Gator booster pledges record amount

Longtime Gator Boosters supporter Hugh Hathcock made the largest single financial gift to the Gators Athletic Department recently.

According to a UF press release sent on Tuesday, the balance of Hathcock’s $12.6 million pledge will support the UF Athletic Association Facilities Master Plan, along with a portion earmarked for basketball practice facility renovations.

UF will recognize the longtime supporter with the naming of the Hugh Hathcock Suite at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and the Hugh Hathcock Basketball Complex at the UF Basketball Facility, according to the release.

“Hugh’s talents and success in business are matched only by his passion for the Gators,” UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin said in the release. “He thinks big, so it’s only fitting that this is the largest single gift Gators Boosters has ever received. We’re so appreciative of the support Hugh provides and grateful for his generosity.”

Hathcock’s background is in customer service in the automotive dealership industry where he started a company called Fresh Beginnings in 1985 that later became a business he created called ELEAD1ONE, which was known as eLeadCRM. Hathcock sold his company in 2018 to CDK Global for $500 million. He then launched a new company in 2020 called Velocity Automotive Solutions.

Hathcock is a longtime Gators supporter that started when his father took him to games in elementary school before his family moved to Georgia. Hathcock attended UF for a semester before entering the business world. 

“Even when I was in my 20s, just starting to make money, I was still a season-ticket holder,” Hathcock said in the release. “When they did the Touchdown Terrace, I was one of the first ones to [contribute]. You are not able to really do the things you want to do until you hit it big. They knew me back when my companies were just small companies.”