The 2025 Volunteer of the Year Award Goes to The Water Boys

(October 30, 2025) – It is just after 7 a.m. on the first day of the 91st Connecticut Open presented by Ascend Bank, and already the heat of the day can be felt. Black Hall Club has been primed for the three-day event, and the extensive infrastructure has been built out by the CSGA staff. However, with temperatures set to reach the mid-90s, maybe the two most important people to the entire operation are just pulling into the parking lot. An inseparable duo of volunteers known throughout the CSGA as ‘The Water Boys.’

From the moment Steve Freeman and Sam Peterson arrive on site, their sole purpose is to keep the players, spectators, volunteers, and staff hydrated. They endlessly loop the course, refilling coolers with ice and water. On the first day of the Connecticut Open, with upwards of 1,000 people on site, keeping the water coolers well stocked is vital.

Steve and Sam didn’t miss a beat. They nev-er do. After six seasons, they operate like a fine-tuned machine. If there is a watering need at a CSGA event, Steve and Sam are typically there to handle it.

The duo has filled coolers with thousands of water bottles and hydrated countless golfers. It is impossible to measure their impact. What isn’t impossible to measure is the gratitude the players and staff have for the duo. It is for that reason that the Water Boys share the 2025 Volunteer of the Year award.

“We were over the moon with excitement when we found out,” Steve Freeman, a paraeducator in South Windsor for 23 years said. “Sam and I work really hard, no matter if it’s custodial, baseball, golf, whatever our task is, we’re committed, we work hard, we take pride in what we do. There are so many great volunteers with the CSGA and for us to get recognized is amazing.”

Steve, 63 years old, first met Sam who is now 26 years old, when he was a 14-year-old freshman at South Windsor High School.

“His teacher approached me,” Freeman explained. “I was one of the only males in special education, and they said, I have this kid who’s very interested in sports. Not necessarily to play sports, but to be part of a team. Is there something you could do for us?”

The answer from Freeman was yes! Shortly after, Sam started working for the South Windsor High School baseball team as a bat boy. 12 years later, including this year as the team won their first state title since 1993, the duo still volunteers on game days for the team.

Baseball proved to be only the beginning for the tandem. In the fall, they operate the scoreboard at numerous South Windsor High School sporting events, they work in the kitchen of a bagel shop, they volunteer at Meals on Wheels, and they do custodial work at a local elementary school.

The duo is in perpetual motion and always looking for new places to volunteer. That is how the CSGA entered the picture. Sam and his twin brother Matt are the sons of Andy and Laura Peterson, and when Sam graduated from high school, the family along with Freeman worked together to find more volunteer opportunities. Enter the CSGA.

Freeman, the partner of longtime CSGA Administrative Assistant Lynn Robsky, one day was struck by the thought that maybe during events the staff needed help filling water coolers. After one quick phone call to Executive Director Mike Moraghan the duo was enlisted. That was in 2020.

“Sam loves to show up,” Freeman expressed. “He likes the camaraderie of the staff. The staff and golfers get to know us, we get to know them and just for the amount of thank yous we get from the golfers, and the amount of appreciation we get from the players, it makes it worth it to us.”

So the next time you are at a CSGA event and lift the lid of a cooler, take a moment to think of the Water Boys. You probably won’t see them, but that’s because they are three holes ahead stocking the next water cooler.

About the Connecticut State Golf Association

The Connecticut State Golf Association functions as an extension of the USGA and provides stewardship for amateur golf in Connecticut. Founded in 1899, it is the country’s oldest state golf association and conducts over 60 Championships, Qualifiers, and One Day Tournaments throughout the year.