FALL EDITION 2016 GTaHE GAMMAz-ReHO tte GAMMA-RHO CHAPTER OF KAPPA SIGMA OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA | WWW.UAKAPPASIGMA.ORG In Your Face! This past summer active brothers Dalton Shoe- each chapter is unique. With Gamma-Rho being a maker, Ben Rabichow, Kevin McClellan, Evan Mol- large chapter it is easy to forget that our fraternity nar, Christian Fernandez, and alumni advisor Mark is made up of thousands of men who all share McLear attended the 2016 Kappa Sigma Leader- the same values and the conference was a great IN THIS ISSUE ship Conference held in Orlando, Florida. While at reminder of this. the conference each brother attended different While at the conference Gamma-Rho received educational seminars that covered a broad range three awards from Headquarters. The first and of topics. The goals of the seminars were to pro- most prestigious award was the F.A.C.E. award. 2 vide the brothers with ideas that they could bring This award is given to chapters who excel in all GM Report back to the Gamma-Rho chapter and continue to areas of operation. The chapter also received an improve in all areas of the fraternity. award for being 100% ritually proficient, which In addition to attending seminars, other was one of their goals for the 2015-2016 school 3 highlights of the conference were brotherhood year. Lastly, Gamma-Rho was recognized for being One of Our Own and awards. It is a special experience to be able the 27th best recruiting chapter in the nation by to meet different members from other chapters extending a total of 55 bids during the 2015-2016 around the nation and to get to learn about how academic school year. 4 Photos 6 Q & A 7 Alumni Updates From left to right: Mark McLear ’88, Evan Molnar ’15, 8 Dalton Shoemaker ’14, Homecoming Ben Rabichow ’13, Kevin McClellan ’14 and Christian Fernandez ‘14 Greetings Brothers, GAMMA-RHO HOUSING CORPORATION OFFICERS President Pat Murphy ‘65 Gamma-Rho 101 - It’s more than an elective scale. Maybe I’m drinking a little KappaSig credit of study, but an easy reminder that Gam- Kool-Aid, but pay your national alumni dues! Vice President ma-Rho has entered into its second century Don’t throw away the annoying outreach be- Tom Keating ‘62 at the University of Arizona. More importantly cause as a huge positive now 50% of contribu- Secretary it is as a way to define the opportunity of what tions go direct into Gamma-Rho’s scholarship Matt Noble ‘84 Kappa Sigma can bring through its experiences endowment. Gamma-Rho’s is significant, but Treasurer as an undergraduate. Functioning within a 160 has slipped to about 30th nationally, so it would Scott Polston ‘85 person membership brings each and every be good to see us back in the top 10. Brother a unique experience in both leader- Trust with the Charter is a big part of Gamma- Property Manager ship and supportive rolls while operating the Rho 101, and does not go without challenges Taylor Heidenheim ‘70 Chapter. Gamma-Rho’s new member pledge for our group of young men. They grow and programming is also designed to familiarize learn from experiences making hopefully the EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION OFFICERS both sides of this leader-follower equation. In right choices with what seems like a new set of President the end, Gamma-Rho 101 might as well be 200 meter hurdles each semester in the face John Turner ’70 considered open-ended credit. of beating Greek community negative stereo- Vice President In July, I traveled along with 5 Gamma-Rho’s types. I’m happy to have, and thank the set of Matt Noble ‘84 to Orlando, FL to participate in the summer alumni volunteer advisors that help our men Leadership Conference. Gamma-Rho took navigate these decisions. Each undergraduate Secretary home some new hardware by being recognized Brother can take advantage of what opportuni- Eric Vorrie ‘94 as a Founders’ Award of Chapter Excellence ties and tools our Chapter brings to them, build- Treasurer (FACE). It has been well over a decade and the ing on integrity, character, and instilling Kappa Pat Murphy ‘65 Chapters first FACE since re-Chartering. I’ve re- Sigma’s four pillars of Scholarship, Leadership, minded them that they have set for themselves Fellowship and Service. That’s what it is all about. