Earl 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 . Early life . 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 . Woods ' 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 . College , sports , segregation . Earl 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 , he decided to continue his education , graduated in 1953 with a B . S . in Sociology , and was commissioned an officer in the U . S . Army . Military career . Woods served two combat tours during the Vietnam War , the first as an infantry officer , and the second with the elite United States Army Special Forces . After graduating from the Defense Information School and being promoted to lieutenant colonel , he 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 . Woods moved to southern California , and became an agent for corporations in defense industry contracting . Personal life . Woods married Barbara Gary on May 18 , 1954 , in Abilene , Kansas . They had three children : Earl Dennison Jr . ( 1955 ) , Kevin Dale ( 1957 ) , and Royce Renee ( 1961 ) . Earl Jr . ' s daughter Cheyenne Woods is also a competitive golfer and received some coaching from Earl Sr . Woods and his wife divorced in 1968 in Ciudad Juárez , Mexico . Woods had met his second wife , Kultida Punsawad , while stationed in Thailand in 1966 . Punsawad is half Thai , a quarter Dutch and a quarter Chinese . They married in 1969 in Brooklyn , New York . Their son Eldrick was born in 1975 . His son ' s nickname , " Tiger , " comes from Earl Woods ' wartime friendship with Colonel Vuong Dang " Tiger " Phong , a courageous pilot who flew in the Vietnamese Army . Teaching his son to golf . In 1972 , Woods was stationed at Brooklyn ' s Fort Hamilton , and learned to play golf , starting at age 42 , at the Dyker Beach Golf Course in Dyker Heights . From his first experience with golf , Earl 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 . Earl claimed to be playing close to scratch handicap level when Tiger was born in late 1975 . Coached by his father , Tiger Woods was introduced to golf in Orange County , California before age two , and became a child prodigy in golf , perhaps the most precocious young golfer in history . Tiger learned golf first on the U . S . military courses in southern California . Books . Earl Woods shared the techniques he used in coaching his son Tiger 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 " . Woods coached Tiger exclusively until age five , then sought professional assistance from Rudy Duran and John Anselmo , both well - regarded PGA club professionals in the area . Earl Woods has been criticized by some for putting too much pressure on Tiger . In 1993 , following Tiger ' s third straight title in the USGA Junior Amateur Championship , Earl Woods sought out superstar teacher Butch Harmon to develop Tiger ' s game to the next level . Harmon , upon meeting Tiger Woods for the first time in Houston in summer 1993 , praised the coaching which Earl Woods , Duran , and Anselmo had done to that stage . Tiger ' s career . Earl Woods retired from his second career in 1988 . He traveled to Tiger ' s events as often as possible for the rest of his life . Earl Woods hired Connecticut attorney John Merchant in 1996 to help facilitate the path for Tiger to turn professional , and to secure lucrative sponsorship agreements when he did so . Merchant had been the first African American member of the United States Golf Association ' s Executive Committee . Tiger signed deals with Nike , Titleist , and the International Management Group , which made him a multi - millionaire as soon as he declared professional status , in late August 1996 . Tiger ' s deals broke by a wide margin all records for sponsorship money in golf . Soon after Tiger turned professional , Merchant was fired by Earl Woods . Death . Earl Woods was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998 . He survived it , but died from a heart attack at his home in Cypress , California in 2006 at the age of 74 . He was buried at Sunset Cemetery in Manhattan , Kansas . Memorials . 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 . 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 it was the first commercial to feature Tiger ' s participation since the scandal first breached public scrutiny . 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 .