Discus champ completes ‘passion project’ by returning to Olympics

PORTAGE, Mich. ( WOOD ) — If you were the best basketball player in the United States, you would sign a nine-figure deal and spend the offseason cashing endorsement checks. Not so for two-time national champion discus thrower Andrew Evans.

“It’s definitely a passion project,” Evans said.

Despite his accolades, he still has to sweep out the ring, measure out the target and collect his discs himself when he trains. He doesn’t mind.

“I think some of my success this year has come from the fact that I stopped putting so much stock in all of those things I wish I could have had. As soon as I got it out of my head that I needed all that and I need a coach and I needed this and that, I felt like I took more accountability over my own success,” Evans said.

And he has had success: He took first place at the Olympic Trials to secure his spot on Team USA for the Paris Olympics.

Evans graduated from Portage Northern High School and went on to be a two-time SEC champion at the University of Kentucky. He made his first Olympic team in 2016 at the age of 25.

Then life threw him a curveball and he disappeared from the competitive scene. Watching the Tokyo Games from his couch was difficult, he said.

“Just to end an athletic career like that would have just, I think, would have bugged me probably for the rest of my life. So I wanted to make sure that I got back and got some of these things checked off that I had thought about earlier in my career,” he said.

He moved back home to Michigan, started throwing again and got a job with his best friend Rob Hopkins at Wax Wings Brewery Co. in Kalamazoo. He wears a lot of hats there, but his main job is brewing beer — he loves the science that goes into creating an IPA. Wax Wings just rolled out a new one dubbed The Comeback Kid in time for the Paris Olympics.

So what does he love more: A great throw or seeing someone enjoy one of his brews?

“That’s a tossup,” Evans said with a laugh. “We’ll see how the Olympic beer release goes, because that one I kind of have my hands on. So yeah, it’s rewarding in both senses.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation.