PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – While the Lincoln University men’s and women’s golf teams wrapped up their seasons on the course, four Blue Tigers brought home scholarships from the 24th PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship.
Fourteen student-athletes from participating schools were named recipients, with Josh Roller, Dillon Maloney, Kaitlyn Schwartze and Hannah Sprague all receiving scholarships.
“It was amazing!” head coach Jerry Coffman said of the scholarships. “I was hoping to have one student-athlete win an academic scholarship, but I am surprised that Lincoln University had four student-athletes win awards.”
Sprague, Maloney and Schwartze all received $1,000 State Farm Scholarships, as only 10 total State Farm Scholarships were given away.
“To have Lincoln University student-athletes to win three out of 10 State Farm Scholarships was a complete surprise to me,” Coffman said. “I do not ever remember any university winning more than one scholarship.”
Roller was the first recipient of the Earnie Ellison Scholarship that awarded $500.
“Earnie Ellison was very instrumental in getting the PGA of America involved in what was then the National Minority College Golf Championship,” Coffman said. “Without Earnie’s involvement, I believe this opportunity would not be available to the student-athletes attending Lincoln University. I appreciate his dedication to this event and consider him a personal friend as well as a friend to Lincoln. I am very proud that a Lincoln University student-athlete was the first recipient of the Earnie Ellison Scholarship.”
This year, students again submitted a questionnaire an application for the State Farm/PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Scholarship Program. The committee considered the student's grade-point average (GPA) and awarded the scholarships based on one per school represented in the group of applications submitted. A minimum GPA of 2.5 was required. Students wrote a 500 word essay on “What golf has meant to me?”
“I could not be more proud of the student-athletes that won these academic scholarships,” Coffman said. “My philosophy is ‘Education First,’ and this is proof that the student-athletes participating in the Lincoln University men’s and women’s golf programs accept and believe in that philosophy. Regardless of their scores on the golf courses, they are winners in life.”