8/7/2023 other sports Edit

Memories of garnet and gold: Pat Hogan, the great storyteller

Jim Joanos

Special to the Osceola

Old time FSU athletics fans love to get together and reminisce about the “good ol’ days.” The stories that come out of these sessions are usually true, albeit generously embellished with the teller’s spin. Some folks are really good at this art. The best are the tellers who were there and observed or even participated in the original events when they occurred. For my money, the best of the best of the storytellers is Pat Hogan. One of the elements that make his stories so entertaining, in addition to his skilled craft in telling them, is that he was directly involved in the events when they occurred.

His stories are not secondhand or made up. He lived them. Over a 37-year span, Pat Hogan had his hand deep in the athletics program at FSU.

A native of Little Rock, Ark., Pat Hogan played basketball and baseball in high school. In his senior year of high school, he got a job writing sports for a local newspaper. Bennett Land, also from Little Rock and an acquaintance, had become the sports information director at Florida State. Land was in need of some help as FSU was stepping up from a totally amateur sports program (no scholarships) to a much more competitive one. There was not much money, but Land worked out an arrangement whereby Hogan, in 1952, could come to FSU on part scholarship, paid a nominal amount, and work in the sports information office to help with the overload.

As fate would have it, Land became seriously ill shortly thereafter and Hogan became the SID. It was not unusual at the time for students to serve their institutions in staff positions. Hogan rose in ranks rapidly. He obtained his journalism degree in 1955. He held positions in Public Relations, University Relations, Executive Assistant to the President, Associate Vice president and finally Vice President. He retired in 1990 after serving under six university presidents. Hogan’s career at FSU was interrupted briefly by the U.S. Army when he served in Germany as a writer for the Stars and Stripes publication.

When Hogan retired from FSU, Bill McGrotha, The Tallahassee Democrat’s longtime sports editor, wrote a nice article about Hogan and his career at FSU. He describes Hogan as having been “FSU’s No. 1 friend-raiser.”

Through the years, FSU has honored Hogan for his service. While a student he was inducted into Gold Key and Alpha Phi Omega. Later he was honored by membership in FSU’s Circle of Gold. He received the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award (1985) and the Faculty Senate’s Mores Award. When he was inducted into the FSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990, this was written about him: “During his climb up the ladder he never forgot his roots in FSU Sports, helping the Seminole program virtually on a daily basis with his behind-the-scenes goodwill and thoughtfulness.”

In retirement, a widower, Hogan keeps up with his son Wayne, a former FSU Sports Information Director himself, and family. He has not slowed down a bit. Of particular note, Hogan has taken a leadership role in a number of state and national endeavors aimed at improving the quality of life for persons with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. Hogan has served his Rotary Club for over 50 years.

Hogan has continued his story telling. He is quite popular among small groups of folks, at breakfast or lunch, who want to know how it was. Whatever sport that you are interested in, Hogan can tell a story about it. Do you want to know about FSU football team’s first trip by airplane? What was Burt Reynolds really like? What was it like to sing with football coach Tom Nugent? Who were the Seven Magnificents? Just sit back and listen. Pat Hogan can tell you.