Chicago man helping Woods build a solid foundation
to help children
By Ed Sherman
Chicago Tribune
(KRT)
CHICAGO - Never did Paul Fregia imagine when he met Tiger Woods
five years ago that he would become glued to the phone, trying
in vain to answer 70 calls a day because of Woods.
Never in his wildest dreams did Fregia believe he would wind
up working full time for the then-16-year-old Woods, who could
hit a golf ball three miles.
And never, ever did Fregia envision himself intimately involved
in the biggest story in sports, linked to potentially the greatest
golfer in history.
The only thing Fregia knew then was that an immensely talented
kid had crossed his path in life, and Fregia couldn't just let
him go by.
"You can't be critical of anyone without looking at yourself
first," Fregia says. "You have to say what could you
have done? I knew that Tiger Woods at age 16 passed my way. My
response was, what can I do?"
Fregia then smiles, and sighs. "I did not know it would
turn out like this."
Fregia is Chicago's connection to Woods. In January, he became
the executive director of the Tiger Woods Foundation; Earl Woods
is president.
The foundation has lofty goals that go beyond golf, but for
now it is one of the smaller things associated with Woods.
Fregia, 38 and with a background as an engineer and businessman,
is operating the foundation out of his South Side home. Greg Marshall
of Austin, Texas, is arranging Woods' clinics around the country.
Fregia doesn't have any support staff yet.
Earl has an office in Orange County, Calif., and Fregia might
eventually move out there. Currently he is enjoying the wonders
of the fax machine.
Since Woods' win in the Masters, Fregia's fax has been maxed.
"Things are happening at a faster pace than the infrastructure
can support," he says.
Fregia unknowingly hooked onto this lightning bolt when he
first encountered the Woods family at a junior event in Chicago.
He later played with Tiger and Earl at a Palos Hills course.
"After he drove over a par 4, I had respect for his length,"
Fregia recalls.
Fregia knew of Woods' reputation, and he also had heard of
the obstacles Earl had encountered. It's expensive traveling around
the country with a prodigy.
"I sought him out," Fregia says. "I thought
the African-American community should do more to help them. I
vowed to try to raise money and do anything possible."
Fregia helped line up Earl with a book deal in addition to
other endeavors. The book, "Training a Tiger," came
out last week, and Earl gives Fregia a special acknowledgment.
"Without you, my man, (the project) would not have been
completed," Earl writes.
"It started out that I was helping him with their business
dealings," Fregia says. "But it has developed into a
great friendship."
And now, they hope, a worthy foundation. Long before Woods
won any green jackets, he talked of forming a foundation that
would allow him to give back to the game.
"I'm in a position where I could help kids get involved
in the game," Woods says. "All these years kids are
taught to love certain sports in America. I'm saying, 'Hey, there's
another sport out there. It's called golf. I want you to know
about it.' "
Woods could not have come along at a better time for those
involved in minority golf. Bill Dickey, interim president of the
National Minority Golf Association, has been working for 15 years
trying to drum up interest.
"What's important is that he realizes he's a role model
and wants to do something for the kids," Dickey says. "It's
great for someone his age to say this is what I want to do. Some
athletes never do that."
Woods' foundation also has been a boon for the Chicago Public
Schools, which are aggressively trying to develop a junior golf
program.
"It helps having the executive director in Chicago,"
says Mark Lowry, who is overseeing the program. "Paul has
been very helpful. With us being new and them being new, we don't
want to bump heads. There's room for both and a need for both."
Initially, the foundation's main presence will be at clinics.
Woods has six scheduled throughout the country, including a June
30 date in Chicago, the site to be determined.
The idea is to create interest in golf, to introduce diversity
to the game and then have it sustained. Fregia calls Woods "a
point on the arrow," not a means to an end.
"We know the clinics are a flash in the pan," Fregia
says. "We're stirring up the ants. That's what we do. What's
important is what's kept in the community."
The clinics, though, are only a small component of the bigger
vision. Woods is bankrolling the foundation for now, but Fregia
says there will be a fundraising effort. With the glare coming
from Woods' star, the foundation shouldn't have much trouble attracting
corporations and other major contributors.
The idea, Fregia says, is to set up scholarship programs and
internship opportunities. The foundation wants to introduce youngsters
not only to the game of golf, but to the business of golf and
the possibility of pursuing careers in it.
As Lowry says, "There's a much better chance of seeing
another (course architect) Pete Dye than a Tiger Woods."
"We want this foundation to exist in perpetuity, to live
beyond Tiger," Fregia says. "We want this to go beyond
sports. It transcends golf. If we're known only for golf, then
we would have failed."
The work is just beginning, and thanks to Woods' success, the
foundation has hit the ground burning rubber. Fregia says he is
so busy he can't even find the time to allow a photographer to
come in and take a picture for a newspaper article.
"Too much to do," Fregia pleads. "I have to
be a good manager of my time."
Fregia is out of town this week on foundation business, and
when he comes back he will be lucky if he can return a fraction
of his calls.
But if this is work, Fregia knows it also is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity.
"I'm committed to the Woods family," he says.
It's a commitment that had him looking at Woods' win in the
Masters from a different perspective. Fregia was part of the entourage
and he felt the significance of the moment.
Yet to Fregia there was a deeper meaning than the first African-American
winning at Augusta National.
"It was a great event, and it was great to be a part of
it," he says. "But not so much from the historical standpoint,
though that was important. It was more like these are my friends
and I love them. It's great to see good things happen to your
friends."
It's a friendship that began when Woods was 16. After what
has occurred thus far, Fregia has stopped speculating where it
might take him. He's just happy to be along for the ride.
(c) 1997, Chicago Tribune.
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