Warriors' Stephen Curry gives Howard University the gift of golf
Following a January screening of "Emanuel," a documentary about the deadly 2015 shooting of nine black worshipers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, a throng of Howard University students jockeyed for handshakes and selfies with the film's executive producer, NBA star Stephen Curry.
Otis Ferguson, then a junior at Howard, hung back for a moment before catching the ear of the Golden State Warriors guard.
"Hey Steph!" Ferguson called out. "Let's get in a round of golf before you leave."
It was a well-calculated shot: In addition to being a three-time NBA champion, two-time MVP and perhaps the best shooter ever, Curry is a passionate golfer.
Ferguson didn't hit the links with Curry, but they did engage in a brief conversation about their mutual love of the sport. In fact, Ferguson said, he had turned down an offer to play collegiately to attend Howard, which, like many historically black colleges and universities, doesn't have a golf team.
That chat made such an impression on Curry that he returned to Washington on Monday to announce that he is sponsoring the creation of men's and women's golf teams at Howard - bringing competitive golf to the university for the first time in decades.
"To hear somebody as passionate about the game as I was, all the while still pursuing their education at Howard … impacted me," Curry said in an interview Saturday.
At Monday's announcement, he set expectations high.
"This is going to go way beyond the game of golf, way beyond Howard," Curry said. "This is huge."
The cost of a collegiate golf program, including both operating expenses and scholarships, can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. While declining to reveal the exact amount, Curry's team said he will make a seven-figure donation paid out over the next six years, aimed at giving Howard time to raise an endowed fund that would make the program self-sustainable.
"We haven't had people do that for athletics," Howard President Wayne A.I. Frederick said at Monday's news conference about Curry's donation, which was described as one of the most generous in the historically black university's 152-year history. "It's significant. That's the argument I've been trying to make since I assumed the presidency … this is one of America's best investments. HBCUs, the return on the investment has been incredible for the country.
"[Curry] has celebrity but I hope that what people will get out of this story is his integrity, his purpose, his motivation behind doing these things."
Curry himself championed the effects of sport.
"No matter where you come from or what socioeconomic background you had, we all were that kid once upon a time that was just excited about finding out who they were as a person through athletics," said Curry, who is encouraging these players to make an impact, as well. The student-athletes who join Howard's golf program also will agree to volunteer in greater Washington with Eat. Learn. Play., a foundation run by Curry and his wife, Ayesha, that encourages healthy development in children.
For decades, Howard had a Division II team, which university officials believe was discontinued in the 1970s. The new program being financed by Curry is believed to be the first time Howard will have a Division I golf program in the university's history.
Over the course of those six years, Frederick said the program will have time to grow and assess its competitiveness in Division I golf - the men will play in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference while the women must play independently since there are no women's golf programs in the conference.
When the program launches for the 2020-21 season, it will have a coach and three scholarship athletes, two women and one man. The Bison teams will be outfitted by Under Armour, the shoe company that sponsors Curry, and play with equipment provided by Callaway Golf. University officials say it will also take about a year to figure out where the golf teams will practice and play. One option, they hope, will be Langston Golf Course, the District's historic black golf course - named for John Mercer Langston, Howard Law School's first dean and Virginia's first black congressman. Curry's announcement Monday was held at the course in Northeast Washington.
"It's a big opportunity for us to expose students to a game that oftentimes is played as business deals are decided and a game that generations of families can play together," Frederick said.
Curry's announcement comes as the sport - more than 20 years after Tiger Woods became the first black golfer to win the Masters - continues to see deep diversity struggles: The PGA Tour is nearly as white today as it was in the 1980s, a number of historic black golf courses across the nation have shuttered, and golf programs at HBCUs are struggling to survive.
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