There are starts off and stops, straightaways and bends along the route. But Hathcock, who spent his elementary university many years below, never ever actually left. His coronary heart constantly remained close by since of the Gators. It did not make a difference that he designed his household and built a vastly effective business enterprise in Valdosta, Ga., in which most locals bank loan their loyalty to an additional Southeastern Conference powerhouse.
Hugh’s father, the late Douglas Hathcock, passed his passion for the Gators down to his son. Hugh did the exact same when his boys came alongside, scheduling spouse and children journeys to Sugar Bowls and Closing Fours with sons Brandon and Gage, and nephew Seth Rountree, whom Hugh claimed is “like my son.”
All those people Orange & Blue reminiscences above the yrs trace back again to Hugh’s formative a long time.
“My earliest Gator memories are my dad taking me to watch Spurrier perform when I’m like 5 yrs previous,” Hathcock reported. “Without him, I would hardly ever have been a Gator supporter.”
Hathcock’s father labored for Western Electrical in all those days, and the spouse and children sooner or later moved to Valdosta, exactly where Hathcock went to substantial school. When the time arrived for college or university, Hathcock uncovered his way again to UF — but not for long.
He attended for a semester. His fascination in Gators sports nonetheless burned deep, but there was a major environment outside the house city limitations, and Hathcock dreamed of generating his mark as a businessman.
“At that stage, I did not feel like any college was likely to train me how to be an entrepreneur,” Hathcock claimed. “My household was incredibly center class. My mother and father labored their ass off, but they had no cash. I grew up with no dollars, so people today who expand up with no revenue want to make income.”
Right before a dive into the facts, know that Hathcock created ample funds to not too long ago pledge a $12.6 million contribution to Gator Boosters, the largest single fiscal gift from a donor in the organization’s heritage. To acknowledge and honor this video game-switching gift, in early December the UF Board of Trustees approved the naming of the Hugh Hathcock Suite Tower at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and the Hugh Hathcock Basketball Sophisticated at the UF Basketball Exercise Facility. Parts of the gift will be earmarked for renovations to the basketball practice facility, when the equilibrium will assist the UAA Facilities Grasp Prepare. Gator Boosters has gained commitments of $148.8 million in private assist towards the grasp program.


Hathcock’s loyalty to the Gators goes perfectly beyond his most-modern present.
“This history-setting present is a further instance of Hugh’s unwavering determination and guidance,” reported Phil Pharr, Gator Boosters Executive Director.
As his five kids grew up, the UF soccer and men’s basketball teams served as regular companions. Two of his daughters attended UF, including a person established to graduate in late April.




— Hugh Hathcock (@HughHathcock) February 27, 2020
The Hathcock relatives produced journeys normally to the UF campus for sporting events. They traveled to bowl online games close and much. They celebrated nationwide championships and obtained to know coaches and gamers.
Doug Brown, Deputy Executive Director of Gator Boosters, has regarded Hathcock given that he was starting out and has watched Hathcock’s business profession blossom. No matter his station in life, Hathcock always kept interested in what was going on with the Gators.
“Hugh is a Gator to his main,” Brown stated. “For many years he has supported us in so lots of techniques. He is a excellent Gator and we require a total whole lot extra just like him.”
The Gators became aspect of the Hathcock family members.
“Even when I was in my 20s, just starting off to make revenue, I was nevertheless a time-ticket holder,” Hathcock explained. “When they did the Touchdown Terrace, I was just one of the initially types to [contribute]. You are not in a position to seriously do the points you want to do right until you strike it huge. They knew me again when my firms were being just small businesses.”
Hathcock’s small business career is the real tale below. In the mid-1980s, he commenced a enterprise named Fresh new Beginnings to help vehicle sellers all around the place connect in a more personal way with consumers. He came up with a straightforward nevertheless brilliant plan.
“It was cookies that we set in 2.5-pound designer canister bins, and we experienced a card application that I put the dealers’ title on it,” Hathcock explained. “It was a thank-you card. We went to vehicle sellers all throughout the United States telling them when they marketed a automobile, we would send this can of cookies with this card system.”
Hathcock began little. His father and other loved ones associates even assisted bake the cookies. The thought was a massive hit and progressed into a business named eLead, which produced and integrated CRM (customer partnership administration) technologies to produce a databases for buyer referrals, service visits, and several duties affiliated with the automotive field.
Fresh Beginnings grew to indication up far more than 3,000 dealerships to use the service in its very first five years. It opened a connect with heart in Valdosta that became the biggest in the nation in the car marketplace. Once Hathcock pivoted to the a lot more technological eLeadCRM, the enterprise serviced more than 5,000 dealerships across the U.S.
“I was making phone calls for every little thing from provider visits to purchasing a auto to equity phone calls,” Hathcock claimed. “Then, in 2000, I produced the first CRM. This is really what I did to make the income to give this gift. In the car market in the late ’90s, there was no CRM. I bought a company in Destin, and I crafted this software program enterprise and developed an automotive CRM, and I was the initial to market with it.”
ELeadCRM grew into an sector large for the up coming two decades right until Hathcock marketed the firm in 2019 to CDK World wide for $550 million.
But Hathcock’s tale will not conclusion there. Instead of retiring to a recliner, Hathcock is enthusiastic by a passion for shaping the upcoming of the automotive market. He launched a new company in 2020 identified as Velocity Automotive Options and subsidiary ReconVelocity. The firm is based mostly in Destin, exactly where Hathcock now life, and features a engineering heart in Atlanta.


According to its mission statement online, Velocity Automotive Answers is “focused to serving to sellers change how they engage with their consumers and their business enterprise by providing evolving program answers that streamline and change how dealerships share information and facts with their buyers and generate operational efficiency for growing gross income.”
Hathcock explained the corporation is developing and has signed up 1,000 dealerships in its to start with two yrs. Hathcock and company executives lately traveled to Las Vegas this month for the Nationwide Auto Dealers Affiliation annual trade display to promote their most current technologies.
You could say lifetime is excellent for Hathcock. He recently married Kalah McCoy. She has blended seamlessly into Hathcock’s Orange & Blue-tinted daily life about the earlier 3 years. McCoy attends Gators functions with Hathcock and was with him at football coach Billy Napier‘s introductory push convention in December.
Hathcock said the timing was appropriate for these a substantial economical present to the Gators.
“I offered my corporation in excess of a few several years back,” he stated. “When you appear into that type of income, that would make it a excellent time. There are plenty of terrific suggestions, but you have to put a lot of excellent folks about you, and you have to execute. I hardly ever had any person finance me. I under no circumstances took partners in. I never ever took any buyers. To just take a enterprise from zero and be a poor nation boy from Gainesville and then Valdosta, it really is been really excellent.
“You never dream that when you start some thing, that it really is going to switch into a little something that will make you nearly a billionaire.
A considerably various daily life than Hathcock knew developing up. The just one consistent has been his loyalty to the Gators.