XULA alums Egans, Olafioye donate to basketball programs

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana graduates and former athletes David Egans and Olumide Olafioye recently made a generous monetary gift to the XULA basketball programs, Executive Director of Athletics and Recreation Nathan Cochran said Wednesday.

“David and Lum also committed to future donations to support Xavier Athletics,” Cochran said. “Xavier is thankful and grateful for their efforts and focus.”

Egans and Olafioye are co-founders of Get Max Tax, a certified tax preparation service with multiple U.S. locations.

“Xavier gave Lum and me a great foundation to help us go out in the world and be successful,” Egans said. “With this donation and future donations, we want to help plant a seed with other former Xavier athletes and encourage them to give back, too.”

Egans played basketball for the Gold Rush from 2000-02 and is No. 7 at XULA in career points per game with 16.3. Olafioye — his full name is pronounced uh-LOU-ma-day oh-la-fy-oh-yay — played from 2006-09, scored 742 points and, over his final two seasons, shot 50 percent from the floor. Egans was a XULA men’s basketball assistant coach from 2006-09.

Olafioye and Egans helped XULA earn a share of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championship in 2006-07 and upset third-seeded Georgetown (Ky.) in the first round of NAIA nationals.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to give back to Xavier, where it all started for me,” Olafioye said. “Dave and I hope other alums will get on board to give back to Xavier Athletics.”