University of North Carolina Athletics
Baseball Program Gets $1 Million Gift From Letterwinner
March 5, 2001 | Baseball
March 5, 2001
Chapel Hill, N.C. -- University of North Carolina baseball letterwinner Vaughn Bryson and his wife Nancy, both 1960 graduates of UNC's pharmacy school, have made a $1 million donation to the Tar Heel baseball program. The gift is the first of its kind in the campaign to endow sport programs at UNC. The gift will meet the goal for the baseball program, although additional gifts will be used to increase the endowment.
"I am absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity and support of Vaughn and Nancy Bryson," said head coach Mike Fox, a 1978 Carolina graduate. "They had already made a very significant impact on the baseball program before this most recent announcement. Their deep love and commitment to this University has now made a tremendous impact directly on the baseball program.
"It means a great deal to all of us who have ever been associated with the program. I am also very grateful to Coach (Walter) Rabb for helping provide Vaughn with such a positive baseball experience here. Vaughn and his former teammates are a very special group and will forever have the distinction of being Carolina's first College World Series team. Vaughn and Nancy have certainly made an enormous financial impact on this program and we are very grateful."
Vaughn Bryson, retired CEO of Eli Lilly and Company, said, "We are happy to give back to the baseball program that meant a lot to me and hope that these funds will enhance the quality and competitiveness of Carolina Baseball."
Bryson was a three-year starter and varsity letterwinner at Carolina from 1958-60 and was a member of UNC's 1960 College World Series team. That team, the first at Carolina to earn a berth in the College World Series, set a then-UNC record with 23 wins and was the first Tar Heel team to earn a first-place ACC finish.
"Vaughn has a record over the past three years of generous support of Carolina baseball and with this donation he has clearly stepped up in a major way to support the program and the athletic department as a whole," said athletic director Dick Baddour. "It means a great deal to everyone in the Carolina family when a former student-athlete on this campus would make such a generous pledge to Tar Heel athletics."
The Brysons have also made a significant impact on academics at Carolina. In the past few years they have made the first major gift toward a new music library building, spurred the funding of a pharmacy professorship endowment, established an excellence endowment for the dean of the pharmacy school and are supporting medical research on a genetic disorder that affects their son. They also contributed to the building campaign for an addition to the pharmacy school, the House Undergraduate Library renovation and the Faculty Partners Fund in Arts and Sciences.
The UNC Athletic Department has a goal to reach a $1 million endowment for each Olympic sport program, as well as $5 million for men's basketball and $10 million for football. Gifts to endow Carolina's sports programs will count in the University's upcoming fundraising campaign.
Former UNC wrestler Joe Galli pledged $500,000 to head coach Bill Lam and the wrestling program in November to launch that sport's effort.
