The 13th annual Nickolas Foss Memorial Scholarship Golf Scramble will be held on Saturday, May 20, 2023. This year’s golf scramble will take place at Lakeland Golf Club in St. Paris.
Nickolas Foss grew up in the area, attending high school at Northeastern. After high school he would become an STNA at Grant Hospital. While working as an STNA, Foss was also continuing his education to become an anesthesiology nurse.
In 2008, Foss was struck by a man while out with his brother and friends. Foss fell, hitting his head on a curb, and ultimately fractured his brain stem. He was taken to the hospital where he worked, to receive care for brain swelling among other things. Three days later, his family was informed that he was “brain dead.”
They were asked about organ donation, to which the family was unsure.
Later that same day, Nickolas’ father, Chuck Foss, now of Mechanicsburg, found a paper Nickolas had written on the importance of organ donation. It was as if the answer to this sudden and heart-wrenching question had been laid out.
The family would later find out that over 100 people would receive donations from Nickolas, from skin to lungs, heart valves, and more. The Fosses from time to time even hear from recipients of Nickolas’ organ donations.
The Nickolas Foss Memorial Scholarship Golf Scramble began as a way to raise money for scholarship opportunities in honor of their son. The scholarships are awarded to applicants who are high school students in Champaign and Clark counties who are looking to go into the field of nursing.
The organization has so far awarded 66 scholarships in total, to students from Urbana, Mechanicsburg, Kenton Ridge and Northeastern.
After 12 years of holding the scramble at Woodland Golf Club, the Nickolas Foss Memorial Scholarship Golf Scramble has a new location this year, Lakeland Golf Club. Chuck Foss expressed his thanks to Woodland Golf Club for their many years of being a part of the organization’s ability to fund scholarships.
There are about 5 spots currently available for teams wishing to participate in the scramble. The entry fee for teams is $240. Anyone wishing to participate or donate can contact Chuck Foss at (614) 230-7659.
