Planned Giving
Gary Blount '10
Gift of Life Insurance
Gary Blount ’10 received a full scholarship to attend Wofford and play football for the Terriers. He still remembers looking at his tuition statement and seeing the zero balance at the bottom.
“Even then I realized that someone paid that tuition bill for me,” says Blount. “I started giving back as soon as I could, but I'm now in a position to make a big difference one day.”
Blount decided to augment his annual gift to the college by making Wofford the owner and beneficiary of a life insurance policy.
“I'm young and healthy, so I can get a big policy for a small premium,” says Blount. “I'll make premium payments for 20 years, and Wofford is guaranteed a minimum of $250,000. If I live a normal life expectancy, then the benefit to Wofford would be closer to $890,000.”
According to Smith Patterson ’67, former director of gift planning at Wofford, all of Blount's premium payments will qualify as charitable tax deductions, and one day the proceeds from the policy will provide substantial scholarship support for Wofford students.
“Gary has decided to use the proceeds of the variable whole life policy to create a named, endowed scholarship for a student-athlete on the college’s football team,” says Patterson. “If his Wofford interests change, the criteria for selecting scholarship recipients can change as well.”
Because of both his grades and his athletic ability, Blount was a heavily recruited linebacker from Camden County High School in southern Georgia when he signed with the Terriers. He turned down offers from Harvard, Georgetown and Vanderbilt, among others, to play for former head coach Mike Ayers.
“Wofford was the last college I visited, and it turned my search upside down,” says Blount. “I was involved in more than football, and Wofford became home. I benefited so much from my Wofford experience that I feel a sense of responsibility to give back.”
Blount and his wife, Stephanie Cloninger Blount, daughter of Rick Cloninger ’79, have three sons, Noah and twins Levi and Luke.
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