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE a minimum standard from which to build upon, Homecoming Weekend is approaching with a goal of reaching a Circle of Excellence quickly! If you missed our centennial and have Grand Master Nic Martino ‘13 Chapter, launched in 2015, a celebrated week- not seen the Chapter house in a while, do visit end in Charlottesville among an elite handful of and see the new historical timeline displayed Grand Procurator Chapter’s leaders. throughout the lower level. I hope to see as Stephen Crim ‘13 As a reminder to Alumni, the 2017 Conclave many of you that can attend. GMC will be held in Las Vegas next July. It will be a Manny Rodriguez ‘13 fun weekend for anyone, open to all alumni that AEKDB. Grand Scribe want to experience brotherhood on a national Mark McLear, Alumnus Advisor, Gamma-Rho Holden Havlick ‘13 Grand Treasurer Dylan Christopher ‘13 Alumnus Advisor Greg Mammana ‘90 Resident Advisor Fred Ronstadt Faculty Advisor Peter Corrigan We have too many Board members and advisors to thank here! You can find a full list on uakappasigma.org One of Our Own... Shane Bacon (the following appeared in the Marshall News Messenger, June 19, 2016) For those tuning into the U.S. Open, there’s a good chance of seeing Marshall native Shane Bacon, who’s covering the event as an on-course contributor for Fox Sports. BACON GRADUATED FROM MARSHALL THE MARSHALL NATIVE SAID HE ALWAYS WHILE TRYING TO DECIDE ON WHAT COL- HIGH SCHOOL IN 2002 AND TOOK AN KNEW HE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING LEGE TO ATTEND, BACON HAD THE OPTION UNTRADITIONAL ROUTE TO GET TO SIMILAR TO WHAT HE’S DOING NOW, JUST OF PLAYING GOLF AT THE NEXT LEVEL BUT WHERE HE IS TODAY. “When I graduated DIDN’T EXPECT IT TO TURN OUT THE WAY IT DECIDED TO GO A DIFFERENT ROUTE. “It was from the University of Arizona in ‘06, I started HAS. “I tried my hand at the mini-tour golf and random,” he said. “I was considered play- a golf blog, blogs were just becoming a thing. realized I wasn’t good enough. So, I decided to ing golf in college but at the end of the day, I I began writing and posting a whole bunch of figure out another way to be involved,” Bacon wasn’t sure. I wanted to go to enjoy going to stuff all the time. From this, I got a part time added. “This is kind of the next best step for college. I was on a limb between Arizona and gig with AOL on a start-up called the ‘Fan- me. During high school, Sports Center was Syracuse, two schools who couldn’t be further House’ whic the only option. Wo, when I was 15, 16, 17, from each other. My deciding factor was that h eventually turned into a fulltime I wanted to be on Sports Center. However, Arizona had the #1 basketball team in the gig,” Bacon said. “Then I went from FanHouse now there are so many more options. The country. I thought that would be fun to see. So, to Yahoo and I helped out with their golf internet has been very kind to me which is an I chose Arizona. Then Syracuse wins the Na- writing and ended up writing for other sports ironic thing to say considering the internet can tional Championship that year. That’s my luck.” as well. Next, I took a job for CBS when they be such a mean place. I’ve had a lot of fun and launched the ‘Eye on Golf.” While working for I’ve luckily been successful through it. IT’S SAFE TO SAY HE’S HAD BETTER LUCK CBS, I discover I wanted to break into TV. It’s funny, you go from writing for a blog AFTER COLLEGE THAT HAS HELPED HIM LAND “I went to a startup in Connecticut called for fun and get paid for it to doing interviews A JOB FOR FOX SPORTS. the ‘Back 9 Network’ which was on Direct with the guy who makes the final putt on “It’s kind of surreal to even think about it,” he TV and I hosted a show for that called ‘The Sunday in the U.S. Open.” said. “Being a TV anchor and a sports broad- Turn,’” Bacon continued. “This was in 2014. I caster is something I always hoped I could do did that for about six months and then I got GOLF HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BIG PART OF but you never know if you’re going to be good offered a job with Fox when they got the U.S. BACON’S LIFE. HE SPENDS A LOT OF HIS SPARE at it. You think you know sports and you think Open and the USGA events which obviously TIME ON THE GOLF COURSE, SOMETHING HE’S you can talk. I’ve always talked a lot. My first includes the U.S. Women’s Open, the Senior DONE SINCE HE WAS A KID GROWING UP IN word when I was a kid was ‘ball.’ Obviously I U.S. Open and all the amateur events. They MARSHALL. “I grew up on Marshall Lakeside,” was pretty obsessed with sports all my life.