Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2013 - 18

(the golfing life
)
A Whopper
of a Career
Former Burger King
employee Steve
Lewis rose in
business and golf.
By Jon Roe
A
s Matt Schneider was walking
down the eighth fairway at
Galloway National Golf Club
during the first round of last year's USGA
Men's State Team Championship, a spectator
came out to greet him.
" I had met Steve Lewis the night before
at a reception, " says Schneider, who grew
up in Grand Rapids and graduated from
Bowling Green two years ago. " He said he
would be out to watch me the next day,
and he offered to be my caddie one of the
days of the championship. I really didn't
know a lot about him, although we had
heard that he was a fairly successful businessman,
and that he was originally from
Minnesota. "
Fairly successful, indeed, and certainly
from Minnesota. Lewis, who flipped
burgers at a Burger King in Columbia
Heights as a teenager, could easily be renamed
Horatio Alger. That the paths of
Schneider and Lewis should cross in New
Jersey may just be serendipity, but also
further evidence that golf can be a bonding
agent.
Schneider, who won the State Junior
his senior year in high school, plans to
spend some time in Florida this winter.
" Mr. Lewis said I should give him a call at
his home in Orlando if I get the chance, "
he says.
Lewis' second home is at Lake Nona,
where several PGA Tour players live.
When Lewis is at his New Jersey home,
he can often be found at Galloway National-a
pitching wedge from Atlantic
City, which he had a hand in founding in
1988-where he carries a 5.7 index.
Steve Lewis
Matt Schneider
" The honesty, the competition, the socializing.
... It's just a great, great game. "
When Lewis isn't there, he's tending to
a network of 35 Burger King restaurants
in the Philadelphia area. His is an incredible
worker-rises-through-the-ranks story.
" I spent two years in the Navy after I
graduated from high school, " Lewis says.
" It was either get a job or go to college,
and I decided to go to Anoka-Ramsey
Community College. I was there for one
semester and I knew it wasn't for me. ...
I can write, I can count, and I can spell
fairly well, so I guess I still managed to
turn out all right. "
Lewis returned to his part-time job at
Burger King after that. " I truly did enjoy
working there, " he says. " I got the feeling
that if I didn't do my job to the best of
my ability, the whole process broke down
and the customer went away unhappy. I
16
MINNESOTAGOLFER Directory 2013
liked the challenge of making the system
work, making the customer happy. " Lewis
became assistant manager, then manager,
then district manager. By 1976, he was a
regional manager based in New Orleans.
Eventually, he owned franchises himself.
His affection for golf hasn't changed
since he started playing at Columbia
Golf Course. " My interest in golf first got
sparked by watching 'Shell's Wonderful
World of Golf' on television, " Lewis says.
" The honesty, the competition, the socializing.
The way golf can help you in so
many ways. I helped get the caddie program
started at Galloway, and there are
a couple of kids who started with us and
now are successful people living in New
York City. We still keep in touch. It's just a
great, great game. "
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Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2013

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