BATON ROUGE — A small crowd gathered at the University Club on Friday as the LSU Athletics Department and Tiger Athletic Foundation paid tribute to Mary and Woody Bilyeu for their generous donation by naming the LSU Golf House in their honor.
The Mary and Woody Bilyeu Golf Practice Facility now serves as the golf learning center for the men’s and women’s teams. LSU Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva, members of the TAF and guests were in attendance to commemorate the ceremony.
“Mary and Woody Bilyeu have given us a significant gift to help us redo the golf course,” Alleva said. “Without that, we wouldn’t have been able to do it, and we put their names on this great facility that will help our golf teams forever.”
Alleva and Rick Perry, Senior Vice President of the Tiger Athletic Foundation, also presented the Bilyeu’s with a framed picture from the golf teams as a memento in gratitude of the couple’s gift.
Donations raised by the TAF allowed for extensive renovations to the University Club and LSU Golf Practice Facility in 2010. The renovations made the course more challenging for collegiate golfers and sought to attract championship level events.
The NCAA subsequently announced last July that the LSU men’s golf program and the University Club would serve as one of six host sites for the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regionals.
“The generosity of the Bilyeu’s has been tremendous, and they are going to make people’s dreams come true for years and years to come,” Perry said. “There will be young people with the opportunity to chase their dream, not only to be professional golfers but to get the opportunity to come to LSU and get an education.”
The TAF is a private, non-profit corporation that serves as the fund-raising and development arm of the LSU Athletics Department. Each year, the TAF underwrites scholarship and academic awards, as well as capital development projects for LSU Athletics.