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IllustrateD volume 24, issue 5 91 f hour after hour, developing into a top-notch free throw shooter. He became so good that he was entered in free throw shooting competitions, first in the area, and then in the region. "I loved basketball growing up, and I still do," Schenk said. "I grew up watching Coach (Gene) Keady's teams and then admiring guys like Robbie Hummel when I was older." If anything, Schenk's earliest dreams were to be a basketball or baseball player, not a golfer. He also be- came a Boilermaker fan through and through, as he recalled fondly watching guys like quarterback Kyle Orton have success at Purdue. His father and uncle had attended Purdue, so despite growing up in the middle of IU country, there was a Purdue bloodline at work. Schenk's abilities as a shooter proved his excellent eye-hand coordination in addition to a developing a personality accustomed to pressure. He won the dis- trict free throw competition when he was 8, hitting 23-of-25 free throws, and continued playing and enter- ing competitions for another five years. There was just one problem, according to dad. "He was slow as molasses and couldn't jump over the white lines," Dad remembered with a chuckle when assessing his son's long-term hoops future. "But he knew how to handle the stress of being out there by yourself and was able to have success." Another sport, ping pong, gave Scott Schenk an in- dication that his son had some of the physical tools to succeed in golf. "He picked it up really fast, and he got really good really quick," the senior Schenk said. "So I thought, 'Well, there again hand-eye coordination comes in to play.' "To me, his basketball shooting and abilities in ping pong were strong indicators that he could possibly be a pretty good golfer, if he had the desire." By age 10, that desire was taking flight. Schenk was knocking the golf ball around the sod farm on the Zoysia grass to his heart's content. It also forced him to work on his short game, and the nu- ances of golf that made him much more than just a ball-striker. Once dad saw the desire to play golf in full force, work began for Adam to not only learn the game, but also have goals to shoot for. "My dad, grandpa and uncle loved golf and had a big influence on me," Adam Schenk said. "Being located on the sod farm was nice because I could just go prac- tice whenever I wanted. I remember having the goal of breaking 40 (for nine holes) and how focused I was on that. Dad said he would buy me a dirt bike once I was able to do it, and he fulfilled his promise." Fortunately Schenk's golf game survived his pas- sion for dirt bikes. A few untimely spills on the bike, however, put the motorized toy on the sales block by the time Schenk was 16. "That was probably a good idea," Schenk said. Not thwarted by dirt bike spills, or the fact that his future wasn't in basketball, Schenk became a sea- soned junior golfer. And more goals from dad, such as earning a college golf scholarship, helped keep him focused on the big picture. Schenk fell in love with Purdue's Kampen course in high school, playing several junior tournaments there. Having developed a keen short game, he also had enough muscle off the tee to deal with length of the Boilermaker championship course. So when the opportunity came for a scholarship at Purdue, it was Gold and Black all the way. When Schenk arrived at Purdue in 2010, it didn't take him long to make an impression. He became just the second Boilermaker golfer ever to win Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Year, leading all league rookies with a 73.06 stroke average. During his tenure in West Lafayette, Schenk has been nothing if not consistent. He finished 10th over- all in the Big Ten Championships a freshman, eighth as a sophomore, fifth as a junior. He hopes to take it up a notch at the conference championships the first week in May. Bradley says even more than consistency, it is Schenk's leadership skills that set him apart. "I think Adam leads more by example," said the 39- year old Bradley, who was an assistant on Alabama's national championship team in 2012-13. "He has a great attitude. That is probably the best thing he has going for him. Even a day where he doesn't make the best decisions, it doesn't affect him. He still makes birdies after that and he keeps playing hard. "It is something that he has going for him that some college golfers really struggle with. His attitude