UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 21, Page 2
February 22, 1996
Scholarships to benefit from UD license plates

     Dr. Alfred B. Brown, Delaware '59, came away the big winner
Sunday at an auction for official University of Delaware license
plates, held after the Blue Hens-Drexel game.
     Brown submitted the highest bid and became the proud owner of six
of the new UD plates--UD 5, UD 10, UD 18, UD 20, UD 23 and the highly
coveted UD 1--for which he spent a grand total of $7,230.
     "I'll probably have to eat at McDonald's now on the way home,"
Brown quipped, as he signed the ownership papers to his six new tags.
The Hockessin resident, who has a dental practice in Wilmington, says
he will show off his UD 1 plate on the back of his black Mercedes Benz
and will divide the other plates among himself and his sons, two of
whom also are UD graduates.
     Almost 100 people packed the Bob Carpenter Club with aspirations
of purchasing a tag that would carry sentimental value beyond price.
More than $27,000 was raised from the sale of the tags.
     The sought-after UD 1 plate initiated an animated auction at the
club as Brown and another bidder jockeyed back and forth for the
rights to the lowest-digit plate. The bidding started at $600 and
increased in increments of $50, $100 and then by $500, until reaching
Brown's winning bid of $5,500.
     The plate was originally offered to UD President David P.
Roselle, but he declined, saying he'd rather see the plate up for
auction because proceeds would benefit student scholarships and other
University programs.
     Brown said he was a recipient of a UD student scholarship.
     "It's an honor to have this license plate," Brown said. "I'm glad
I could help the program in any way possible," he said.
     Bids for all license plates started at $100, and bidders had the
opportunity to mail in offers rather than attend the live auction, but
then, of course, risked being outbid.
     License plates of interest included mail-in bids of $100 for UD
plate 9999 and such random plates at 7654 and 7821. Most plates were
purchased to signify graduation years such as 1979 ($300), 1968 ($250)
and 1951 ($551). John Medkeff bid $170 for a UD 85 plate because he
wanted to adorn the back of his Toyota truck.
     Barbara Owens, president of the Alumni Association, bid $150 for
the year she graduated--UD 58. "I wish it was the year I was born,"
she said, laughing.
     And, Bill Stevenson chanced his luck on number 13, offering $200
for the plate because he was born on July 13.
     Bob McNutt, chairperson of the Alumni Scholarship Committee, said
that the sale of the UD 1 plate was the equivalent of six alumni
scholarships that will be offered.
     "I feel good about the whole auction," Brown said. "It was for a
good cause."
                                                      --Jaret M. Lyons