UF Softball Fans Have Big Upgrade to Enjoy Thanks to Big Gift from Gators Booster Clare Peacock

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A visit to Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium is like stepping into a favorite room in the house for Clare Peacock, an avid supporter of Gators softball and a sport that has become one of the most popular on UF’s campus.

A longtime Clearwater resident in the middle of making her full-time home in Gainesville, Peacock has spent countless days and nights in the stands at softball games. Her daughters, Helen and Stephanie, grew up playing the game with Clearwater For Youth, an athletics program established in 1972 in Pinellas County.

Peacock cheered them on, relishing moments unfamiliar in the scrapbook of her youth.

“When I was young, we didn’t get the chance to go out and play softball,” Peacock said recently. “We had a good time. The kids did a wonderful job, and they got a lot of good friends out of it.”

That was 30 years ago. Peacock’s daughters have grown up, earned their undergraduate degrees at UF, and established successful careers. Helen is an attorney in Jacksonville, and Stephanie is a radiologist in North Carolina.

Still, the game brings them together.

Most of the time, that is at Pressly Stadium to root for Florida’s powerhouse program. Peacock pulls for all UF teams, though softball tends to tug at the family’s heartstrings the most. Peacock’s two grandsons are baseball players who never pass up a trip to watch Gators coach Tim Walton‘s team.

“Cheyenne Lindsey was their hero,” Peacock said. “She was the first person that they ever saw hit a home run. They are going to be so disappointed that she is not there this year.”

Peacock’s passion for the Gators softball team is not limited to cheering in the stands. As a Gators Booster, Peacock contributed a pair of financial gifts to the KSP Stadium renovation in 2019, and the home locker room at the facility is named the Clare Peacock Family Locker Room. Peacock’s late husband, Ray Peacock, earned his accounting and law degrees from UF and formed a thriving practice that has served the Tampa Bay area for 40 years.

Peacock’s latest financial contribution is one that everyone can enjoy. The Gators installed a modernized and larger-scale videoboard beyond the outfield wall this week that will be in operation when Florida hosts Jacksonville in its home opener on Feb….