2020 Cossa Challenge Continues Despite COVID-19

Thirty-one Kappa Sigmas and one prospective member from all over the US have made the cut for the 2020 Cossa Challenge, our annual alumni split-the-pot fundraiser based on the March NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket Game.

Alumni should download the Tournament Program with team briefs here.

A Basketball Tournament Unlike Any Before It

With unprecedented NCAA tournament cancellation because of the spread of COVID-19 this year's Cossa Challenge features the "safe-distance" virtual competition of our own Theta-Upsilon Chapter Alumni, Kappa Sigma's from the Nu-Psi Chapter of Cincinnati and one member of the Star & Crescent Society, the new interest group seeking to become a colony of Kappa Sigma at Miami University. 

Our tournament will be visible on YouTube at the KSTUAA Channel 

The Cossa 60 Second Basketball Challenge schedule: 

First Round (32 teams): Saturday April 11 and Sunday April 12. 

Sweet 16: Thursday, April 16 & Friday, April 17

Elite 8: Thursday, April 23 & Friday, April 24

Final Four: Saturday, April 25   

National Championship Game: will be played Sunday, April 26*

Results will be posted here.

Making the Most of this Year's Tournament

Alumni are encouraged to use this event as an excuse to connect by holding virtual watch parties and enjoy the games together using Zoom or other technologies.  Order some take-out from Buffalo Wild Wings maybe some Wiedemann and enjoy some fellowship knowing you are supporting your fellow Kappa Sigma brothers.

 

We NEED YOU, our alumni to show your support by either playing the Cossa Challenge ($25 per bracket  up to six) or making a donation to KSTUAA to help us fund our efforts to connect our alumni and help the interest group grow. (See list of donors at right.)

Download the bracket spreadsheet to make your picks.

Email it to Bracket Grand Master, Brother Mikes by Thursday, April 9.  If you are unable to open the spreadsheet email us requesting an alternative.


To make make a donation or pay for brackets via PayPal: 

Or send a check to the KSTUAA Treasurer:

*The championship game may be played as a simulcast on Sunday, otherwise it will appear on YouTube like the other games on Monday April 27.

NCAA cancels the Tourney but KSTUAA presses on to bring Madness Fun back for its Alumni!

Sunday March 15 was to be a holy day… “Selection Sunday,” but in an unprecedented move the NCAA cancelled the men’s and women’s Basketball tournament for 2020 to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The decision ends the dreams of 100’s of teams and hundreds of thousands of fans who have looked forward to this tournament all season. It also ends all the fun social interactions in thousands of office pools where even the people that have no idea what state Gonzaga University is from or what is a Billiken attempt to overcome the 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 odds to make a perfect bracket!

It also meant that KSTUAA’s annual Cossa Challenge event and fundraiser was cancelled.

KSTUAA Steps up to revive the fun

The KSTUAA Communication and Events Committee went to the drawing board to create something to replace this annual tradition for our alumni.

“This is a big deal! March is a huge month for sports, probably the biggest of the year and it’s all gone. Our alumni love March Madness and the Cossa Challenge. We had to do something!” said Brother Brad Mikes, Chairman of the committee and the annual “Grand Master of Brackets.”

The committee is organizing a new virtual tournament they are calling the “Cossa 60 Second Challenge” with all the best features of the annual tournament but with considerations made for “Social Distancing” guidelines.  The tournament will feature 64 contestants, seeding, brackets and a three-week basketball tournament with contests available for watching for free on YouTube.

“It’s got it all!  Great competition and surprising upsets! Basketballs! Alumni can watch the competition on your mobile device, computer or TV at home working or relaxing with beer! We even have instant reply to determine if the ball was released before the buzzer!” said committee member, Brother Wes Bren.

“There is a big demand and a huge void for sports right now with everything else cancelled!  In fact, when I was filming the instructional video, one of my neighbors ruined the take because she yelled out ‘Can I watch?’” Bren said.

The new sports programming is also important for KSTUAA.  The brackets enable Alumni to participate in the annual “split-the-pot” type fundraiser to fund KSTUAA mailings, events, communications and this year’s special project to help the “Star and Crescent Society” a student group at Miami University interested in bringing Kappa Sigma back to campus.

Moving Fast to fill the void

“Once we have our field collected, we will seed the brackets as quickly as we can,” said Mikes. “KSTUAA will publish team bios and send out brackets for Alumni to fill out return. Then the competition will begin.”

