Tiger Woods' Father Dies At 74

Earl Woods, 'Best Friend' To Son, Lost Battle With Prostate Cancer

(CBS/AP) 
"I talked to him last night," Woods said. "He kept telling me how proud he was of what I was able to do, and proud of me for thinking of this. It's hard on all of us."

Foremost for Earl Woods was raising a son who could influence life beyond golf. Woods was black and his wife, Kultida, whom he met during one of his tours to Vietnam, was Thai and Chinese.

Tiger Woods won twice in his first seven PGA Tour events after turning pro in 1996 at age 20 and was named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. Woods predicted greatness for Tiger on and off the course, telling the magazine that his son ``will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity.''

"He's the bridge between the East and the West," the father said. "There is no limit because he has the guidance. I don't know yet exactly what form this will take. But he is the Chosen One. He'll have the power to impact nations. Not people. Nations. The world is just getting a taste of his power."

Earl Woods was born March 5, 1932, in Manhattan, Kan., the youngest of six children. His parents died by the time he was 13.

His father wanted him to play for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues, and his mother stressed education. Woods wound up going to Kansas State, graduating in 1953 with a degree is sociology.

Woods did two tours during the Vietnam War as a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. It was his second tour that shaped the latter part of his life.

He met Kultida Punsawad, who was working as a receptionist in Thailand, and married her in 1969. He fought alongside Lt. Col. Nguyen T. Phong of the South Vietnamese army, a friend he nicknamed "Tiger" because of his courage and bravery. Woods promised Tiger Phong that he would name a son after him.

Eldrick "Tiger" Woods was born Dec. 30, 1975.

Earl Woods moved to Cypress, Calif., to the house where he died, and set up a makeshift practice range in the garage with a mat and a net, placing his son in a high chair as he practiced.

The education went beyond swinging a club.

"I tried to break him down mentally, tried to intimidate him verbally, by saying, 'Water on the right, OB on the left,' just before his downswing," Woods once said in an AP interview. "He would look at me with the most evil look, but he wasn't permitted to say anything. That's the frustration. He couldn't say a word, but he always had an escape word. He never used it.

"One day I did all my tricks, and he looked at me and smiled," Woods said. "At the end of the round, I told him, 'Tiger, you've completed the training.' And I made him a promise. 'You'll never run into another person as mentally tough as you.' He hasn't. And he won't."