Earl Woods facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Earl D. Woods
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Official U.S. Army portrait
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| Birth name | Earl Dennison Woods |
| Born | March 5, 1932 Manhattan, Kansas |
| Died | May 3, 2006 (aged 74) Cypress, California |
| Buried |
Manhattan, Kansas
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| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/ |
United States Army |
| Years of service | 1954–1974 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit | United States Army Special Forces Military Assistance Command, Vietnam |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
| Awards | See awards |
| Relations | Tiger Woods (son) Cheyenne Woods (granddaughter) |
Earl Dennison Woods (born March 5, 1932 – died May 3, 2006) was a very important person in the life of his son, the famous professional golfer Tiger Woods. Earl Woods started teaching Tiger golf when he was very young. He was Tiger's main coach for his first few years in the sport. Earl also wrote two books about how he helped his son become a golf star.
Before becoming known as Tiger's dad, Earl Woods was a U.S. Army infantry officer. He served two times in the Vietnam War and retired as a lieutenant colonel. He was also a talented college baseball player. His granddaughter, Cheyenne Woods, is also a professional golfer, continuing the family's love for the sport.
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Earl Woods' Early Life
Earl Woods was born in Manhattan, Kansas. He was the youngest of six children his father, Miles Woods, had with his second wife, Maude Carter. Miles Woods worked as a street cleaner and caretaker. Earl's father was African-American, and his mother, Maude, had mixed African and European family roots. The family also had some Native American ancestry.
Miles Woods loved baseball and shared this passion with his son, Earl. Earl's mother, Maude, who had gone to college, wanted her children to do their very best in life. When her husband died in 1943, she had to work as a maid. Earl remembered that this was very hard for her. Maude Woods passed away when Earl was 15. After that, his older sister, Hattie Bell Woods, helped raise him. Earl graduated from Manhattan High School in 1949.
College Sports and Fighting Segregation
Earl Woods went to Kansas State University. He played baseball there and was a top player in 1952 and 1953.
His teammate, Larry Hartshorn, shared a story about how Earl was once not allowed to play baseball at a college in Mississippi. This was because of his race, as there was segregation at the time. In protest, the entire Kansas State baseball team refused to play and left the game. This showed their support for Earl.
In 1951, Earl Woods was the first African-American baseball player in the Big Eight Conference (which was then called the Big Seven Conference). He usually played as a catcher. He even received an offer to play for the Kansas City Monarchs, a team in the Negro leagues. However, Earl chose to continue his education. He graduated in 1953 with a degree in sociology and became an officer in the U.S. Army.
Earl Woods' Military Career
Earl Woods served two times in the Vietnam War. First, he was an infantry officer, and later, he served with the United States Army Special Forces.
After training at the Defense Information School and being promoted to lieutenant colonel, he became an instructor of Military Science at the City College of New York. He retired from the Army in 1974.
After leaving the military, Woods moved to Southern California. He started working for McDonnell Douglas Corp, an aerospace company, in Huntington Beach, California.
Earl Woods' Family Life
Earl Woods married Barbara Gary on May 18, 1954. They had three children: Earl Dennison Jr. (born 1955), Kevin Dale (born 1957), and Royce Renee (born 1961). Earl Jr.'s daughter, Cheyenne Woods, is also a professional golfer. Earl Sr. even coached her a bit.
Earl and Barbara divorced in 1968.
Woods met his second wife, Kultida Punsawad, while he was stationed in Thailand in 1966. Kultida is part Thai, part Dutch, and part Chinese. They got married in 1969 in Brooklyn, New York. Their son, Eldrick, who is famously known as Tiger, was born in 1975. Tiger's nickname came from Earl's friendship with a Vietnamese officer named Vuong Dang "Tiger" Phong during the war.
Teaching Golf to Tiger Woods
In 1972, when Earl Woods was 42, he was stationed at Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton. He learned to play golf at the Dyker Beach Golf Course. From his very first time playing, Earl loved golf and played it often for the rest of his life. He became a good amateur golfer.
Earl Woods introduced his son, Tiger, to golf in Orange County, California, before Tiger was even two years old. Tiger quickly became a golf prodigy, meaning he was incredibly talented at a very young age. Tiger first learned golf on U.S. military courses in southern California.
Earl Woods shared his coaching methods in two books: Training a Tiger: A Father's Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life, and Playing Through: Straight Talk on Hard Work, Big Dreams and Adventures with Tiger. Earl coached Tiger by himself until Tiger was five years old. After that, he sought help from professional golf instructors like Rudy Duran and John Anselmo. In 1993, after Tiger won his third straight USGA Junior Amateur Championship, Earl asked famous golf teacher Butch Harmon to help Tiger improve his game even more. Harmon praised the great coaching Tiger had received from his father and the other instructors.
Earl Woods retired from his job at McDonnell Douglas in 1988. He traveled to Tiger's golf events as much as he could for the rest of his life. In 1996, Earl hired an attorney, John Merchant, to help Tiger become a professional golfer and get good sponsorship deals. Tiger signed deals with big companies like Nike and Titleist. These deals made him a multi-millionaire as soon as he became a professional in August 1996. Tiger's sponsorship deals broke all previous records in golf.
Illnesses and Death
Earl Woods was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998. He passed away from a heart attack at his home in Cypress, California, in 2006. He was 74 years old. He was buried in Sunset Cemetery in Manhattan, Kansas.
The Earl Woods National Youth Golf Academy at Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan, Kansas, is named in his honor. It hosted the first First Tee National Academy in 2000, which helps young people learn golf and life skills.
Military Awards
- Parachutist Badge
- Bronze Star Medal
- Army Commendation Medal
- Army of Occupation Medal
- National Defense Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
- Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
- Vietnam Service Medal
- Armed Forces Reserve Medal with hour glass device
- Vietnam Cross of Gallantry
- Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
