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YSU women’s golf auction supports ‘Folds of Honor’
Penguins remember fallen Kent State grad
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown State women’s golf team wants to raise more than just awareness of Army 1st Lt. Ashley White-Stumpf.
The Penguins are auctioning off a golf bag embroidered with White-Stumpf’s name, which was used by YSU golfers Emily Dixon and Aislynn Merling during this year’s Horizon League championship season.
Proceeds will benefit the Folds of Honor Foundation, which assists spouses, children and loved ones of soldiers killed or disabled while serving our country.
White-Stumpf, an Alliance native and Kent State graduate, was killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in October 2011. White-Stumpf was part of the first all-female military team to serve with special operations in Afghanistan. She was a member of the Cultural Support Team, which consisted of women who interacted with Afghan women and children.
She was the first member of the CST to be killed in action when the assault force she was with triggered an improvised explosive device. She was 24.
“We were honored to be able to represent her throughout the year,” said Penguins coach Nate Miklos, who led the team to their first appearance in the NCAA regionals. “Hopefully we can raise a little money for the Folds of Honor program.”
White-Stumpf’s story is told in the recently released book “Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield.” Actress Reese Witherspoon purchased the movie rights for the book and will produce the film.
“We didn’t know there was a book coming out when we chose her,” Miklos said. “But the team was pretty excited to be part of honoring someone with her story and to be able to follow it over the next couple years as it becomes a movie.”
Rick Williams, YSU’s Veterans Affairs coordinator, got to know White-Stumpf when he was working in Kent State’s ROTC program in 2007-09 and she was a cadet. When Miklos decided to participate in the Folds of Honor program a year ago, he approached Williams asking if there were any YSU student-veterans — particularly female — who fit the program’s criteria.
“There wasn’t anyone at YSU, so Ashley is the person who immediately came to mind,” he said. “She was kind of just a shy girl, but she was very athletic, very smart and she was good at everything. All the things that ROTC requires of a cadet, she was very proficient and very good at all of them. I knew she would make a good officer in the military.”
Williams just finished reading “Ashley’s War” two weeks ago.
“The book was great,” he said. “It tells Ashley’s story very well.”
Bidding on the golf bag began May 19 and continues through June 5. The current bid Sunday night was $150. To bid, visit ysusports.com/marketplace/auctions.
The Folds of Honor program was founded in 2007 by Maj. Dan Rooney, a former F-16 pilot who served three tours in Iraq. More than 60,000 soldiers have been killed or disabled in the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of January 2014, more than 1.4 million dependents have been adversely affected by multiple deployments, and 87 percent of those dependents do not qualify for federal scholarship assistance.