Since the inception of the American Junior Golf Association's (AJGA) Foundation, a large part of the organization has focused on expanding the game of golf and impacting communities through charitable giving and action.
In 2010, the Carolina Cup began what is now known as the Cobra Puma Golf State Cup Series. The Cobra Puma Golf State Cup Series is a unique junior golf event series providing junior golfers development in important life skills such as charitable giving, leadership and teamwork. Participants gain a greater understanding and knowledge of the benefiting charities while being celebrated for their accomplishments. AJGA juniors from various states would create their own fundraising golf tournament to support causes that are important to them.
The Texas Cup is a team fundraising event founded by AJGA alumni Sean-Karl Dobson and Sadie Englemann back in 2020. Due to the pandemic, the event was pushed to 2021. Englemann, now a rising junior at Stanford University, passed the baton onto Ally Black for the event in 2021. In its first tournament year, The Texas Cup raised $150,000, which was a record for a Cobra Puma Golf State Cup Series event.
The capacity our juniors have for giving back always impresses me. Having worked alongside Sean-Karl Dobson, Sadie Englemann and Ally Black the past two years has given me a new perspective on just how much impact AJGA juniors can have. In a word, it's humbling.
Dobson and Black donated a portion of the money to CapCityKids, which helps children facing homelessness beat the odds and receive a quality education. Dobson's family started the foundation after Hurricane Katrina left many families in southern Louisiana needing support. The name, CapCityKids, is in honor of the Texas state capital, Austin.
This year, Dobson and Black jumped into action after receiving the news of a tragic incident that occurred in their home state. On March 15, 2022, the University of the Southwest Men's and Women's golf teams were on their way back from a tournament in Texas. It was late in the evening when a pickup truck crashed head-on into the team van. Six of the golfers, the head coach and the two people in the pickup truck sadly passed at the scene. Two golfers on the USW golf team survived and were rushed to the hospital.
The news rocked the entire sports community across the world. There was an immediate outpour of support from different teams throughout the country, even those outside of golf. For Black and Dobson, two soon-to-be college golfers, this was a tragedy that resonated with them.
Traveling to and from golf tournaments is something that we do week in, week out. For an event like that to transpire and seeing the whole golf community come together, we immediately went to the drawing board and asked ourselves, 'What can we do to help?'
Sean-Karl Dobson and his committee at The Texas Cup immediately jumped into action. Aside from the accident occurring in the state of Texas, all of the juniors and the families involved in The Texas Cup could imagine it happening to just anybody. Being able to support the teams and seeing how the world responded to the event instilled a deep sense of gratitude to Sean-Karl.
After a record-breaking first year, The Texas Cup raised over $200,000 to break the record once again. Of that amount, $75,000 was donated to the University of the Southwest golf teams.
When we received the donation, Paula came in and said to me, 'Ryan, you're not going to believe this. The group of junior golfers donated $75,000.' I almost fell out of my chair!
Dr. Ryan Tipton praised the group of juniors at The Texas Cup for their unexpected donation. He stated that the families of the students that were involved in the accident were moved by the gesture.
The one thing that keeps us going is moments like this. The strength of the families, the passion for golf and the support from complete strangers for this team. These people share a common passion for the sport and they were able to come together and do this.
The Texas Cup, and all other Cobra Puma Golf State Cup Series prove that the game of golf goes beyond how one plays. There are many times in life where things are taken for granted, but the juniors at The Texas Cup have learned first-hand about what really matters.
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