"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply," said Tiger. "I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring."

"It's not often that a father of an athlete commands so much respect and attention," golfer Paul Azinger said.

Another great golfer, Jack Nicklaus, said he had long "admired and related to the close bond" shared by Tiger and Earl. Nicklaus was also 30 when his father died.

Such devotion by a son for his father deserves more than a second look. Perhaps the greatest tribute one can say about Earl Woods is not that he raised a great golfer, but that he raised a great person and a great son.

Earl Woods was more than just a golfer's dad. In college, he was a catcher for Kansas State and earned the distinction of becoming the first African-American to play baseball in the Big Eight Conference

A Green Beret for two tours in Vietnam, Earl rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces. On his second tour, 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.

Early on, Earl felt his true purpose was to train Tiger, who had shown early signs of being a golf prodigy. "I knew Tiger was special the day he was born," Earl said. "But I made it very, very clear that my purpose in raising Tiger was not to raise a golfer. I wanted to raise a good person," Woods told Golf Digest magazine.