The committee hopes to be running just one week behind the original NCAA schedule. Said Bren, “We hope to have the Brackets seeded and ready for our version of “Selection Sunday” on March 22 and start the competition on March 27.”

“Only our Dynamic Duo of Mikes and Bren could have come up with something as wild as this and pull it off so quickly!” said KSTUAA President Clay Hunt. “I am looking forward to being one of the competitors myself. I’m probably a 12 seed.  But I can’t wait to see 64 alumni on video in this competition, putting their reputations on the line, in fun competition with other alumni, helping a new generation of Kappa Sigs. This will be great fun. This why I am a Kappa Sigma!”

The committee is accepting registrations starting now. Register here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RTBV5CF

The instructional video is be available on the KSTUAA YouTube Channel where the tournament will be available: https://youtu.be/266UtEd_OTE

This site will contain bracket updates throughout the challenge.

Miami Homecoming 2019 delivers early wins!

Alumni from multiple decades enjoy a dominating performance by the Miami Redhawks. 

Front Row: Jay Rammes, Rick Sippola, James Patton, Mark &Mr.s Householder, Doug Buse

Back Row: David Brinkman, Jay Cavender, Jay Puccio & Wes Bren

Miami Homecoming came very early this year, September 7, perhaps scheduled to ensure Alumni were guaranteed a win which did happen as the Miami Redhawks rolled over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 48 to 17. As of this writing Miami stands in second place in the MAC East (3-1) with a 4-4 record which includes losses to some tough competition from the likes of THE Ohio State University and University of Cincinnati and Iowa. 

KSTUAA sponsored an Alumni Tailgate before the game which was hosted by the 10 members of the new Chapter Advisory Council, a new standing committee focused on helping the undergraduate chapter.  See more details about the group at CAC. Homecoming provided an opportunity for the CAC to meet with several freshmen interested in restarting a Kappa Sigma Chapter.  While any official recruiting work can't be done until the Spring in deference to the deferred Rush rules at Miami and other Fraternities in the restart process the tailgate provided an opportunity for the CAC to get back on campus and even see the work being done on the Stone House and work done by Crossroads on Shoe Box. 

KSTUAA purchased block tickets which meant Kappa Sigma was featured on the scoreboard!

The weekend, the first after Labor Day also meant the annual Fricker Cup golf tournament. Survey earlier in the year had shown that Oxford was the most popular destination this year beating out Cincinnati and Chicago. With Homecoming falling on the same weekend it appeared to be a great pick. 

"Registrations were lower than expected, and we were missing some perennial champions like Gordo but we had great weather for this year's contest," said  a member of the Fricker Cup Rules Committee. "For the 2020 Fricker Cup we are looking at changing the date and picking a great golfing destination."

This year's winners were Brothers Dr. Jay "Party Bro" Puccio '82 and Wes Bren '85.  This was the first their first victory despite earlier attempts. Bren said, "It was a little like the Homecoming football game yesterday, we really didn't have any competition!"

Join us and a Colony Interest Group at Miami's Homecoming 2019

The planets are aligning on the weekend of September 7-8! 

It is Miami's Homecoming Weekend

AND it's 
The 2019 Fricker Cup Weekend 

AND... 

We are likely to have an Colony/Interest Group! 

KSTUAA is organizing events for our Alumni on both Saturday and Sunday. 


On Saturday, September 7 we will host a cook-out before the Homecoming Football Game. This will provide an opportunity for Alumni including our newly created Chapter Advisory Council to meet the students interested in restarting a Kappa Sigma Chapter at Miami. 

Then at 2:30 we have reserved a block of tickets as Miami hosts Tennessee Tech at Yager Stadium. Online registration and payment through PayPal is displayed below or you can send a check to the KSTUAA Treasurer, Jim Lewis. Feel free to bring your spouse or entire family to the game! Email us if you have any questions. 

After the game, many of us will be heading uptown for some Fellowship time in some of our favorite spots. 

Sunday is the Fricker Cup at the Hueston Woods Golf Course. Registration forms for this this year's event can be found on this website on the Fricker Cup page.  Note ***You dont have to play in the Fricker Cup to attend the Homecoming festivities or vice versa*** 

Alumni needing to stay the night are encouraged to make hotel reservations ASAP and/or seek alternative arrangements in the area. The last we checked there were still rooms at Hueston Woods Lodge. Additional information can be found on Mimai's website: https://miamioh.edu/homecoming/

More details will be posted on Social Media and shared through email in a Fricker Flash!

