shot a career-best two round score 144 (37-71) and tied for 10th place at the Cardinal Intercollegiate. The Green Bay, Wisc., native recorded a season-low round score of 67 and finished 4-under-par with a three-round score of 212 (67-74-71) to capture forth place at the Jackrabbit Invitational. Hearden finished 14th at the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships after recording a three-round finish of 225 (74-74-77).
"Ricky's continued commitment to improving paid big dividends this past year as he was a leader for us throughout the season, ranking high in all of the statistical categories," Kralis said. "He also stepped up as a team leader demonstrating ownership in our mission and a passion for our program. I believe he is set to have a tremendous senior year and impact our program in many positive ways."
The Weibring Endowed Scholarship was created in 1994 with proceeds from the D.A. Weibring Redbird Classic. The scholarship is named after the former Redbird golfer, Donald Albert Weibring, Jr., who starred on the PGA Tour and is currently a member of the Champions Tour.
In the summer of 2007, the Illinois State Board of Trustees approved the renaming of the Illinois State Golf Course to Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State University in honor of Weibring. The endowment rewards a Redbird golf student-athlete who excels both in academics and athletics. In 1995, it became the first athletics endowment to become fully funded at Illinois State.
The D.A. Weibring Endowed Scholarship is one of 24 endowed scholarships available to Illinois State student-athletes that are funded by private donors. For more information about establishing an endowed scholarship, please call the Weisbecker Scholarship Fund office at (309) 438-3803.
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