John Maretich
Ringgold, Ga.
Eighth-grade social studies teacher
John Maretich's son, Ethan, participated in one of the first American Junior Golf Association events at WindStone as a junior and senior in high school.
After watching Ethan play those years, the elder Maretich promised that he would volunteer and assist the tournament in any way possible for as many years as WindStone served as a host site for an AJGA event.
He's been parked all over the course for hours on end -- watching shots, taking scores, running errands -- for at least 10 years.
"I get a kick out of watching kids play here and following them to see what they do later in their career," Maretich said. "Who knows who will be the next star we see coming from here."
Maretich has played golf since before he started middle school, and it's a game that he passed to Ethan at a young age.
"I bought a 5 wood, cut down and regripped, and he was out on the range with it hitting balls," Maretich recalled. "He was 3 1/2 years old."
Ethan developed into a good golfer and had scholarship offers to play, but he passed on those to attend Georgia Tech. He's now an aerospace engineer living in Denver. Ethan and his young family return to Ringgold almost every fall, and Maretich drives out to Colorado every summer to spend a few weeks with them.
"He was a pretty calm and focused golfer when he was younger," Maretich said. "He doesn't take it as serious now.
"Golf is an outlet for us to do something together."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.