Be among friends in The Gator Nation

Author: Unknown Publication Date: Friday November 18, 2011

While visiting Gainesville recently, Carlos Hondal (BSAC ’82) of Coral Gables learned The Gator Nation has the 13th largest alumni association in the country. And he didn’t like it.

“You’d think we’d be a lot higher than 13th,” he said. “We have a lot of people who consider themselves Gators, but they haven’t taken the step of joining the alumni association.”

Hondal, for one, decided to do something about it. He and six friends from across the state come to Gainesville every football season for their annual “Roommates Weekend,” a tradition that started when the bulk of them graduated from UF in 1982. This year, Hondal added an extra element by asking five of them — three who weren’t alumni association members and two who were lapsed members — to consider joining. All of them did.

“They joined the UFAA more as a gesture of friendship towards me, than just to get the great benefits of the UFAA and the Association of Hispanic Alumni,” said Hondal, president of the AHA. “They joined because I asked them to do it and understood the value of the membership after we talked about it.”

If every Gator recruited friends the way Hondal did, The Gator Nation would grow to 183,356 and take a commanding lead as the No. 1 largest alumni association in the country. It can be done with your help.

Find three friends — your golf buddy, your tailgating crew, a co-worker … you could even add your spouse to your annual membership for just $10 — and encourage them to join. If enough of us do it, we can take 12th place away from Iowa. If all of us do it, The Gator Nation will jump to No. 1.

It just takes three friends.

Learn more about alumni membership