EARL WOODS

Earl Woods, father of golfer Tiger Woods, died Wednesday morning at the age of 74.

Although part of me always saw Earl Woods as a zealous father who pushed his son extremely hard to be a superstar, the following quotes from an ESPN article as well as some other things I have read lead me to respect the closeness between the two and believe that Earl did a lot of things right.

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply," Tiger Woods said on his Web site. "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."

Woods gave his son freedom to develop a love for golf on his own, not letting him play unless his homework was done, making him call his father at work to ask if they could practice.

Woods was proud of saying he never left his son with a babysitter, but his goal was to eventually let Tiger run his own life.

"I had pulled back, one item at a time," Woods once told the AP. "Instead of going to several tournaments, it was a couple of tournaments, then one tournament. All of a sudden, he was running everything. I stood there and watched it happen. Because that was my job -- to prepare him to leave."