Shirley G. Spork (May 14, 1927 – April 12, 2022) was an American professional golfer and one of the founders of the LPGA Tour.

[7] At college, she won the 1947 national individual intercollegiate golf championship, playing in between final exams.

[10] Spork was able to give back to EMU Athletics by supporting the women's golf team despite graduating 23 years before Title IX made gender equality in sports a reality in 1972.

An endowment has been established in her honor to complement the program's operating budget and extend women's golf possibilities.

In addition, every October at EagleCrest Golf Club, EMU hosts a fall women's collegiate tournament in her honor.

[12][13] In the fall of 1950, Spork was hired to work at the health and physical education department of Bowling Green State University.

[10] Spork received the Ellen Griffin Rolex Award, the L.P.G.A.’s highest teaching honor, in 1998.

[17] It chronicles the stories of the founding 13 members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association as they fought overcome incredible odds to form the longest-running women's sports organization in the world in the late 1940s.

[25] Until this book, only a few have heard Spork's colorful stories of the LPGA's early days, her travels to Europe as a young woman, the ladies of the Tour, and the celebrities she taught on the golf course (Bob Hope, Harpo Marks and others).

[25] Also included are personal letters to Spork from some of golf's greatest players, teachers and LPGA officials.

[25] It highlights the trials and tribulations of how women's professional golf started, where it went and what she did over 67 years to enhance and further the game.