By TRIPP SHEPPARD

THE VSGA-VIP SCHOLARSHIP FOUN- DATION has been providing scholarships to students with an interest in golf for the past 37 years . Many of the more than 1,000 award recipients have emerged as community leaders throughout the Commonwealth and beyond while others have seemingly fallen off the golfing radar .

This vignette is the first in what is hoped to be a series of snapshots of past award recipients as well as a plea for information on those past honorees currently missing . One of the VSGA-VIP Scholarship Foundation ’ s earliest award recipients was Paul Kiritsis , who was one of six students recognized in 1986 in the Foundation ’ s second awards class .

Paul attended Monacan High School where he was a standout in the classroom and the golf course . In addition to the Scholarship Foundation , he also received support from the local Greek Orthodox church . Paul attended the University of Richmond where he graduated Cum Laude with a B . S . degree in Biology .

PAUL G . KIRITSIS ,

M . D . / Orthopedic Surgeon with Ortho Virginia

YEAR HONORED BY VSGA-VIP SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION : 1986 VSGA MEMBER : Salisbury Country Club and Kinloch Golf Club HANDICAP INDEX : 6.0 CLAIM TO FAME : Team Physician for the University of Richmond Spiders and the Richmond Kickers

Following graduation , Paul attended Eastern Virginia Medical School and later did his residency in MCV ’ s Department of Orthopedic Surgery . Dr . Kiritsis is a board-certified knee and shoulder specialist and holds a subspecialty certification in sports medicine .

Join us for a quick Q & A with 1986 scholarship recipient recipient Dr . Paul Kiritsis .

Virginia Golfer : Take us back to your

high school days …

Paul Kiritsis : I grew up playing at Stonehenge and we played our high school matches there too . I went to Monacan where I also played hoops all four years . I know I won like the Metropolitan Junior Golf Association or something when I was 14 or 15 . Unfortunately , I wasn ’ t able to play in a ton of bigger tournaments and travel tournaments between my junior and senior year because I didn ’ t have the means to do it . I picked the range at Stonehenge and also worked at Pizza

1986 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

An avid golfer , Kiritsis is the University of Richmond ' s team physician .

Delivery Company where I delivered a ton of pizzas !

My senior year scoring average for ninehole tournaments was 34 , which broke the school record , which was later broken by Kevin South who played professionally .

VG : Do you remember applying for and /

or receiving the scholarship ?

PK : I do remember it and it was memorable . When I received my scholarship letter , I was honestly so proud that I was able to make that happen . It was a tough time in my life both from a family side and then having to work a lot and not getting to play as much golf as I wanted . I was proud that I was able to keep myself together academically and athletically enough to do that .

IMAGES COURTESY PAUL KIRITSIS

14 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M ARCH / A PRIL 2022 vsga . org