Reserve your tickets now:

Homecoming 2019

Football Game & Dues $50.00 USD Football Game with Guest & Dues $75.00 USD

Guest's Name:

Tickets are $25 per extra person. Regularly $32.50 

You can also mail payment to: 

KSTUAA Treasurer

3007 Jamestown Ct

Woodbridge, VA 22192-3213

Dublin Weather Greets the 2018 Fricker Cup Participants

Weather more typical for Dublin, Ireland greeted Brothers at the Dublin Golf Club in Dublin Ohio for the 2018 Fricker Cup.  For the first time since the start of the tournament participants had less than perfect weather for the event.  Rain, 5 mph winds and 60 degree temperatures challenged the 3rd largest group of teams ever to play for the trophy. Most, but not all finished. In the end, the Fricker Cup had its first repeat winner, Brother Brad "Gordo" Flinders IC '86 teamed this time with Brother Brian Harding IC '86.

Harding reflecting on the win said, "Flinder's strong and steady play gave me the confidence to take some risks like hitting my driver from the fairway and aiming through trees to see if we could save a few strokes and get our names on the prestigious cup!" The gamble paid off with the Flinders/Harding team beating out the Howell/Bouve team by one stroke.

Practically a force of nature, euchre games continued throughout the evening
until there was no longer 4 Brothers left to play.

The weekend started off warmly the night before at the Winking Lizard in Grandview with dozens of alumni initiated across three decades and who had traveled in from six states reconnecting. Stories, cards, food and beverages were shared and in some cases, unknowingly until the end of the night, the tabs! 

Brother James Lewis '74 said he journeyed down the block to visit Brother Kirk Finfrock's IC '79  Twisted Vine Wine and Culebra Cigars stores where a wine tasting was going on. (You will of course always patronize your brother.)  

The 2018 Fricker Cup format remained a “Two-Person Best Ball” format with both players playing their own ball and required a final score including at least 6 holes from each player. The event again featured some of its unique rules including the Eddie Switcheroo Card, the Vuicich Mercy Rule (that saved the teams playing behind Brothers Hunt and Rosiniski from another 3 hours on the course!) and the Twitter Leader Board requirement where updates were posted to @The EddieFricker with the #FrickerCup so interested brothers could track the play. 

The weather this year negatively impacted the amount of photos and video taken from the course.  The only photo taken by the players was one from the clubhouse afterwards directed at the primary event organizer Brother Wes Bren IC '85 where everyone affectionately saluted him with hand gestures indicating he was number one in their hearts. #AEKDB!

Brother Henry is congratulated for the tournaments shortest
drive (Prize: a fine ladies hat) by Brother Bren.

"I was very touched by their gestures," said Bren who traveled to the event this year but could not play because of a back injury. Later that evening Bren led the awards ceremony from a private reception at Ten Pin Alley in Downtown Hilliard, home to some of this years participants. The Rules Committee was careful to select quality prizes that were not purchased at Spencers this year after several complaints were received during the 50th anniversary tournament.

Reflecting on the achievement of being the first alumnus to repeat as champion, the former Miami University golf team member said, "Next to watching porn on my new 75" mirror, winning a 2nd Fricker Cup is my Greatest Achievement!" Miami University officials requesting not to be identified also confirmed that Brother Flinder's accomplishments as an alumnus have been limited and said, "We are glad he has this."

Second Time Fricker Cup Champion, Brother Flinders and partner Brother Harding
celebrate the win and the dream-come-true of hoisting the trophy
with bare hands!

Harding said, "I was lucky Brad choose me to be his partner.  We are a good team with bodies like cherubs but our edge comes from the fact that Gordo doesn't worry about comparisons to other golfers, at least by height or belly size, just skill. We look forward to defending our win in 2019. AEKDB!" 

The 2019 Fricker Cup will be held the weekend after Labor Day (September 7, 2019) most likely near South Bend, Indiana. 

Prizes Winners included:

Fricker Cup Trophy: Brad Flinders IC’86 & Brian Harding IC’86

Alumnus who traveled the farthest: Jim Lewis IC’74 Virginia

Best Team Uniforms: Mark Storts IC’92 & Ed Kendall IC’89

Longest made putt (Hole 18): Jeff Meek IC ‘87

Longest Drive (Hole 10): Jeff Meek IC ‘87

Closest to the Pin (Hole 18): Doug Baker IC ‘86 (for the second time in a row!)

