UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications

UT Tyler Patriot Golf Classic Sponsors Uphold Commitment to Students

May 14, 2021

Media Contact: Beverley Golden
Senior Director of Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.566.7303

The University of Texas at Tyler announced today that the Patriot Golf Classic will return in spring 2022 after being canceled last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

University officials had considered a fall date for the 2021 tournament but decided instead the tournament should continue to be held in the spring. The golf classic is comprised of the Southside Million Dollar Hole-in-One and the BMW of Tyler Patriot Golf Classic.

Following the decision to not hold a 2021 tournament, local businesses, who had already committed more than $50,000 to the scholarship fundraiser, chose to gift those funds to the university to help UT Tyler students who continue struggling financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We owe these sponsors a debt of gratitude for the support they have demonstrated to our students,” said Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP, UT Tyler president. “UT Tyler is sincerely grateful for the generosity of East Texas.”

Southside Bank is the lead donor giving $25,000. Other sponsors are BMW of Tyler, Austin Bank, KP Evolutions, EMA Engineering, MT2 Law Group, Swan Transportation, Suddenlink Business, Texas Bank and Trust, and Greater TX Capital Corp.

“Many students and their families are still suffering from the financial impact of the pandemic. Even though the Patriot Classic will not take place this year, Southside felt it was important to honor the spirit of the tournament by providing scholarships for deserving students,” said Lee Gibson, Southside Bank president and CEO.

For more information about the 2022 Patriot Classic, contact Amy Lively, UT Tyler senior director of university advancement, alively@uttyler.edu.

With a mission to improve educational and healthcare outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs to 10,000 students. Through its alignment with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with innovative medical research, medical education and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler strives to fulfill our primary missions of education, research and service.