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Carnegie Mellon Announces Coach Richard Erdelyi Endowed Fund

Carnegie Mellon Announces Coach Richard Erdelyi Endowed Fund

From Carnegie Mellon University Athletics

The Carnegie Mellon Athletics community had reason to celebrate on Monday, October 13, as the department announced the creation of an endowed fund to support the men's golf program. Ronald Low and Wanda Denson-Low, parents of senior golfer Cameron Low, made a gift of $100,000 to establish The Coach Richard Erdelyi Endowed Fund for the Men's Golf Team.

"This is a transformative gift for the men's golf program," said Director of Athletics Josh Centor. "It will provide us with the flexibility to enhance the educational experience of our young men at Carnegie Mellon. It has already served others as an inspiration to contribute to the endowment and will motivate others to work towards establishing other funds of this nature."

At an event held at the Cohon University Center (CUC) Monday evening, the announcement was made by Centor. Senior co-captain Justin Fischler discussed his experience playing for Coach Erdelyi and his time at Carnegie Mellon.

"It is your [donors'] generosity that makes the experience for me and my teammates such a great one," Fischler said. "Coach [Erdelyi] taught us a lot of lessons on the course, but he also taught us a lot off the course; how to be respectful and have good manners. He cared about each of us individually at a much higher level than just our golf games."       

Erdelyi, who retired in June, expressed his gratitude to the Lows in his remarks.

"This ensures golf at Carnegie Mellon forever. I really believe that," Erdelyi said. "I am honored and humbled; I am honored to have my name on this endowment. I am humbled that you [Ronald and Wanda] and Cameron would think enough of me to do this. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.  I love this program and this school [Carnegie Mellon]."

Centor went on to thank the Low family for their vision and leadership before introducing Ronald Low, who talked about the first time he met Coach Erdelyi.

"There are those who coach for a living and then there are those whose life is being a coach, that is Coach Erd," Low said. "It is those kinds of people that understand where the game ends and reality begins."

"Our generosity and our gift on behalf of our family is a tribute to the coach because I understand very well what it means to him and this university. As he spent time and life blood to help grow this program it was also his intent to grow the young men and women that came through this university and whose paths he crossed. This fund is a way to continue to grow the program."     

During Erdelyi's tenure as head coach, the men's golf team won the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship in 2009 and finished 22nd in the nation, competing for the first time in the NCAA Championship. Erdelyi was named UAA Golf Coach of the Year in 1998, 2006, 2009 and 2013, and he mentored Carnegie Mellon students who became UAA Golf Individual Medalists in 1995, 2006, 2007, and 2009. He coached 16 All-America Scholars of the Golf Coaches Association of America, three CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Americans, nine All-Region golfers and one All-American. His 2009-10 and 2013-14 teams had the highest GPA in Division III.