Earl Woods
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Earl Dennison Woods (March 5, 1932 – May 3, 2006) was an athlete, a US Army infantry officer, (retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel), and the father of golfer Tiger Woods.
Woods was born and raised in Manhattan, Kansas, the youngest and the only male of four siblings. His father was a scorekeeper for baseball games and coached Earl in the sport until his death in 1943. His mother died soon after in 1947. After being orphaned, he was raised by his eldest sister, Hattie Belle for the next seven years. Woods attended Kansas State University on a baseball scholarship. While at Kansas State, Woods, of mixed Black, Chinese, and Native American ancestry, broke the "color barrier" in baseball in the Big Seven Conference in 1951. Woods played catcher, and was good enough that the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues offered him a contract. However, he rejected the Monarchs, graduated from college in 1953, and started a career in the U.S. Army.
Woods served two full tours of duty in the Vietnam War, the second as part of the elite Green Berets. During his early time in the military, he married Barbara Woods Gary. They had three children: Kevin, Earl Jr., and Royce. In interviews he said that he had rarely seen these children[citation needed], often claiming that these children had been a "trial run" for raising his future son, Tiger. Nevertheless, the children remark that they never felt neglected during their upbringing or engaged in any jealousy toward the raising of Tiger. Earl Jr.'s daughter Cheyenne Woods is also a competitive golfer and received some coaching from Earl Sr.
It was during his time in Asia that Woods met his future second wife, Kultida Woods, who is of mixed Thai, Chinese, and Dutch ancestry. This marriage produced Woods' fourth child, Eldrick, who was born on December 30, 1975. His nickname, "Tiger", came from Earl Woods' friendship with Vuong Dang (Tiger) Phong, a Vietnamese Army Colonel.
Tiger became a child prodigy in golf by the time he was three years old. Woods shared many of the techniques he used in rearing Tiger in two books: Training a Tiger and Playing Through: Straight Talk on Hard Work, Big Dreams and Adventures with Tiger. He had been criticized by some for putting too much pressure on Tiger at an early age.
The Earl Woods National Youth Golf Academy at Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan, Kansas is named in his honor. It was host to the first First Tee National Academy in 2000.
Woods died from prostate cancer (which he had originally been diagnosed with in 1998) at his home in Cypress, California on May 3, 2006.