Shortest Drive: John "Slug" Henry IC’85 (for less than 6 inches) 

Worst attire: Kurt Ebling IC’88 (received OSU branded golf tees for wearing a maize & Blue "M" hat to a course in Columbus?)  

Doug Baker, Jeff Meek and John Henry.

Brett Howell, David Bouve, Brad Flinders and Brian Harding.

David Torborg, Tom Clarke, Larry Rosinski and Clay Hunt.

Mark Storts, Ed Kendall, Steve Hughes and Kurt Ebling. 

Patrick Reedy, Brian Liederbach, Brad Storts and Brian Olah.

Taking Columbus by FOREce: 2018 Fricker Cup Arrives Sept 8

In what has become our most unique and fun annual tradition, The Fricker Cup comes to Columbus, Ohio September 8 giving alumni from across the country the opportunity and excuse to reconnect with friends and brothers for a great weekend! 

Alumni Reception Open to Everyone 
(No Charge, sponsored by KSTUAA)
The 2018 edition begins with an Alumni Reception Friday, September 7 at the Winking Lizard Tavern in historic and energetic Grandview Heights from 7:00-9:00.  

Brothers showing up a little early can walk west a few blocks for a wine tasting at The Twisted Vine or grab a couple cigars at Culebra Cigars, businesses run by Brother Kirk Finfrock IC’79.  More than 15 taverns, pubs, restaurants and the Knotty Pine brewpub are also nearby. 

A short Uber/Lyft ride away  are the Arena Entertainment District, the Short North, the Old Brewery District/German Village and The Ohio State University Campus area and High Street. The Alpha-Sigma Chapter house, an old governors mansion is nearby and worth a drive by. Who knows, maybe someone might even let you in if you can remember the pass!

Where New Legends are Made: The Fricker Cup
The annual Fricker Cup Golf Tournament provides two Kappa Sigma, Theta-Upsilon Alumni the opportunity to win our Chapter’s most coveted prize: their names engraved on THE Fricker Cup and the ability to hoist the cup with their bare hands in victory while avoiding the curse of Fricker! 

Saturday’s Fricker Cup Tournament will be held at the picturesque Golf Club of Dublin. The first tee-time begins at 10:30 and the spots are limited and provided on a first registered, first served basis. Lunch and Range Balls are included in the registration fee.  

All the winners will be recognized at a Awards Reception at Ten Pin Alley in Hilliard, Ohio at 7:00 PM. (Alumni that were unable to play but wish to participate are welcome).

More details 
The Registration Form can be found on the Fricker Cup Page on this site.

Accommodation Recommendations:
Fricker Cup Committee member, Brother Brad Flinders has identified hotels that might be convenient for those brothers coming in from out of town. Brothers living in Columbus might also be able to open up a spare bedroom if you promise to be in before 2:00 AM!

AC Hotel Columbus - Dublin $136.00
6540 Riverside Drive, Dublin, Oh 43017
https://bit.ly/2LvxhE1

Embassy Suites by Hilton Columbus Dublin $110.00
5100 Upper Metro Pl, Dublin, OH 43017
https://bit.ly/2nJCOqC 

Columbus Marriott Northwest $135.00
5605 Blazer Pkwy, Dublin, OH 43017
https://bit.ly/2LJNEMf  

Residence Inn Columbus - Dublin $114.00
6364 Frantz Rd, Dublin, Oh 43017
https://bit.ly/2LHBsM9

Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Columbus Dublin $85.00
7150 Sawmill Rd, Columbus, OH 43235
https://bit.ly/2LX4uEr 

L-R: Winners of the 2017 Fricker Cup, Brothers Scott RichIC’89 and Tim Ruppelli IC’87
pose for a picture with Joe Turner IC’87 and Jim McGonagle IC’87
before teeing off at Hueston Woods.

Past Winners: 
2017 - Oxford, Oh (50th anniversary): Scott Rich IC'89 & Tim Ruppelli IC'87
2016 - Cleveland, Oh: Dave Ledman IC’81 & Rick Sippola IC’85
2015 - Chicago, Il:  Colin Donovan IC’92 & Brad Sendlak IC’95 
2014 - Oxford, Oh:  Keith Zurawski IC'81 & Brad Flinders IC '86