Melba Urban Endowed Memorial Scholarship for Women's Golf

Jeanne and Mike Nelson created The Melba Urban Memorial Endowed Scholarship for Women’s Golf in November of 2021 in honor of Jeanne’s aunt, Melba Urban. Melba enjoyed Zips sports including football, basketball and most important to her, golf. Melba was unable to attend college and following high school was employed by the Firestone Tue and Rubber Company. This allowed her to focus on pursuing her love of golf, as one of the perks of her job was playing golf at Firestone Country Club. This was her favorite course to play and take in a match as a spectator. She attended the World Series of Golf annually and had the opportunity to meet Arnold Palmer at one of the competitions. Aside from playing and spectating, Melba developed lifelong friendships through her love of the sport, many of which lasted until her passing at the age of 96.

Melba’s niece, Jeanne, was a student athlete in college and recalled having to make her own uniforms, pay her own travel expenses, and needing assistance to ease the financial burdens associated with being a student athlete. By establishing The Melba Urban Endowed Scholarship for Women’s Golf, Jeanne and Mike desire to enable female student athletes to pursue degree completion as they also pursue their love of golf, and to worry less about the financial commitments associated with higher education and athletics. They hope to assist Zips in their educational pursuits as they prepare for future opportunities and success.

The Melba Urban Memorial Endowed Scholarship for Women’s Golf candidates will be full-time undergraduate or graduate students enrolled at The University of Akron. Recipients must be in good academic standing and will be selected by the Women’s Golf Team coach. Additionally, candidates should be involved with community service or philanthropic pursuits locally.