There's nothing like a worldwide financial meltdown to kick-start an alumni association's career networking offerings. In 2009, the Northwestern University alumni board provided clear direction to its regional affiliates and to the full-time staff working at the Evanston, Illinois, campus: Develop ways to purposefully connect alumni with each other to strengthen the Northwestern network. In other words, help alumni use one another as career and personal development resources. At the same time, on the other side of campus, the athletics department was faced with a men's basketball schedule that included several midweek tipoffs scheduled for 8 p.m. The timing of these games did not easily fit within a marketing strategy that was designed to appeal to families. During the previous season, the athletics staff had piloted a series of speed networking nights at basketball games to help increase attendance. The events were moderately successful; yet, the athletics staff had a sense that they could be bigger and better if athletics partnered with the alumni association. For both, there was potential to engage and connect with an audience of alumni who had not previously attended games or events. This article describes how a partnership with athletics produced a winning alumni program.