By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
So why exactly has Beechwood High senior cheerleader Bella Conrad been getting up early every Saturday and Sunday and, before she had her license, having her mom drive her from Ft. Mitchell to Kenwood Country Club so she could be there by 7:05 to carry a heavy bag for 18 holes? Sometimes twice a day.
Well, how about becoming eligible for one of those prestigious Chick Evans Caddie Scholarships, valued at $125,000. Not a bad incentive.
And when the results were announced and the 21 Ohio Evans scholars were named for 2026, there was one from Kentucky. Isabella Conrad, the announcement said.
She’s the only Kentuckian so honored among this year’s class of 380 nationally. The four selection criteria: a strong caddie record, excellent academics, demonstrated financial need and outstanding character.
“I got really lucky,” Bella says of the tip she got from a Kenwood member, Bob Mangine Jr., son of Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Cincinnati, Bob Sr., who has done a great deal of work with Northern Kentucky schools.
When Mangine Jr. described the Evans Scholar opportunity, Bella had a two-word answer: “I’m in.”
When the pressure-packed interview in front of more than 100 at Cincinnati’s Maketewah Country Club came along this year, honor student Bella was ready. “I’d had other scholarship interviews,” she said, so that helped.
So did the influence of her grandfather, a Mansfield, Ohio resident who loves golf and wanted his oldest granddaughter to be an LPGA golfer and taught her to love the game.
Bella did play for six years at Beechwood but she’s not a pro prospect, she says. But “It is really good exercise,” especially on the days when you get two “loops,” as they call an 18-hole gig. And surprising as it sounds, Bella estimates that one in 15 golfers still use a caddy and often have a regular one every week.
As for Bella, she’s done 150 carries the last two years. But it’s more than the exercise you get the first five weeks when you get in shape for the job, Bella says. And you learn how “to have a conversation” with the folks you caddie for. And maybe after a bad shot, you might learn a few new words. And even have a broken club to put in the bag. “Although I let them pick it up,” Bella says. And “they usually apologize.”
“It’s good money,” Bella says. At Kenwood, an “A” caddie gets $70 a round. A “B” caddie $80. An Honor caddie $100. And an Evans Caddie, $110 to $125. And a lot more girls are caddies now, Bella says, estimating that the Evans’ winners were “50-50” male and female.
Caddies also get to play every Monday after 3 at Kenwood although she now finds herself playing mostly at World of Golf.
She’ll be heading to Ohio State next year where the Evans Scholarship will pay for her tuition and fees, room and board and all that scholars are required to pay is $3,000.
With 44 college credits already earned in her advanced placement courses at Beechwood, Bella expects to have her bachelor’s degree in international business in three years with an MBA to follow and then she has it all planned out.
Just back from a senior family trip to Prague and Vienna and having volunteered in Tanzania earlier in high school, Bella plans on “working in Europe,” possibly for a major American company and ideally in Florence, Italy, her favorite place there.
That post-college career is where the Evans Scholarship can pay off once again. “It’s such a great connection,” Bella says of her new fraternity/sorority. ”There are just so many people who recognize the Evans.” Since the scholarships began in 1930, there have been more than 12,000 winners and they contribute more than $15 million annually to the program.
Now there’s just one thing to be decided for Bella and her Evans Sholarship. Where do they honor this achievement at Beechwood where they have separate honors ceremonies for academic and athletic scholarships won.
“I’m not scheduled for either one,” Bella says of her dual-track award as she waits to hear back from the administration.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.