Alumni Association membership comes with benefits, but alumnus David Bekerman received a surprise reward soon after joining: private suite tickets to a Texas Rangers baseball game.

Alumni Association membership has its benefits. Just ask alumnus David Bekerman, who won tickets to a luxury suite for a Texas Rangers baseball game through an Alumni Association contest.

“While I was at a Rangers game I saw the UT Arlington Alumni Association booth and renewed my membership,” he explained. “I was entered into a contest and won eight tickets.”

Bekerman’s tickets were for a game during June, so he rounded up seven friends and headed to Ameriquest Field for some cool fun on a hot day in an air-conditioned suite.

Sports played a big part in Bekerman’s college experience. He played intramural basketball and spent much of his leisure time playing softball and golf and following UT Arlington basketball.

“I really loved basketball, especially at UT Arlington,” he said. “The Mavericks almost made it to the NCAA Tournament the year I graduated.”

Bekerman, 25, graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He worked for Chase Bank in Dallas for about two years and now works for Compass Bank in Fort Worth. As an assistant relationship manager, he provides credit analysis, helps maintain a portfolio, assists in acquiring customers and gathers components to put a loan package together.

At UT Arlington, he was on the Moot Court team advised by political science Professor Charles Knerr. He credits the experience with helping prepare him for his career. The mock trials improved his public speaking, he said. Bekerman describes UT Arlington as having “a great location, great students and great teachers.”

He says his professors provided a good balance of theory and practical information, because so many faculty members had business experience before becoming professors.

“They taught us to work hard, because the more you put into something, the more you get out of it,” he said.

Bekerman says the reason he joined the Alumni Association has nothing to do with the benefits that come with membership.

“I wanted to show my support for UTA,” he said.

Others are doing the same. Membership increased 136 percent in 2005-06 thanks to mailings that featured the University’s new logo and image as well as membership recruiting events like Alumni Night at the Rangers’ game, says Kerri Ressl, the Alumni Association’s assistant director for membership and marketing.

For membership information, visit www.uta.edu/alumni.

— Kim Pewitt-Jones