Rice Athletics Endows Golf Scholarship

Press Release, May 20, 2004

HOUSTON – The Rice University Department of Athletics has announced the establishment of The Michael Scott Longpré Golf Scholarship. The endowed scholarship is in the name of former Owl golfer Mike Longpré, who passed away on Sept. 27, 2003, from cancer.

"He loved to help people become better golfers and this scholarship affords someone an opportunity to play at the collegiate level," says Sarah Longpré, his wife. "He certainly would be proud of the fact that this scholarship is in his name and that a Rice Owl golfer will benefit from it."

Longpré, a native of Laramie, Wyo., attended and played golf at Odessa College, where he helped pace the Wranglers to a sixth-place finish at the NJCAA championship in 1987. He then transferred to Rice where he graduated in 1990 with a degree in managerial studies and was a member of Hanszen College.

As a golfer at Rice, Longpré was a member of the first Rice team to participate in the NCAA golf championship. During the 1990 NCAA championship, the Owls placed 20th as Longpré shot a 69 in the second round and posted the team's second-lowest 54-hole total (299) which tied for 68th place. His best finish as senior was third at the All-America Intercollegiate with a 223.

Mike was diagnosed with cancer in the spring of 1997, while serving as head golf professional at Westwood Country Club. He was a member of the Professional Golfers Association for 11 years, most of which were spent as a golf professional at the Deerwood Country Club. He fought back from his cancer several times, even resuming work and playing golf, and throughout the more than six years of his illness, he retained a marvelously optimistic attitude.

"His teammates, as well as all members of the Houston community, were constantly touched by Mike’s invariably warm, friendly, and positive personality, both within golf and throughout the greater game of life. We will miss him tremendously," says his Rice coach, Jim Castañeda.