"Nurturing the youth of today, Lighting the pathways for the leaders of tomorrow"
The Paula Titus Scholarship Fund
The purpose of the Fund will be to provide scholarship support to one or more full time undergraduate students in the Sport Leadership and Administration Program. Recipients must have financial need, as determined by Financial Aid. Recipients must have graduated from Boston Public High Schools or a public high school in a Massachusetts Gateway City, as defined by the Massachusetts State Legislature in Section 3A of Chapter 23A of the General Laws of Massachusetts as: Attleboro, Barnstable, Brockton, Chelsea, Chicopee, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Leominster, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, Methuen, New Bedford, Peabody, Pittsfield, Quincy, Revere, Salem, Springfield, Taunton, Westfield, and Worcester. Students who have completed pre-freshman programs including, but not limited to The Base, Peter Gammons Scholars, Urban Scholars, Directions for Student potential, and Upward Bound will be given preferred consideration. Eligible students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher at the time of the award and be an active participant in co-curricular activities within the sport leadership and administration field.
The scholarship honors Paula Titus, the wife of longtime UMass Boston men’s basketball coach and former Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Recreation, Special Projects and Programs Charlie Titus. Paula Titus served as a mother figure to the hundreds of men’s basketball players who stepped on the court for the Beacons during the 40+ seasons that her husband was the UMass Boston head coach. Through generous donations from Larry Smith and the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame, her family, and countless friends, Paula’s legacy of kindness, perseverance, and mentorship will live on through this memorial scholarship
The Matriarch of UMass Boston Basketball
Paula Titus was a special woman. She was a constant presence at all home games, sitting in the Clark Center lobby before the game, eating her popcorn, waiting for all 15 players to come greet her with a hug and kiss on the cheek. She was incredibly caring, and the team knew and felt that. The team called her “Momma Titus,” and she relished building relationships with the hundreds of student athletes that came through those Clark Center doors during Charlie Titus’ historic coaching career.
One story that always comes to mind when we reminisce about Momma Titus was the annual cookout at the Titus home in Roxbury. It was the first opportunity each year to get the team together, and everyone looked forward to it. Every year the party would follow the same schedule: we would eat, Coach Titus would briefly address the team, and then half the team would disappear. We quickly learned that the team didn’t actually disappear. They just migrated to the kitchen to help Momma Titus with the dishes. The kitchen became her “conference room” or “locker room,” and no one held court better than Momma Titus. She was funny, she was caring, and she was someone who made you feel better when you were around her. Whether it was sharing wisdom, lending an ear, or, most commonly, teasing her husband, our team flocked to her every chance they got. Charlie may have been the coach and leader of the program for 40+ years, but Momma Titus was its heart and soul.
Written by former assistant coach Tyler Papadinis
