UANYC Celebrates The Holidays Big Apple Style

Alabama luminaries shine at chapter's annual holiday celebration.

December 7, 2009

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NEW YORK -- The Greater New York Chapter of the University of Alabama Alumni Association (UANYC) celebrated a banner year at its annual holiday party held at the Silverleaf Tavern in midtown Manhattan.

Nearly 100 alumni were attendance, including University dignitaries Director of Athletics Mal Moore, National Alumni Association President Ben Shurett, Associate Vice President for Advancement Karen Baldwin, Vice President for Advancement Pamela Parker, Associate Director of Athletics Ronny Robertson and Director of Alumni Affairs Pat Whetstone.

“It just amazes me that people so far away from Tuscaloosa are so hungry for information and starved for any tidbit of news about the campus, the University, our teams, coaches and players,” said Moore. “It’s important to (this chapter) so it has to be important to us to have people (the University) means a lot to.”

The annual holiday event had much to celebrate coming on the heels of the chapter being named the Out-of-State Alumni Chapter of the Year for 2008-09 and on the eve of former Crimson Tide standout Woodrow Lowe being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The chapter unveiled its new chapter logo designed by Laura Mills, a 2009 graduate, whose work was selected among 11 entries in a logo design initiative coordinated with the Advertising and Public Relations 418 (Advanced Advertising Development) class taught by professor Mike Little this summer.

Rick Burch (’78) was honored as the 2008-09 Greater New York Chapter Alumnus of the Year. A member of the University’s President's Cabinet and School of Business Board of Visitors, he recently endowed the Richard A. Burch Endowed Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to a student from the tri-state area entering the University. In June, he retired as Senior Vice President at Pfizer after over two decades of service.   

The evening featured a silent auction and a raffle highlighted by a private breakfast with Moore at the Waldorf Astoria, won by Kristen Prince; two zone tickets to a 2010 home football game, won by Brian O’Keefe; a 2010 home football opener package that featured two game tickets, VIP access and parking, won by Chris Boehmch; and a Joe Namath signed football, won by Robin Lawson.

Silent auction and raffle items were donated by the Alabama Athletics Department and Crimson Tide Sports Marketing, John Dockery of Namath/Dockery Football Camps, Corey Gibbs of Ticket Solutions, Inc., and Warren St. John, author of Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer and Outcasts United.

A portion of the evening’s proceeds will be donated to the University’s National Alumni Association Scholarship Fund on behalf of the Greater New York chapter.

“It’s been an outstanding year for our chapter and this event is such a wonderful way to cap off the year celebrating the holidays with our Alabama friends and family,” said chapter president Huston Stewart. “We’re so excited to keep growing as a chapter, welcoming new alumni to the tri-state area, and to continue to support the mission and goals of the University.”