Chesterfield, Va.— University of Richmond Deputy Athletics Director, LaRee Sugg, will be part of the Chesterfield Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2026, an honor Chesterfield County introduced in recognition of her decades-long influence as a golfer, coach, and athletics administrator.
A Petersburg, Va., native and graduate of Matoaca High School, Sugg was launched to golf at a younger age and developed into one of the area’s most achieved junior gamers. She earned Golf Magazine Junior All-American honors 4 occasions and gained greater than 30 junior tournaments, together with the North and South Junior and Ohio State Junior Championships. At age 16, she certified as an novice to compete in an LPGA Tour occasion held in Portsmouth, Va.
Sugg continued her golf profession at UCLA, the place she competed from 1987-1991. During her senior season, she helped lead UCLA to the 1991 PAC-10 Championship and the 1991 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship, clinching the nationwide title with a profitable birdie in a sudden-death playoff. That 12 months, she earned All-American and All-PAC-10 honors and represented the United States on the Shiseido Cup International Team Championships. She additionally recorded third-place finishes at each the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship and the U.S. Women’s Public Links Championship.
After graduating from UCLA with a level in English in 1991, Sugg turned skilled and competed on a number of excursions worldwide. She performed on the LPGA Tour throughout the 1995–96 and 2000–01 seasons, changing into the third African American girl to compete on the tour. Her skilled profession additionally included competitors on the Women’s Professional Golfers European Tour, the Futures Ladies Golf Tour, {and professional} excursions in Asia. She certified for six U.S. Women’s Opens and 4 Women’s British Opens. Her finest LPGA Tour end got here in 2000 with an eighth-place consequence on the Wegmans Rochester International LPGA Golf Classic. In 1998, she gained the Aurora Health Futures Classic in a sudden-death playoff.
In 2001, Sugg returned to Virginia to turn out to be the primary head coach of the University of Richmond girls’s golf program. One 12 months later, she was named CAA Coach of the Year. In 2005, she transitioned into athletics administration at Richmond, serving in senior management roles. She was promoted to Deputy Director of Athletics in 2019 and presently serves as Deputy Athletics Director for Policy and Sports Management, Senior Woman Administrator, and Chief of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
In recognition of her accomplishments in golf and better schooling, Sugg was inducted into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame in September 2023.
The Chesterfield Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes, coaches, and contributors whose achievements have formed the county’s sports activities historical past. The Class of 2026 will likely be inducted on the Chesterfield Sports Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, April 17, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. on the Stonebridge Recreation Center. The banquet is introduced by Virginia Credit Union. Tickets and extra data can be found at www.chesterfieldsportshof.com.