Sports events most popular with Atlanta alumni

With his background in reporting, the networking aspect of alumni events drew Anthony Wilbert, AS ’87, to become an alumni coordinator.

“I have a natural interest in what people are doing,” he says.

As the coordinator for the Atlanta club, Wilbert says he has been amazed at the connections he and other Blue Hens have been able to make just by attending the get-togethers.

“I worked at the Journal Constitution Business Chronicle for 14 years as a reporter,” he says, “and I had a source for 10 years that I never knew went to the University of Delaware until he responded to an e-mail invitation for our last event in May.”

At first the size of the Atlanta group shocked him, he says.

“We have a pretty strong club down here, which is surprising since we are a good distance away from campus,” he says, noting that even his neighbor is a UD graduate. “We have identified more than 300 Blue Hens in the Atlanta area, and we are trying to identify more.”

The city draws a lot of graduates, he says, because it is the hub for many Fortune 500 companies, such as Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola and The Home Depot, where Wilbert works in public relations.

Wilbert says the reason he decided to become an alumni coordinator is that he has always been a supporter of the University and sees it as a way to stay connected to his alma mater.

“I think it’s a great way to network and keep in touch with what’s happening in Newark and also with what people have done since they left,” he says.

His recent events included a networking event at the Georgia Aquarium in May, a relatively new attraction for the city.

“It was a good event,” he says. “A lot of people hadn’t been there yet, so it was a pretty cool place to have it. About 55 alumni showed, which is a good turnout.”

There is always a range of ages present, he says, and the latest event was no different. They recognized the earliest and the most recent graduate that attended with UD T-shirts.

“We had some ‘old timers,’ if you will, who graduated in the ’50s and ’60s as well as some brand new graduates. That’s the key—to keep getting the newer alumni,” he says.

Earlier in the spring, then University President David Roselle traveled to speak to the group. He updated them on capital improvements and details about the incoming student body.

“The amount of construction on campus surprised a lot of people who hadn’t been back in years,” Wilbert says. “And a few joked that they couldn’t get into the school now” with the SAT scores that the latest applicants have.

Wilbert says that sporting events are normally the most popular, and an informal poll that evening confirmed it.

“The response was pretty unanimous —the group wanted to go to an Atlanta Braves game,” he says. “People just seem to connect with the Braves, even if they aren’t from Atlanta.”

But, he says, for those who still hold tightly to teams closer to the University, he will arrange for tickets to a match-up with either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Baltimore Orioles.

—Laura Overturf Stetser AS ’99