Professional Golf Management Alumni

Make a difference in the life of a child. 

Every day, 43 parents receive the worst news in the world, that their child has cancer. These families will have to adjust to a lifestyle of hospital visits, medical tests, and round after round of chemotherapy treatment. Thanks to the Four Diamonds Fund, one thing these families will not have to worry about is how they will pay for life saving treatment for their child. Since 1977, Penn State THON has raised over 180 million dollars for the Four Diamonds Fund, providing comprehensive care for over 4,000 families and funding critical research to search for a cure so that one day no family will have to hear the words “Your child has cancer”. 

THON is a 100 percent student run philanthropic organization that raises money to support the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Children’s Hospital. Every year, a year’s worth of fundraising efforts culminate in a 46 hour no sitting no sleeping dance marathon in February to celebrate those who have survived, remember those who have lost their battle, and stand in hope that one day we will be dancing in celebration of a cure. Although THON cannot take place in person this year due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Four Diamonds and Penn State still plan to do everything possible to deliver a virtual THON weekend to celebrate another years worth of effort in the fight against pediatric cancer. 

For the last ten years, the Penn State Professional Golf Management Program, has been paired with the Tyler Truex family. In 2008 and 2011 Tyler was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He is currently in the 10th grade, is a chair in his school's Mini-THON, loves soccer and has older and younger brothers named Ray and Gabe. To this day Tyler has been off treatment for 6 years!

Two years ago, PGM THON paired with Penn State Club Equestrian. In addition to having all the resources of a second organization to set up paired fundraisers, PGM THON also was connected with PSET’s THON family, the Alex Smith family. Alex was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2015. Alex rang the bell at Hershey Medical Center in May of 2019 and as of today is almost a year and a half off treatment! She enjoys creative design and will be graduating high school next spring! 

Penn State PGM THON is coming off a record setting year. Paired with PSET, our Organizations raised over $65,000 and finished fourth out of all general organizations, an achievement the students were extremely proud of. With an in-person THON weekend already ruled out, and many in-person fundraisers impossible to conduct with the pandemic, THON 2021 will rely largely on virtual fundraising. This group of PGM Alumni is fundraising to support PGM THON in their effort to surpass last year’s amazing numbers despite a very different set of circumstances. Any donations made to this page or any members of this page will be credited to PGM’s THON 2021 total. Please consider helping the fight by donating via the yellow button on any of our member's pages or sharing this link to friends and family to spread our message.