Editor’s note: The list of big gifts that accompanied this story was revised on Oct. 24 to include a $50 million gift from the Harold Simmons Foundation to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

David and Carolyn Miller have ponied up in a historic way.

The former varsity basketball standout at Southern Methodist University and his wife have pledged $50 million to the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, where he received his graduate and undergraduate degrees in finance in the early 1970s.

It is the largest single gift in the university’s 108-year history.

It also brings the Highland Park couple’s total gifts to SMU to more than $100 million.

The Millers’ latest donation will be used to overhaul and expand the business school’s facilities, hire endowed faculty and expand scholarships to increase student diversity on the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Millers’ gift will be officially announced Friday morning on campus at the James M. Collins Executive Education Center.

Several hundred invitees were told to expect an “unprecedented commitment” to SMU and its business school.

Carolyn Miller laughs with her husband David Miller (right) and SMU president R. Gerald Turner. The couple's total giving to SMU is more than $100 million. (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

“It’s the biggest gift from a single person or family in our history,” R. Gerald Turner said in an interview earlier this week. “Just by that, it’s big news. This is a major enhancement of SMU’s major contributions to Dallas — and that’s having a first-class school of business.”

That was echoed by the dean of SMU’s business school, Matt Myers: “This clearly is a monumental gift that’s going to heighten the already extremely positive trajectory of Cox,” he said. “People roll their eyeballs at me when I say this, but I’ve said it since I got here two and a half years ago: A strong Cox makes a stronger SMU, and a stronger SMU makes a more robust and globally competitive North Texas.

“It’s a game-changer for us without question.”

Miller, 69, is the co-founder and managing partner of EnCap Investments LP, which is based in Dallas and Houston and is one of the largest private equity firms in the world. He has served on SMU’s board of trustees for 11 years, currently as vice chairman. He also serves as chairman of the Cox Executive Board.

Carolyn Miller graduated from Hendrix College in 1974 and is on its board of trustees. She holds master’s degrees in elementary education and gerontology.

SMU, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary of business education next year, is in the early stages of a major fundraising campaign for the business school, as well as planning the university’s next major gifts campaign.

“It’s great that the Millers decided to provide extremely generous and substantial leadership to get those things underway,” Turner said.

The couple’s previous gifts to SMU funded academic positions and scholarships, the Carolyn and David Miller Campus Center at SMU-in-Taos and athletics initiatives, including the Miller Boulevard Ballroom in SMU’s new athletic training center.

“This gift is singularly directed to Cox,” Turner said, “but their overall support has been remarkably broad and generous.”

Moody Coliseum’s basketball court is named for David in recognition of the couple’s $20 million in donations to expand and renovate the arena, as well as construct the Miller Event Center at Moody.

Miller, who attended SMU on a basketball scholarship, was a three-year varsity starting center and a member of the 1971-72 Southwest Conference Co-Championship team. He earned his MBA in 1973 while on a teaching assistant fellowship.

David Miller stands in front of a photo from his days as a starting center for SMU. (Hillsman Stuart Jackson)

“I attended SMU for five-plus years and never paid the university a dime in tuition,” Miller said in an interview at his home Wednesday. “I had this really conscious thought, I really did, of ‘Hey, I don’t know how my life is going to play out, but I just hope at some point or some day, I’ll be able to give something back to the university.’ ”

His first commitments to the school were a $25 gift to the Mustang Club and a $100 pledge to SMU’s general operational fund in 1979.

The Millers’ $50 million donation is one of the largest gifts in recent local history.

In November, the University of Texas at Dallas announced that it had been given the Barrett Collection of 400-plus works of Swiss art — the single largest donation ever made to UTD. While the university declined to place an exact value on the collection, it said it was in excess of $35 million.

Three years ago, the city of Dallas received a $50 million gift from the estate of the late Harold Simmons to support the $250 million Trinity River Park project. Announced by Simmons’ widow, Annette, it was the largest private donation ever in support of a municipal project.

The Millers’ largesse has extended beyond SMU, with major gifts of at least $1 million to 11 other nonprofits, including Carolyn’s alma mater. Their largest non-SMU gift was an undisclosed amount to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, where he serves as a member of its board.

Myers said the business school is focused on three initiatives. “It’s motherhood and apple pie in many ways — nothing fancy,” he said. “Scholarships to bring in the best and brightest — no matter what their financial status is; hiring the faculty to build modernized programs that prepare students for the fourth industrial age; and facilities that build a sense of community and allow us to teach in a modern fashion.

“These three things are our constant drumbeat.”

That appeals to the Millers.

“I’m biased because I’m a business school graduate,” Miller said. “But in terms of SMU’s brand, its academic reputation and the gains that have been made, Cox has led the way. I’m excited about the potential for that trajectory to continue. My hope is that our gift will inspire others to jump on board.”

The money will be given as needed, he said. The Millers want half to go toward facilities and half to scholarships and endowed professorships.

“We’ve got all these shiny new buildings all over the campus, but nothing’s been done at Cox,” Miller said, noting that the existing buildings were constructed in 1954 and 1987 and sometimes flood when it rains hard. “We desperately need to upgrade the facilities, but at the same time, what really tugs at Carolyn and me and pulls on our hearts are scholarships. You’ve got to have nice facilities. There’s no question about that. But the scholarship piece of it is critical to us.”

Joining the mega-givers

David B. and Carolyn L. Miller and the David B. Miller Family Foundation are giving $50 million to SMU’s Cox School of Business. They previously contributed $51 million to the school, bringing their total to $101 million.

Largest single gifts by individuals in SMU history

$35 million: Ray L. Hunt and Nancy Ann Hunt in 2005

$30 million: Robert and Nancy Dedman in 1997

$25 million: Harold and Annette Simmons in 2013

SOURCE: SMU

Other mega-sized single gifts

The Millers join a small group of Dallas philanthropists who have given single gifts of $50 million or more.

$100 million: William P. Clements to Southwestern Medical Foundation in 2009

$50 million: Annette and Harold Simmons to UT Southwestern Medical Center in 2008

$50 million: Perot family to Perot Museum of Nature & Science in 2008

$50 million: Harold Simmons Foundation to Parkland Memorial Hospital in 2007

$50 million: Harold and Annette Simmons to UT Southwestern in 2005

$50 million: Annette Simmons to Trinity Park Conservancy in 2016

SOURCE: The Chronicle of Philanthropy