--- title: Driving Home Pride date: 2024-05-17T16:07:00-04:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://terp.umd.edu/driving-home-pride" section: Articles --- # Driving Home Pride *May 17, 2024* — by [Maggie Haslam](/authors/maggie-haslam) > UMD-themed vanity plates are the highway four-leaf clovers we love to spot. We share some of the best—and the tales behind the tags. *collection of Terp license plates* **CONSIDER THE THRILLING** roadway rush of spying a UMD-themed license plate amid the slog of a hellish Beltway commute or bumper-to-bumper beach traffic. Now, imagine the feeling of finding one 2,700 miles from College Park that’s exactly like yours. Lee Givens Jr. MBA ’05 was crossing the I-90 bridge in Seattle for a Mariners game in 2019 when he closed in on an SUV with Oregon plates that read “TERPS”—the same plates he had on his Washington State-registered Tesla Model Y. “I quickly took a picture from my dash and then passed the driver and pulled in front of him,” recalls Givens. “His kid was in the passenger seat and started going crazy when he saw my plates. I mean, what are the chances? It was just awesome.” Givens is one of hundreds of alums who have emblazoned their Maryland pride on their ride, paying their home state from $20 to $80 annually to own University of Maryland-themed vanity plates: We found “B1G TERP” in North Carolina, “TERP 02” in Minnesota, “TERPFAN” in Pennsylvania and “TERP 72” in Arizona. Some alums go the extra step of ordering UMD-branded plates or frames or sport Maryland-red paint jobs. In Givens’ case, he tried roughly 40 letter/number combinations while living in Maryland to no avail, finally nabbing the prized “TERPS” after taking a job in Seattle in 2011. He practically sprinted to the Department of Motor Vehicles to fill out an application as soon as he arrived in town. “I think I did it before I bought my first groceries.” While UMD-themed plates are prolific in the DMV, as miles from College Park accumulate, so does the confusion. “What the hell is a Terp?” has been uttered by rangers in Yosemite and confused with a love of cannabis on the West Coast. But UMD-themed plates have also elicited honks, fist pumps and an occasional friendly tackle in the grocery store parking lot. (These usually involve sports fans.) *Terp* magazine scoured the country’s highways, driveways and parking bays for UMD-themed vanity tags and the proud alums behind them. Buckle up for their origin stories, roadside run-ins and looks that stop traffic. --- *Diane and John Alahouzos proudly pose in front of their car, which features a "GOTERPS" license plate — Photo by John T. Consoli* --- *four license plates that read, "ALLTERP," "OC TERP," "OCTRP2" and "OCTERP3"* > I moved (to North Carolina) in 1989 and had to wait years for someone to give up TERPS. I checked each year, and then sometime in the ’90s it was available. I always say someone had to die before I could get that. May they rest in Terrapin peace.” — Vince Scanlon ’84 *man points to "TERP2BA" license plate on back of car* --- Despite the distance from College Park to the Phoenix suburbs, strangers stop Rodney Adelman ’72 in parking lots and wave to him on the road when they spot **TERP 72**. When a mechanic recently asked him what the plates mean, he responded, **“Are you a college sports fan? Well, let me tell you about the Terrapins.’”** --- *TERPUMD license plate* --- *Man points to "TERP MAN" license plate and woman points to "CAL GAL" plate* If Sanjay Tolani ’94, MBA ’01 ever chose a life of crime, he’d never be allowed to drive the getaway car. Tolani is known to friends, family—even strangers on the street—as **TERP MAN**, the yin to his wife Anita’s yang. (A Berkeley grad, she’s **CAL GAL**.) “People will say, **‘Hey! I saw you at the airport!’** I’ve had them for so long, everyone knows it’s me,” he laughs. He once found a note left on his windshield about the 1953 football championship and frequently gets honks on the road. “Sometimes if I’m driving my wife’s car, I’ll get a honk; and then they pull up next to me and start laughing when they see a man behind the wheel.” --- *FRDTRTL license plate* --- *two red cars parked next to each other with TERP07 and TERP06 license plates* Virginia began offering the University of Maryland-branded license plate during Stephanie Casway’s senior year at Maryland. She sat at her computer until midnight the night they were available to snag **TERP07**. (Her husband, Jason Harris ’05, now has **TRPCPA**.) After her first child was born in 2016, she went to a new moms’ group at a Northern Virginia church and realized she’d parked next to a car with the plates **TERP06**. It turned out to belong to one of Casway’s sorority sisters, Sandi Horton ’06, who she hadn’t seen in a decade, and later connected with on Facebook. --- ## PLATE PUZZLEMENT When **TERP** is taken, sometimes you have to get creative—and do a lot of explaining: *DBACK1 license plate* *TERP license plate birdhouse* *MD TERP license plate* --- *GOTERPS license plate* --- *W1LLWIN license plate* --- *5 plateenvy* **Issue:** [Spring 2024](https://terp.umd.edu/editions/spring-2024) **Types:** [Features](https://terp.umd.edu/category/features)