Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A few years ago, Hollis and Debbie Hooks attended the annual summer event for the Gator Boosters Board of Directors. During the function, they found themselves chatting with Florida softball coach Tim Walton. Hollis grew up a lifetime UF football fan by family osmosis, what with his father, a 1942 Phi Beta Kappa graduate who took his son to games as a youngster. The other sports he followed, but mostly casually. 

But the short time they spent with Walton, now with nearly 900 career wins, seven Southeastern Conference championships and those back-to-back Women's College World Series titles in 2014 and '15, profoundly impacted the couple's orange-and-blue perspective. 

"What an engaging and personal gentleman he was," Hollis recalled. "Those few minutes were powerful for us." 

In the bigger picture, they were every bit as powerful for the Gators, also. In their time as donors, Hollis and Debbie had worked up the Gator Boosters chain by putting money almost exclusively toward football tickets. After that chat with Walton, though, they felt compelled to do something else. In this instance, their generosity came in the form of a major gift toward the $15 million softball renovations at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in 2018.

Now in 2020, take a stroll around the campus athletic facilities. There's the Hooks Family Plaza outside football's Indoor Practice Facility. There's the study room at the Hawkins Center/Farrior Hall academic center in the Hooks name, as well. There's also a bollard outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with their names in bronze on Gale Lemerand Drive. And coming soon to baseball's sparkling new Florida Ballpark: the Hooks Family Dugout, which was approved in March by UF's Board of Trustees, courtesy of their latest contribution to the Gators. 

From Florida football fans to Florida everything fans. 

"It's a funny thing," said Hollis, now 70 and still going strong as a Morgan Stanley financial advisor in Lakeland, Fla. "I'm the only one in the family who didn't go to Florida, but I'm the one writing the checks." 

And he's more than OK with it.  Hollis grew up in Lakeland and as a young boy alongside his father wore a coat and tie to watch Coach Ray Graves' teams of the 1960s. He was there — at the age of 16 — to watch Steve Spurrier kick the famous field goal to beat Auburn during that glorious Heisman Trophy-winning 1966 season. Hollis just knew he'd one day attend Florida (and like his father go the ROTC route), but then came that article in Playboy Magazine in 1968 that ranked UF as the No. 1 party school in the nation. 

Homer Hooks, who headed up the Florida Citrus Commission, sent his son to Mercer, instead. 

"Best decision he ever made for me," said Hollis, who eventually inherited his family's four football tickets. "I told my father before he died I probably wouldn't have lasted a semester at Florida." 

He made up for lost time, and married a UF co-ed just to make sure. Like Hollis, Debbie Hooks grew up in Lakeland and dressed to the nines to go to football games, as well, on her way to a BFA in Fine Arts. Debbie's father, Bob Waters, was a Gator having gone to UF after World War II. He and Debbie's mother drove up from Lakeland with a car load of friends for football games. Waters, owner of Lakeland Ford, donated cars to the UF athletic department, so it was in her blood to take care of her beloved Gators.
 

Their children, Emily and Hamilton, both graduated from Florida, with Emily earning a second degree from UF's Levin College of Law.  

Through the years, the Hooks family bond to the program grew even stronger. Their generosity followed. 

The timing could not have been better, given the University Athletic Association's drive to meet a goal of raising $155 million for its ambitious facilities master plan under the direction of Athletic Director Scott Stricklin. 

"We are forever grateful for the Hooks' family commitment to Gator athletics," Stricklin said. "Their long term generosity has touched so many facilities and projects from scholarship endowments, academics, football, softball, and now our new Florida Ballpark. They share in our vision for across-the-board excellence in our athletic program and are committed to the student-athlete experience."

Added Phil Pharr, executive director of Gator Boosters: "They've been great friends and supporters of the program and they're stepping up in a big way. They're going to leave their legacy of support, which is indicative of what comes out of Polk County." 

One of their Polk County brethren, John Frost, recommended Hollis for a spot on the board in 2014, a stint that will end this academic year, with Debbie taking his place and, in time, joining Gator Boosters "distinguished director" status. 

"We take so much pride in making a positive impact on the program we love," Debbie said.  With their support now spreading out among all the UF sports, the couple bought a condo in Haile Plantation, about seven miles west of the university. Doing so not only will eliminate some of those late-night drives back to Lakeland, but allow them to attend even more events. 

Probably a lot of baseball games. 

And probably — no, make that definitely — with a really nice view of that that third-base dugout. 

"'I'm happy we can do it," Hollis said. "I love that we're doing it."