Home field named after alumnus David F. Alfonso family

Alumnus David F. Alfonso ’96 has a prediction for FIU graduates who have never been to an FIU football game: “Come to the first game on Sept. 1, and you will come to all the rest.”

When you do, you’ll be watching FIU’s champion football team play on the newly named Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium. Alfonso and the FIU Athletic Department announced the five-year naming rights for the home field last spring.

“Although this is incredibly fulfilling for our family, this is solely about FIU and the path our athletic program is on to becoming national contenders,” said Alfonso, the chairman and chief executive officer of Empire Investment Holdings. “Support from alumni and friends keeps the university moving forward. Our support further inspires student-athletes, coaches and staff who work so hard to represent FIU with distinction and to engender a great sense of pride and excitement.”

Executive Director of Sports and Entertainment Pete Garcia praised the support the Alfonso family has shown to Athletics. In addition to the naming gift for the field, Alfonso is a donor to the Living Scholar program, which helps support scholarships for student-athletes.

“This is a perfect example of the commitment needed to build a winning program,” Garcia said. “David’s vision is on par with what we are looking to accomplish here at FIU. It only seems fitting that his name be associated with the athletic program. Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium continues to be the crown jewel of FIU Athletics.”

Alfonso is a Lifetime Member of the Alumni Association and a member of the FIU Foundation Board of Directors. During the spring 2011 College of Business Administration commencement, President Mark B. Rosenberg awarded Alfonso the FIU Medallion honoring him as “one of South Florida’s leading businessmen, proud and generous FIU alumnus and exemplary role model for our community.”

In accepting the FIU Medallion, Alfonso told the graduates to “never forget how much this university did for you.” He worked full-time while he finished his degree in international relations and more than a decade passed before he returned to campus in 2008. The university he saw “truly provoked a feeling that you get when you visit any other nationally respected university that carries strong traditions and a loyal following.”

“We all share the same responsibility – that is, to recognize how important our role is to provide ongoing support through time and treasury,” he told the graduates.

Athletics, Alfonso said, are a key ingredient in maintaining that connection between graduates and the university. Alfonso brings his whole family – wife Linda and two daughters Madison and Victoria – to FIU football games.

“They love coming to the games,” he said. “It really is a family environment and a lot of fun. I encourage our alumni and friends to come out and see it for themselves. There is no reason why this stadium can’t be filled completely considering most of my fellow alumni reside right here in South Florida.”