Kansas Golf Participates in Folds of Honor

The University of Kansas women’s and men’s golf teams will honor United States Military Veteran Colonel Michael Hummel during their 2021-22 season, while also raising money for Folds of Honor.

Throughout Hummel’s 29 years of service that will be honored this season, he served many roles in the military. Hummel was first commissioned in 1986 as a field artillery officer in the U.S. Army, serving in Fort Knox, Kentucky and in Germany, according to Hummel’s bio. From Germany, he was deployed to the Middle East in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Hummel’s service in the artillery came to a head in 1995, having commanded 275 soldiers in Bamberg, Germany.

Once Hummel returned to the United States, he moved to the Army Acquisition Corps, leading numerous projects with the Department of Defense, according to his bio. He was later promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and positioned at Fort Belvoir, Virginia as the military deputy director of the army’s night vision laboratory.

Hummel was then deployed twice to Iraq as a contracting commander and later a science and technology advisor to the U.S. Military. His Iraq deployments were in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn.

Folds of Honor, the non-profit assisting families of disabled service-members like Hummel, was founded in 2007 by former KU golfer, Lt. Colonel Dan Rooney, who served three tours of duty in Iraq. Folds of Honor’s primary mission is to provide educational scholarships for the children and spouses of fallen or disabled service-members.

“Something that is very important to me personally, and as a coach, is that one of our former players, Dan Rooney, it’s his foundation and fundraising arm that he does. It’s special to us on two fronts because we’re honoring Colonel Hummel and Dan Rooney as president of the company,” KU men’s golf coach, Jamie Bermel, said.

To tribute Hummel’s service throughout their seasons, the men’s and women’s teams will have one team member carry a golf bag during tournaments that is a different color from the rest of the teams’ bags. This unique bag will have Hummel’s name on it, as well as a story card describing where to donate to support Folds of Honor, Lindsay Kuhle, the women’s head coach, said.

“Every tournament, all of the coaches and players will vote for a player that we feel deserves to carry the bag and represent what Michael did when he served our country, his values, his sacrifice and him being a strong leader,” Kuhle said.

Once the player is designated, the team will share why the individual was chosen.

“We’re doing it this way so they feel even more of an honor that their team feels that they should carry the bag in Michael’s honor,” Kuhle said.

On the men’s side, the team is planning to have the player that performed the best in the previous tournament hold the honor of carrying the bag with Hummel’s name on it. Bermel said this season being a tribute to both Hummel and Folds of Honor brings important recognition to service-members.

“People that have served the country, people that have been injured and those that have unfortunately paid the ultimate sacrifice and lost their life, I just think that that story needs to be told,” Bermel said.

All donations collected from the season will be sent to the Folds of Honor at the end of May, Kuhle said.

Kansas Jayhawks