A former Stanford football player has donated a record $50 million to the program, the school announced Wednesday.The donation from Bradford M. Freeman is the largest individual gift in Cardinal football history, outside of facilities.It is a massive windfall for Stanford general manager Andrew Luck and new athletic director John Donahoe as they attempt to resurrect the moribund program. The Cardinal have finished 3-9 in each of the past four seasons.”With Brad’s incredible gift, we are positioned to win on the field and build a bridge to a sustainable future for Stanford football,” Luck said in a statement. “The ability to support our players through new scholarships and institutional NIL will reinforce Stanford as the preeminent place in the country to be a football scholar-athlete.”Freeman graduated from Stanford in 1964 and has been a major donor to the school for decades. The school plans to name a tunnel and gate at Stanford Stadium after Freeman, who previously funded the nation’s first endowed head coach position at the school in 1988.Luck, the former Indianapolis Colts quarterback, became the GM in November 2024 and Donahoe was hired in July.
