RAPID
CITY, SD (Dec. 22, 2017) - The Roy
family has established an endowment for men's and women's golf in memory of
Travis Roy, a South Dakota School of Mines & Technology alumnus and the
brother of Hardrocker head golf coach Tye Roy.
Travis
Roy, an SD Mines industrial engineering graduate, passed away in 2003 after a
courageous battle with brain cancer.
“On
behalf of the entire Hardrocker athletic family and especially the SD Mines golf
programs, thank you to Echo Roy Klaproth and the Roy family for their
generosity and leadership. In a relatively short amount of time, Coach Roy has
embraced the forward mentality we are establishing,” says Joel Lueken, SD Mines
Athletic Director. “We are so thrilled his family has embraced ours and we are
excited for the opportunity they have given us. The Travis Roy Memorial
Endowment allows Hardrocker Athletics an opportunity to field competitive NCAA
Div. II golf programs and provide an unrivaled educational experience for
future generations of Hardrocker scholar-athletes.”
Coach
Roy is proud to honor his brother’s memory as well as provide a solid
foundation for both the SD Mines men’s and women’s golf programs. “My family
and I believe establishing this endowment is a great way to honor my brother
Travis’ memory by way of providing expanded scholarship opportunities for young
male and female golfers at the School of Mines,” he says. “The phrase ‘It Starts
at Mines’ was very true in my brother’s life. We hope to enable many other
young men and women to have the same experience. The endowment and
fundraising campaign was started with a very generous six-figure commitment and
we are looking forward to working with all our family, friends, the entire
Hardrocker family, and golfers everywhere to reach our $2.5 million goal over
the next five years."
Travis
Roy was passionate in life and courageous in death. But that isn’t all there is
to the story of a young man who believed he had a purpose in life. In not so
notable of ways, Travis simply gave all he had to whatever he put his heart to,
whether that meant spending time with family, participating in his church,
maintaining a friendship, working on his education, competing in a golf game or
rodeo, or hunting. Whatever the
commitment, he displayed a passion for life, according to his family.
From
a young age, Travis proved himself a competitive person and participated in
many sports prior to high school, where he settled into his two favorites --- golf
and rodeo. He was an all-conference and all-state golfer in high school, but
ultimately was granted a full-ride rodeo scholarship for his first college
experience.
Golf
remained a favorite challenge and he competed as often as possible. After
completing his rodeo eligibility, he moved on to SD Mines to finish his
education in industrial engineering. The move included a new wife and baby boy
by his side, so sports were no longer part of the equation.
Travis
tackled this new challenge with resolve, determination and an “I can do this”
attitude. He joined Theta Tau Engineering Fraternity to be part of the campus
community, went to work part-time to support his family, and set his mind to
the business at hand of maintaining his GPA and graduating with an engineering
degree.
After
graduating, Travis settled with his family in Wright, Wyo., and began working
in engineering/safety for a large coal mine. He taught mine safety,
participated and helped lead mine safety rescue teams, and was a volunteer fire
fighter/EMT in his community.
Travis
grew to be a humble, dedicated, sincere, and hard-working young man, according
to his family. At 29, married with two young sons, he was diagnosed with brain
cancer. But he was determined, saying that “this [the cancer] is my purpose.” He
believed it so fervently he said it was what gave him strength to survive for
four tumultuous years. Meanwhile, he taught lessons about forgiveness, resolve,
bravery and modeled how to hold one’s head high when facing adversity.
His
death is not the end of the story, however.
Years
later, his younger brother Tye and his family relocated to Rapid City. That
summer Tye applied for the Hardrocker head coaching position and was asked to
come in for an interview on July 12 – a day that would have marked his big
brother Travis’ 48th birthday.
Tye
accepted the position and the realization he would soon be coaching at his
brother’s alma mater brought the story full circle. Tye soon began working
alongside young athletes who were primarily seeking a top-notch education, but also
enjoyed competitive athletic challenges. Many of the scholar athletes also work
part-time jobs to supplement their income, despite the well-known rigorous
course and homework load at SD Mines. All of this reminded Tye very much of his
brother Travis’ overall college experience, and thus an idea was born.
“By
starting an endowment in Travis’ name, it is our intention, hope and prayer
that we can not only honor his memory, but most especially honor his passion
for life, for learning and for competition. We hope to encourage young people
to persevere and tackle challenges with resolve and determination just as
Travis did in life,” the Roy family said. “We hope to provide more
opportunities for young men and women to get an excellent education, follow
other passions by becoming a scholar athlete, and pursue careers in STEM
fields: well-rounded individuals who see success in and out of the classroom
and then take their passion, resolve and determination with them into their
next endeavor, and do it with purpose.”
“What
a wonderful and worthy endeavor – I applaud the Roy family in their mission to
honor Travis’ memory by helping young men and women pursue their dreams,” said
Hardrock Club Executive Director Kevin Price.
To
donate to the Travis Roy Memorial Endowment for Men’s and Women’s Golf, click
here http://hardrockclub.org/GOLF/ or
send contributions directly to the Hardrock Club at 501 E. Saint Joseph Street,
Rapid City, SD 57701.
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