![\"hoc\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/newsimg.furman.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/hoc-e1366898112788.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cHouse of Cards,\u201d which launched its third season on Feb. 27, tells a very different story of prominence, the story of a ruthless Congressman from Gaffney named Francis \u201cFrank\u201d Underwood, played by Academy-Award winning actor Kevin Spacey.<\/p>\nFrank and Furman come together in episode three of the first season, when Frank leaves Washington, D.C., to make an appearance in his home district, where a teenage girl, Jessica Masters, has tragically died in a car accident. The 17-year-old, a rising star, scholar and athlete, had been accepted to Furman on a full volleyball scholarship. After a sticky dispute with town fathers, Underwood tells her parents he\u2019s spoken with the president of Furman and together they decided to establish a new scholarship in their daughter\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Though it\u2019s been more than 100 years since his first relative graduated, Willimon said his family\u2019s ties to Furman stuck in his mind.<\/p>\n
Willimon\u2019s great-grandmother, Maud Pack Willimon, earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in English in 1902 from Greenville Women\u2019s College, which later became part of Furman University. Her son, Henry Pack Willimon Sr., graduated from Furman in 1931 with a bachelor of law degree and went onto practice law in Greenville well into his eighties.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandfather loved Furman,\u201d Willimon said in a phone interview. \u201cHe loved Greenville.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willimon\u2019s father, Henry Pack Willimon Jr., also grew up in Greenville prior to joining the U.S. Navy and becoming an attorney in St. Louis, Mo. He played a key role in establishing Underwood\u2019s roots on \u201cHouse of Cards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beau Willimon thought Frank Underwood needed to come from a relatively small town in South Carolina, so he asked his father, Henry, for ideas. \u201cWhat about Gaffney?\u201d his father replied.<\/p>\n
After visiting Gaffney and meeting with the mayor and county administrator, Willimon\u2019s mind was made up and Frank\u2019s hometown was settled.<\/p>\n
Due to production costs, crews weren\u2019t able to come South for the taping, he said. Instead, Gaffney scenes were shot in Maryland, in Aberdeen and in Havre de Grace, a town on Chesapeake Bay.<\/p>\n
Still, Willimon\u2019s ode to the South comes out strong in the series, with pitchers of sweet tea and plates of barbecue popping up regularly. There\u2019s even a framed picture of the Gaffney peachoid water tower hanging in Frank Underwood\u2019s office in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thrilled by the response to the series,\u201d Willimon said. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten great response from people all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willimon\u2019s play, \u201cFarragut North,\u201d became the basis for the motion-picture screenplay, \u201cIdes of March,\u201d with George Clooney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ryan Gosling, which earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay.<\/p>\n
Much of \u201cIdes of March\u201d and \u201cHouse of Cards\u201d was inspired by Willimon\u2019s work on political campaigns for Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Bill Bradley and Howard Dean. Willimon, a St. Louis native, earned a master\u2019s degree in playwriting from Columbia University\u2019s School of the Arts in 2003.<\/p>\n
Despite his growing fame, Willimon\u2019s connection to Greenville has stayed strong. His family keeps a goat farm just outside Greenville, along with two donkeys, Jack and Jenny, which Willimon visits regularly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love my iced tea. I have been known to eat grits,\u201d said Willimon, who now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. \u201cAnd I have to admit I have a fondness for barbecue\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\t\t