PROVO — The story goes that as Ira Fulton walked away, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley turned to then-Brigham Young University President Merrill J. Bateman and asked, "Is this guy for real?"

Fortunately for BYU, the answer was yes.

Fifty million times.

It was September 1999, and President Hinckley spoke at the Marriott Center to celebrate the successful end to the university's "Lighting the Way" fund-raising campaign.

Some $380 million was raised for the school — well above the target of $250 million.

President Hinckley surprised the fund-raisers in the room when he issued a new challenge: Reach $400 million by the end of the year.

Afterward, Fulton stepped forward to meet President Hinckley. "You've got the $20 million," Fulton told the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

To be sure, Fulton's spur-of-the-moment gift pledge was very much for real.

Fulton is so real that the Arizona homebuilder would likely be on his way to becoming a billionaire if he'd simply stop writing checks that end in six zeroes.

The real story is how the LDS man found BYU so late in life.

Fulton was 67 before he gave a cent to the church-owned school. In the four years since, however, he and wife Mary Lou have become the largest donors in the university's history.

In all, the Fultons have donated $50 million to BYU.

The school reciprocated Thursday with a major bash to announce a fresh name for a large portion of its campus — the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology.

The Cougar Marching Band played "Happy Birthday" — Fulton turns 72 on Wednesday — as more than 1,500 people sang along in the Wilkinson Center ballroom.

It was a church connection that in 1999 put BYU fund-raisers in front of Fulton, who thought he'd "be nice but run them off real easy." Instead, a church fireside he attended with Bateman in Mesa, Ariz., piqued his interest in helping the school.

A visit to the Provo campus changed his life — and BYU's bottom line.

"I have the same feeling when I walk this campus as I do when I go to the (LDS) temple in Mesa," Fulton said after Thursday's party. "I believe that Brigham Young University is sacred ground."

In fact, Fulton's philanthropy is motivated by his desire to invest in the futures of BYU's students and to boost their earning power with the church's and university's benefit in mind.

"The church needs the tithing income," said Fulton, referring to LDS Church members who give 10 percent of their income to the church. "My payback is off the increase. If they make more money, they'll pay more tithing."