Earl Woods

College, sports, and segregation Woods attended Kansas State University (then known as Kansas State College) and played baseball, earning a varsity letter in both 1952 and 1953. His teammate Larry Hartshorn recalled how Woods once was not allowed to play at a college in Mississippi because of his race. The entire Kansas State baseball team refused to play and left in protest.

Woods broke the Big Eight Conference (then the Big Seven Conference) "color barrier" in baseball in 1951. He usually played as a catcher, and was offered a contract by the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues. However, Woods decided to continue his education, graduating in 1953 with a BS in sociology,

After graduating from the Defense Information School and being promoted to lieutenant colonel, Woods was assigned as an instructor of Military Science & Tactics, (Army ROTC) at the City College of New York. He retired from active duty in 1974. They had three children: Earl Dennison Jr. (1955), Kevin Dale (1957), and Royce Renee (1961). Earl Jr.'s daughter, Cheyenne Woods, is also a professional golfer, and received some coaching from her father. Woods and Gary divorced in 1968 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Woods had met his second wife, Kultida Punsawad (; ), while stationed in Thailand in 1966. Punsawad, who was half Thai, a quarter Chinese, and a quarter Dutch, was from Kanchanaburi. They got married in 1969 in Brooklyn, New York. Their son, Eldrick, was born in 1975. His son's nickname, Tiger, comes from Woods' wartime friendship with Lieutenant Colonel Vuong Dang "Tiger" Phong, an officer who served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. From his first experience with golf, Woods was captivated by it, and played a great deal for the remainder of his life. He eventually became a good standard amateur golfer, often scoring in the 70s for 18 holes. Woods claimed to be playing close to scratch handicap level when his son Tiger was born in late 1975. In 1993, following Tiger's third straight title in the U.S. Junior Amateur, his father sought out superstar teacher Butch Harmon to develop Tiger's game further. Harmon, upon meeting Tiger for the first time in Houston in summer 1993, praised the coaching which his father, Duran, and Anselmo had undertaken to that point.

Illnesses and death Woods was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998. He died on May 3, 2006, from a heart attack at his home in Cypress, California at age 74. Woods was buried at 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 was host to the first First Tee National Academy in 2000.

Posthumous Nike commercial On April 8, 2010, Nike released a television commercial, created by the Wieden + Kennedy ad agency, featuring the somber face of Tiger Woods (depicted in black and white) and the voice of Earl Woods. The audio track of the commercial was taken from a 2004 interview of Earl for the documentary DVD Tiger: The Authorized DVD Collection, in which Earl discussed comparing the "authoritative" nature of his wife, Kultida, to his own "inquisitive" nature. The commercial utilized a sound bite from that interview as a backdrop to the camera capture of Tiger's face, and it was widely interpreted as a skewing of Earl's words to posthumously address Tiger's own marital issues, which had recently come to light; the commercial was released on the same day that Tiger had made his anticipated return to competition at the Masters Tournament following a five-month self-imposed absence during the resulting public fallout, and was the first to feature Tiger's participation since the scandal broke.

Reactions to the commercial varied widely, with criticisms being particularly leveled at Nike for utilizing Tiger's own domestic issues for commercial gain and plaudits being forwarded to Tiger for addressing how the scandal had affected him both in private and public life.

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