ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A UCF alumnus has pledged $5.5 million to UCF Athletics for construction of a football center and a sports facilities endowment fund, the university announced Thursday.

The commitment by 2005 graduate Taylor A. Gerring is the largest single cash pledge by an individual for UCF Athletics.

The funds will help pay for construction of a new football administration and coaches building that will be part of the Hagle Football Gateway project.   

“I’m happy to give back to the university to show my appreciation for everything that’s been provided to me,” said Gerring, who majored in business administration at UCF and is now a blockchain pioneer and co-founder of Ethereum Foundation. “My hope is that it inspires other students to achieve great things.”

The new facility, which the UCF Board of Trustees voted to name the Taylor A. Gerring Football Center, will receive $5 million of the funds pledged, and $500,000 will be invested in the Taylor A. Gerring Athletics Facilities Endowment Fund, according to UCF.

UCF is engaged in a fundraising campaign to have a successful transition into the Big 12 Conference, and the football campus is part of a larger plan to improve game and practice facilities for all the Knights’ teams throughout the Kenneth G. Dixon Athletics Village. 

"This is my way to do what I can in this moment of time as we enter the Big 12 Conference," Gerring said. "There’s a lot of momentum and excitement behind that, and I hope to inspire other donors to jump in and help us reach the end goals we’re looking for.”

The football center will be part of the Hagle Football Gateway project. The facility also will feature Nicholson Plaza; McNamara Cove, which will offer a recovery river and hydrotherapy area for student-athletes; a renovated Wayne Densch Sports Center that will include an expanded football team locker room known as the Thow Family Locker Room; enhancements to UCF’s football practice complex; a new VIP parking lot; and a pedestrian promenade. Construction will be completed in phases and is scheduled to start this spring.

Gerring, who is from Stuart, said his excitement about UCF's football program kept growing while he was a student and through his involvement in the Chicago UCF alumni community. It really picked up for the 2014 St. Petersburg Bitcoin Bowl.

“I was living in Europe and traveled back, very excited to see the culmination of this whole Bitcoin/Ethereum world come together with my UCF Knights in St. Petersburg, and it’s literally the Bitcoin Bowl," Gerring said. "…I was like, ‘is this event made for me?’"