This graduate's enthusiasm is contagious. Spend five minutes with Mike Rowe, and you've caught his excitement for UMBC and for what the University can achieve. A former athlete and now a Retriever Club supporter, Rowe has helped bring one of the program's signature events--the Retriever Club Golf Classic--to record levels of success, all for the benefit of UMBC's student-athletes.

To his own delight and that of UMBC, Michael Rowe has rediscovered his alma mater. "When you first graduate, you go on about your personal and professional life," says Rowe, who received a degree in psychology in 1978 and played on both UMBC's baseball and golf teams. "Then you come back, it's several years later, and you think to yourself, 'I went here. I graduated from here, and I'm proud of that.'"

For Rowe, who is a successful sales manager for Reliable-Churchill Liquors, the moment of realization came by way of his participation in the Retriever Club Golf Classic, which helps to generate funds necessary to support the athletic program and its student athletes. "The same event I'm running now," he says with a chuckle.

In fact, Rowe chaired last year's event and did so this year as well. Under his guidance, the 2001 Retriever Club Golf Classic generated over $30,000, more than doubling the amount of revenue generated the previous year. The event also attracted nearly 140 participants--the highest number since the tournament was held on two courses in 1996.

"I want people to know that UMBC is a great place," says Rowe, who is also a member of the Retriever Club Board, among other activities. "Not because I chose to go there. But because it is a great place, and by the way, I happened to have gone there."

"This is my way of giving back," he adds. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for UMBC. I left UMBC a heck of a lot smarter."

C. Emmerson Small, II
Economics '74
Senior Vice President, Morgan Stanley

UMBC Hall-of-Famer Emmerson Small is as committed to the University today as he was when he was on the basketball court 30 years ago. Now, instead of shooting hoops, he is helping today's student-athletes succeed in academics both through his volunteer service to the Retriever Club Board and through an endowment that provides tutoring for the basketball team.

As a forward for the UMBC basketball team during the early '70s, Emmerson Small was an accomplished athlete. He was the first UMBC player to score 1,000 points, earning him a place in the University's Athletic Hall of Fame. An economics major, Small was also a serious student and is today a senior vice president for the global financial services firm Morgan Stanley.

Small remains committed to and involved with his alma mater--something he credits to Gary Rupert, once a basketball coach at the Johns Hopkins University and now associate director of development at UMBC. "He was instrumental in all of this," says Small. "Gary contacted me and that's how I got re-ignited about UMBC and its athletic program."

Small chairs the Retriever Club Board, which was established to support academic and athletic excellence. He also assisted during the NCAA's process of certifying UMBC's athletic program and has served in an advisory capacity on other issues related to UMBC athletics.

In 1998, Small established the C. E. and Esther L. Small Endowment in memory of his parents. The endowment supports tutorial services for the basketball team. "My father was an excellent basketball player who played in a semi-pro league. My mother was insistent that I get a good education," he says. "This endowment is a culmination of both of their philosophies."

"Speaking from firsthand knowledge, being a student athlete is not an easy job, and I believe we should all support our student athletes," says Small.