From Yankees game to Bronx Zoo, N.Y. club draws alumni

With a city like New York as the backdrop for alumni gatherings, the job of club coordinator may be a bit simpler for Erik Sulzbach, AS ’96, than for his peers in other locales.

“It is definitely easier to get people to attend our events,” Sulzbach says, adding that they have alumni from outside of the city who want to join the club as well. “We have people from Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut calling me or e-mailing me to join. Many of their friends who are alums living in New York City keep them plugged in.”

Attendance at the events is predominantly made up of alumni in their 20s and 30s, he says, but “we get all ages and, when we do, the younger alums love mingling with the older ones to ask them about what Delaware was like before they were there.”

“We get a pretty good size group at each event,” he says, noting the average attendance is about 70, although President Patrick Harker’s November visit drew a crowd of more than 300 alumni to the Rainbow Room.

Still, like many other alumni groups across the country, when the University’s teams are in contention for championship titles, the alums like to gather to cheer on their alma mater. “The UD championship games have been the most popular,” Sulzbach says.

The New York City club has also hosted charity events for organizations. “One of our best attended events was a benefit for cystic fibrosis, held at the Chelsea Piers,” Sulzbach says. “We raised several thousand dollars by sending a coed team of UD alums to compete with other universities.

“We have played team sports against other alumni clubs and for charity, too.”

Sulzbach says the New York City club is planning to set up softball teams for the summer as well as sponsoring an event featuring a New York Yankees game. He says he intends to have more trips that will interest young families, such as a visit to the Bronx Zoo.

Sulzbach, an executive director at JPMorgan, has served as club coordinator since 1997 after an event he attended spurred him on to volunteer.
“I asked if they needed help, and it’s all history from there,” he says.

— Laura Overturf Stetser, AS ’99