Two New Annual Traditions: Alumni Weekend & The Fricker Cup

What do you remember of your time at Miami?  

Which of your fraternity brothers come to mind? 

When was the last time you saw them?

   
While our time in college as undergraduate students had to come to an end, the unique experience of Kappa Sigma does not. Our brotherhood bonds can be rekindled, extended, and even deepened as we take time to reconnect, not just through social media but in person.

KSTUAA is committed to organizing quality events to help our alumni maintain these important friendships and to extend the richness of the Kappa Sigma experience and our legacy at Miami. Quality events like this summers Miami Alumni Weekend experience June 21-22, 2014.

Two New Annual Traditions:  Alumni Weekend & The Fricker Cup
Miami University reportedly puts on a great weekend and we know that members have brought their spouses and families into Oxford to show off Miami and its redbrick splendor.  They drive by old dorms and favorite haunts and notice all the new construction that is going on. (If you haven't been to Oxford in 2 years, you will be surprised!)

Our members then drive by the old fraternity house locations, perhaps stop the car, get out and look in the windows to see what they can. Usually, the facilities are locked up and there isn't much to see and your guests might think you were crazy for living there and wonder why you'd want to come back. 

This year, KSTUAA will hold an open house at 404 E. Withrow from 1:30-3:30 so you can grab something to eat and drink and take a look at the current facility. Perhaps you'll see some alumni you know that are from one of the many 5 year anniversary classes.  You'll be able to speak to the KSTUAA Board and Alumni Advisers on site and catch up on the latest efforts to strengthen the chapter and update the facility.

For the serious and non-serious golfers we are also putting a big effort into creating a golfing tradition worthy of the legend of Eddie Fricker!  The Fricker Cup, held Sunday will creates a opportunity for you to pair up with a fraternity brother of your choosing and battle other 2-man teams in a creative 18-hole tournament to take home the newly minted, highly coveted Fricker Cup!  

The Fricker Cup has the potential to become as legendary as the Eddie himself! Click Here to See the flyer for more details. Get your two-man team together to become part of the legend!

Family Trees Update Project

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary, Brother Matt Weaver pulled together family trees from the founding and created several hand drawn posters. A very impressive and time consuming effort! We created new versions of Matt's trees and published these tree for the 45th Anniversary celebration. 

We have been adding to these family trees trying to close the gap from 1994-2014 from both sides and have made some progress. Thanks to Brother Mark Rowland '83 for the most recent updates.

You can view the trees here.

KSTUAA would like to update and complete these to reflect the entire membership. 

• We are looking for the missing information from all members initiated after 1994. Please email KSTUAA with your Big Brother and Little Brother information. (include your contact information to make sure that is up-to-date too.) It would be helpful if you could cc your Big and Littles in the process to help speed our collection of this information. 
• Alumni from 1967-1994, please find yourself in the trees above and if you have corrections please email KSTUAA with your information. (include your contact information to make sure that is up-to-date too.) It would be helpful if you could cc your Big and Littles in the process to help speed our confirmation of this information.

Theta-Upsilon Chapter History: Part IX

IX. 45th Anniversary Brings Alumni Support and Refocus for Chapter
 
In the fall of 2011, several alumni from the 80’s began organizing a celebration of the 45th anniversary of the chapter’s founding and reached out to the chapter to coordinate the event. In this process, some of the alumni began to understand how much damage had happened to the chapter and the facilities in the recent years. The Housing Company did not have any reserve because of the recent years of low occupancy rates and commercial financial institutions were not interested in loaning to a fraternity. Not only had the property been abused and neglected for more than 6 years but important brotherhood strengthening traditions dating back to the founding of the chapter had been forgotten.
 
