Banker, teen bond fits to a Tee

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Updated: August 3, 2011 4:37PM

First, let me introduce you to Tim Weaver, who is your typical suburban teenager. Sort of.

When I talked to the Naperville North 16-year-old this week, he was cramming for a math final the following day, no doubt like lots of his peers.

But Weaver missed quite a few classes because of some serious health issues. Diagnosed at birth with Hirschsprung’s disease, it’s hard for him to digest food or liquid. This life-threatening illness can often land him in the hospital, as it did just a few weeks ago.

Still, Weaver likes to think of himself as pretty ordinary. He’s not a complainer and isn’t about to let his disease slow him down any more than it has to. That’s why, despite missing four months of school this junior year alone, he’s still on track to graduate from North next spring — at the ripe old age of 17.

Then there’s Matthew Parker, who’s your typical suburban banker. Sort of.

Although he runs all 28 Old Second Banks from his cushy downtown Aurora office, the 38-year-old Plainfield man is just as comfortable getting super-soaked with a water gun or eating live bugs in a cabin with a leaky roof.

Oh, and if you’ve got a buck on you, Parker will even let you take a razor and mow off a strip of his normally stylish brown hair.

Obviously, neither Weaver nor Parker fit the norm, so it’s probably no surprise they are friends who like to hang out together whenever their busy schedules allow.

Mostly, they like to play Golden Tee video games, which will be the focus this Saturday when they throw their fourth annual Golden Tee Fundraiser — a benefit for the camp where this unlikely duo met.

The Double H Ranch in the Adirondack Mountains of New York is one of Paul Newman’s 19 Hole in the Wall Camps for kids with life threatening illnesses. Weaver was there as a camper; Parker was a counselor — a volunteer stint he’d been doing the past nine years.

Parker, who was introduced to these camps through his Phi Kappa Tau college fraternity, which also claimed Newman as a national member, can’t explain the instant connection he made with the Double H, except to say, “I did a week there, and I was hooked.”

Weaver and Parker met at the New York camp in 2006 while playing — you guessed it — the Golden Tee video game. And when they both found out they only lived six miles apart, an even tighter bond was formed that’s only grown stronger once they were back home.

The fundraiser was “all Tim’s idea,” says Parker, aka, the bug-eating banker, who’s also known for shaving his head — “anything to make the kids laugh” — at the drop of a hat, especially if it means raising money to help kids.

And he’ll be doing more of his hair-razing antics on Saturday at the “Raising Hell for the Ranch” event beginning at 2 p.m. at CrossTown Pub & Grill, 909 E. Ogden Ave. in Naperville.

In addition to the close shave, there will be a Golden Tee tournament — the winner receives $500 — as well as a raffle, silent auction, live music, lots of food and other prizes.

To date, this local event has raised more than $7,000 for the camp. And to show its appreciation, Incredible Technologies, the Arlington Heights maker of the video game, will honor Weaver and Parker with the first “Golden Tee Heroes Award.” That also means a brand new video machine will be making its way to the camp when Parker and Weaver get there the end of July.

Because the camp is only for kids through age 16, it will be Weaver’s last time. Sort of.

The Double H Ranch, says the Naperville teen, made a huge impact on his life. And long after he graduates from North, even well after college, he’ll find a way to give back — and go back.

And guess who plans to be right there with him?

“What they say is true,” says Parker, “You can leave the camp, but the camp will never leave you.”