McBAIN — Tucker Vandervelde has known since last year that Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa is where he wanted to attend after graduation to pursue a degree in educational administration.
And so the McBain senior, who has family ties to the college in Iowa dating back two generations, was quite pleased when the school’s golf coach, Jeremy Johnson, reached out and told Tucker his presence is definitely desired on the Storm’s men’s team as well.
“The golf coach contacted me before I even heard back from the school about my application,” Tucker said with a broad smile on Friday just prior to signing his letter-of-intent to compete on the links for Simpson.
“That’s how I found out I was accepted at the school. I was thrilled on both counts. It was a good day.”
Tucker was pleased and so were his parents Michael and Kendra. Michael, an elementary school teacher at McBain, has ties to Simpson dating back decades as his grandfather Benjamin Stoddard Vandervelde served as a music teacher and orchestra director for Simpson College. Michael’s parents Richard and Phyllis are also Simpson College graduates.
“We were naturally really happy when Tucker expressed an interest in going to Simpson,” Michael said Friday. “For him to be able to play on the golf team at Simpson, too, is a great bonus. It’s the icing on the cake. Tucker has loved playing golf since he was just a young kid.”
The Vandervelde family visited the Simpson campus last year when Tucker was a junior and that was when he made his decision to apply there.
“I’ve been thinking about selecting a school since we visited different colleges for (older brother) Gray a few years ago,” Tucker said.
“When we went to Simpson it just felt like home. I really liked the campus and that it had a small town feel to it. The reputation of the school is that they treat everyone like family, a lot like McBain. So I’m very happy to be the next Vandervelde to go there. Getting to play golf there on top of it is like a dream come true.”
Michael can trace his son’s love of being on the links to when Tucker was just 5 of 6 years old.
“I would leave at sunrise to play golf in Cadillac and Tucker, as young as he was, would set his alarm clock to make sure he was up in time to go with me,” Michael recalled.
“Dad’s car never left the driveway without me in it,” Tucker added with a laugh. “I made sure of it.”
Tucker’s golf game has developed over the years as he has applied himself to the sport.
When Michael purchased a hitting net and installed it in the garage, Tucker spent more than four hours striking the ball into the net on just the first day.
It’s that kind of dedication that McBain golf coach Pat Martine believes will help Tucker be a strong contributor to the Simpson golf team in the coming years.
“Tucker definitely loves the sport and works hard at improving his game,” said Martine, who guided the Ramblers to a milestone year in golf last spring when they finished third in the Division 4 regional tournament in Fremont and qualified as a team to compete in the D4 golf state finals at The Fortress in Frankenmuth.
“Tucker’s driving is the best part of his game and that’s only gotten better as he’s gotten bigger and stronger and able to hit the ball farther.
“His short game has improved too but that’s the area where he’s working to do even better this year, and also on his course management, choosing which club is best for the given situation.”
Tucker and teammate Bryce Roller both earned All-Conference honors last year and teammate Christian Mitchell earned the most improved player award as the Ramblers played their best on the links when it counted the most during the high-stakes June tournaments. McBain also captured the Missaukee Cup trophy again.
Tucker’s personal-best high school round of 87 came during the two-day state finals on the challenging Fortress course, which could bode well for Tucker’s ability to concentrate and perform at the next level. Tucker averaged in the low 90s in his junior season.
“My goal individually is to average in the mid-80s this spring and our team goal is to return to the state finals,” he said.
Tucker, who has also been very active with the Rambler Review under the tutelage of Gary Vana since the seventh grade, aspires to become an athletic director one day at either the high school or university level.