(March 26, 2015) – There will be a new Golf Management Scholarship at the University Maryland Eastern Shore, thanks to a $10,000 gift from golfers Tiger Woods. The personal donation from Woods makes him the first individual to contribute to the University’s fund that will honor the memory of the late professional golfer Dr. Charlie Sifford.
With his contribution, Woods is joining with the University to pay tribute to Sifford, a man who broke the PGA Tour’s color barrier in the early 1960s.
In launching the Sifford Fund, UMES is committing to “provide need-based scholarships to highly talented students who demonstrate a passion for the game of golf … and who are from populations underrepresented in the golf industry.”
UMES is the nation’s only historically black university that offers a bachelor’s degree in professional golf management accredited by the PGA of America.
“The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is honored to accept this generous gift from Tiger Woods to support our professional golf management program and to partner with us in acknowledging Dr. Sifford’s role as a sports pioneer,” UMES President Juliette B. Bell said.
Charlie Sifford died Feb. 3 at the age of 92, a passing that prompted the golf and sports worlds to pause and reflect on what he accomplished.
Many looked to Woods, who referred to Sifford as “the grandpa I never had.”
“Without Charlie Sifford, and the other pioneers who fought to play, I may not be playing golf,” Woods said. “My Pop may not have picked up the game, and maybe I wouldn’t have either.”
On November 24, 2015 at a private reception on Capitol Hill, the day Sifford was honored to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony, UMES held a congratulatory reception. With the Medal of Freedom, Sifford joins Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Sifford and his extended family showed their extreme pleasure during the evening in meeting UMES students, many being African Americans who are pursuing careers in the golf industry.
Billy Dillon, UMES’ PGA golf management program director, said the feeling was mutual among his students.
“It was a special moment for a lot of them,” Dillon said. “Some knew about what Mr. Sifford accomplished, and when others learned why he was being recognized, I think they realized the importance of the moment.”
Back in the limelight just weeks before his passing refocused attention on Sifford’s difficult journey as a 20th century athlete of color attempting to play a sport professionally that was segregated.
Following the reception and encouraged by the turnout at its tribute for Sifford, UMES immediately began exploring ways it might “honor the life and legacy of Dr. Sifford, and further his aspirations for the sport that he loved.”
In Sifford’s autobiography, “Just Let Me Play,” he wrote:
“I want golf to reach out to people from all walks of life and to be the sport that puts itself above issues of race and class and economic levels,” Sifford wrote. “We should give everybody equal access to the game, with equal facilities to play and we should give them the same opportunities to pursue the game throughout their lives.”
Using Sifford’s words as inspiration and its distinctive platform, UMES is not only preparing diverse leaders for careers in the golf profession, but is also expanding involvement in golf among populations currently underrepresented in the industry, including women and minorities.
UMES’ PGA golf management program currently enrolls 44 students, more than half of whom are women and minorities. Upon graduation, they will be positioned for careers in recreational or competitive golf, business, marketing, media and hospitality.
On Woods’s Twitter account after learning of Sifford’s death, Woods wrote: “We all lost a brave, decent and honorable man. I’ll miss (you) Charlie.”
