Earl Woods
| Earl Woods | |
|---|---|
Official U.S. Army portrait
|
|
| Birth name | Earl Dennison Woods |
| Born |
March 5, 1932 Manhattan, Kansas |
| Died | May 3, 2006 (aged 74) Cypress, California |
| Buried at | Manhattan, Kansas |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/branch |
 United States Army
|
| Years of service | 1954–74 |
| Rank |
 Lieutenant Colonel
|
| Unit |
United States Army Special Forces Military Assistance Command, Vietnam 
|
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
| Awards |
  Bronze Star Army Commendation Medal Vietnam Gallantry Cross
|
| Relations |
Tiger Woods Cheyenne Woods |
Earl Dennison Woods (March 5, 1932 – May 3, 2006) was a US Army infantry officer who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was a college-level baseball player and writer, whose son is professional golfer Tiger Woods. Woods started his son in golf at a very early age, and coached him exclusively for his first years in the sport.
Earl Woods was born in Manhattan, Kansas. His father, Miles Woods, had five children by his first wife, Viola, and six more (of whom Earl was the youngest) by his second, Maude Carter. Miles Woods was an epileptic who worked as a street cleaner and caretaker. Although he was a devout Baptist, he also had a reputation for being able to swear for 30 minutes without interruption. Earl Woods once remarked, "I picked up on that." Earl Woods' mother, Maude (Carter) Woods, was of mixed African and European ancestry, and was lighter-skinned. The skin tone of Earl's siblings ranged from fairly dark to very light; he remembered that his grandmother Carter, a Mulatto, was "the prettiest blonde you ever saw." There was a family joke about an alleged Chinese ancestor who "didn't stay on his railroad job", but there is no record of any Chinese ancestry. However, the family is said to have some Native American ancestry. Miles Woods loved baseball and passed his passion on to his son. Maude Woods, who was college educated, was determined her children should make the best of themselves. When her husband died in 1943, however, she had to go to work as a maid. Earl Woods recalled that it "broke her heart." Woods' mother died when he was 15, and he was raised from then on by his older sister Hattie Bell Woods.
Earl Woods attended Kansas State University (then known as Kansas State College), and played baseball, earning a varsity letter in both 1952 and 1953.
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Wikipedia