Harold Varner III
At-Large Trustee
Gastonia, NC
Varner was born in Akron, Ohio, but raised in North Carolina, and described a humble but happy upbringing by parents Harold Jr. and Patricia. As a youngster, Harold Varner III honed his golfing skills practicing on a makeshift hole near his home in Gastonia, North Carolina—taking aim at a water tank beyond a strip of trees beside his parents’ house. From those humble beginnings, Varner rose to become a winner on both the European and Asian Tours and, in 2023, secured his maiden LIV Golf victory in Washington, D.C.
Varner was a standout golfer while studying at East Carolina University and, in 2011, became the first player to win both the North Carolina Amateur Championship and the North Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship in the same year.
Varner established the HV3 Foundation in 2018 with the aim of providing opportunities and resources for underserved youth to give them affordable access to golf. As a teenager, Varner benefited from a youth program at Gastonia Municipal that allowed him to play unlimited golf for $100 a summer. “My inspiration was my dad – he got me started in golf,” says Varner. “But I had some people that invested their time and their money into my life and I’ve been super blessed to have that. I’m trying to create that same atmosphere in somebody else’s life.”
Varner attended Forestview High School and later met his future wife, Amanda Singleton, when they were freshmen at East Carolina University. The couple married in September 2020 and have since welcomed two young sons.
In addition to the HV3 Foundation, the Varners have also helped fund sporting facility upgrades at their alma mater. In October, Harold was featured on news broadcasts donating and delivering generators, gas, and chainsaws to victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.