Pat Hogan - "The Great Storyteller"

By Jim Joanos

Pat Hogan

Old time FSU athletics fans love to get together and reminisce about the “good ole’ 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 second hand or made up. He lived them. Over a thirty-seven-year span of time, Pat Hogan had his hand deep in the athletics program at FSU.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, 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 loose 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 Coach Tom Nugent? Who were the “Seven Magnificents?” Just sit back and listen. Pat Hogan can tell you.

About the author:

Jim Joanos

Memories of Garnet and Gold

Jim Joanos and his wife Betty Lou have deep roots at Florida State University. Avid sports fans, they have literally seen, and done, it all. Fortunately for us, Jim loves telling first-hand accounts dating back to FSU’s first football game, a 1947 clash with the Stetson Hatters on Centennial Field, where Cascades Park is today.

The Osceola will run a series of these colorful stories written by the former Tallahassee lawyer and judge, which we feel our readers will find enlightening and/or nostalgic.

Jim and Betty Lou, who was Associate Director of the FSU Alumni Association (1991-2003), have been married 65 years and are each listed as one of FSU’s 100 Distinguished Graduates. The couple were enshrined in the FSU Hall of Fame in 2015 as Moore-Stone Award Recipients. Ironically, both Deans Moore and Stone were instrumental in the Joanoses career development.

“Both Jim and Betty Lou Joanos have been exemplary fans and supporters of Florida State University, both academically and athletically,” said Andy Miller, retired President and CEO of Seminole Boosters, Inc. “You can’t go to an athletic event of any kind that you don’t see both Jim and Betty Lou Joanos together. They love their university as much as they love each other.”