Mike Hogan ’72 and his wife, Sondra, have pledged an estate gift of $500,000 to the Furman men’s golf scholarship endowment, bringing the program closer to being fully funded.

Hogan, who played from the 1969 to 1972 seasons, was part of a group of former Paladins that rallied together to endow scholarships for the team in 2014. Since then, they have raised more than $2.7 million in commitments for the endowment, which at current market value funds approximately 1.7 scholarships.

When realized, the Hogans’ gift will significantly reduce the $2.7 million left to raise for the program’s scholarships to be fully funded at the NCAA maximum of 4.5.

“We want to see where the ceiling is for our program, and we’ll see what that ceiling is when we’re fully funded scholarship wise,” Furman Coach Matt Davidson ’04 said. “It’s important for us to provide our student-athletes with as many opportunities, as many resources, as much aid, as we can. It was incredibly generous of the Hogans to provide this gift and provide us the opportunities to do that.”

Hogan, a native of Old Fort, North Carolina, retired from a career in the insurance business in 2013 and has worked in real estate development for the last 10 years. He currently lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with Sondra, to whom he has been married for 27 years.

In addition to competing on the golf team, Hogan majored in economics and was a member of the Furman Singers for four years.