The alumni organized themselves into a new association KSTUAA (Kappa Sigma-Theta-Upsilon Alumni Association). A sub-committee began to take a closer look at the facility. At the urging of the Alumni, the Grand Master, William McIntyre ‘10 organized an all-member work session in December to remove trash, abandoned and broken items in the facilities. An entire construction grade dumpster was filled to overflowing, so much so that the fraternity was fined by the city for having trash in the yard! It also meant that the public rooms in the Stone house were completely empty. The following day a group of alumni with architecture, engineering and other related degrees performed an inspection of the facility reporting the findings to the Housing Company board with prioritized recommendations that were tackled during the winter break. They also met with a dozen chapter leaders and members to understand how the chapter was managing their use of the property and understand the causes for low occupancy rates.
 
The alumni also recruited a new Faculty Advisor, Dr. Steven Elliot, a former GM from the Delta-Gamma Chapter (University of Wyoming ) and met with key officers, re-introducing them to processes like the by-laws, Roberts Rules of Order, organizational best practices and traditions like pledge paddles that promote a stronger fraternity.  
 
The alumni group also reestablished communication with alumni which now numbers close to 1000, sending out the first newsletter to alumni in over fifteen years. Word spread quickly among Alumni in the 60’s, 70’s and 80s that had participated in the 20th, 25th anniversary and the smaller 40th anniversary gatherings and by the April event almost 300 alumni had joined the new Alumni Facebook and Linkedin sites to stay in communication.

Alumni from the Gamma-Xi Chapter (Denison University, Ohio) learned about the activities of the Theta-Upsilon Alumni and were interested in helping financially.  The Gamma-Xi Chapter’s Housing Company had built up a cash reserve because it had been housing non-fraternity students in their facility since 1995 when the Denison University Board decreed that members could no longer live in their own chapter houses.  They responded to a proposal from KSTUAA President, Wes Bren for help by making an immediate $25,000 gift for improvements which were used to rehab and furnish several rooms in the Stone Cottage and provide new landscaping. The landscaping around Stone was completed as part of the 2012 winter pledge class project and landscaping in front of Shoe Box was completed by Alumni and undergrad work session during the 45th anniversary weekend. Gamma-Xi Alumni offered another $25,000 if the KSTUAA could raise $25,000 of its own.
 
The 45th Anniversary event was a huge success, with more than 150 Kappa Sigs in attendance for the banquet including the Worthy Grand Master of Ceremonies, Dereck Marchman who challenged the undergraduates to use their Kappa Sigma experience to “become the best men on campus.” Alumni inducted into the Hall of Fame shared stories of personal sacrifice of brothers for the good of the order highlighting the rich legacy that is the Theta-Upsilon Chapter’s heritage. KSTUAA also purchased a copy of the original charter that was presented from WGMC, Marchman to Stephen Middleton, the first GM who in turn presented it to  Grand Master McIntyre.
 

WGMC Brother Marchmen passes a copy
of the Charter to first initiate and GM, Stephen
Middleton who passed the charter to then
current GM Will McIntyre

The event generated energy around the work of the KSTUAA and the match was met within two weeks. In the end, more than 160 alumni answered the call to help raising more than $40,000 in 2012 in an unprecedented show of support for Theta-Upsilon.

During the summer of 2012 alumni and undergraduates again worked together in two work sessions to prepare the house for its rehab. Internal doors and door frames were replaced, bedrooms completely emptied, rehabbed, carpeted and painted in colors based on Bologna architecture. In addition, new modular lofts were designed, plumbing repaired, insulation added around windows and a new kitchen installed in the basement of Shoe Box.
 
Alumnus and founding member Tim Johnson ’67 drove to Oxford almost every day in July and August to oversee the day-to-day work of contractors as the KSTUAA committee and Housing Company Board under president,  Gordon Tarver ’01 held weekly conference calls to coordinate work.  Alumni Chris Ferritto ‘91, Fred Becker ’74, Nathan Varnum ’87,  Wes Bren and Jim Squance performed work on weekends and many other alumni worked behind the scenes securing cabinets and supplies.  A new chapter-wide WIFI system was donated and installed by Brian Olah ‘91.  Other alumni created new supporting documents and manuals to assist officers and the House Manger run things more effectively. Additional work that could not be completed in the summer like staining and finishing the bedroom doors to commemorate the 12 Gates of Bologna was completed during the winter break in 2012.