Spartan Profiles: Keith Anderson

A SPARTAN SAGA

His story was recently profiled in Golf Digest, and aired by the Golf Channel’s “Golf in America” and by Fox 2 Detroit News.  He was also named a “Detroiter of the Year” by HOUR magazine (July 2010).  Quite simply, the saga of Keith Anderson, ’99, is one of overcoming tremendous odds. 

Anderson works for The Bartech Group, Bingham Farms, and consults for General Motors.  He works in Detroit’s Renaissance Center, specializing in training programs for corporations. He lives in Shelby Township and is engaged to be married later this year. But when he was 12, he could not have imagined such a life outcome.

Growing up in the East side of Detroit amid drugs and gangs, Keith was “set up to fail,” he says. “All my childhood friends ended up addicted, dealing, in prison or dead,” he recalls. “Our home was robbed twice.” Keith says his best childhood friend is still serving time for accessory to murder. “I literally thought I’d never live to the age of 18,” he says. “I was terrified most of the time. Of course, I put on a bravado—acting like I was a thug—just to survive.”

What saved him, he says, was a tough, disciplinarian mother, and golf. At age 13 he began working as a caddie at the Country Club of Detroit, and although he had no interest in the sport, he eventually would loop two bags a day. “I got good tips,” he said.  Among those he caddied for was William Clay Ford.  “He was not a good tipper,” recalls Keith. “But 80 percent of the people I met were caring and down to earth.”

Eventually, Keith won a Chick Evans scholarship to attend college.  “I chose MSU because there’s no way I was going to be in blue and yellow,” he says, calling his MSU years “the best four years of my life, before meeting my fiancé.” 

He sold football and basketball programs throughout his college days, and was able to attend home games.  After his profile appeared in Golf Digest, Keith has been invited to speak to many youth groups and even at the CC of Detroit, where he spoke to members who donate to the Chick Evans Scholarship.  “My message,” says Keith, “is that if you stay tough and make the right decisions, you can make it.”