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Beta Theta DATA Fall 1997 Volume 46 Number 1 8 Dec 97 News & information by the alumni association of the Beta Theta Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity at Cornell University Fall Update Luis Reformina '00 lar12@cornell.edu Alumni Relations Chair The Fall of 1997 has been an exciting one for the Beta Theta Chapter. The prospects of receiving a Roger Adger Smythe Award, given only to Pi Kappa Alpha's ten best chapters, is looking brighter as the year progresses. A visit from the national consultant left him impressed by the brotherhood and its commitment to excellence. The chapter is very proud of its status on campus after recently being awarded the Chapter of the Year award by Cornell's Interfraternity Council. Among individual accomplishments, Chris Weldon '98 received the IFC Outstanding Member Appreciation Award for his contribution to the organization. Josh Brill '99 served a successful term as the IFC's Vice President of University and Community Relations and will be followed by Josh Elkin '00 in the Spring of 1998. The chapter also welcomes new member Greg Resnick '00, who transferred from the University of Massachusetts where he played varsity lacrosse. President David Becker '97, along with the rest of the Executive Board officers, has taken charge in our pursuit of the Smythe Award by ensuring that all activities are run smoothly. External Vice President Dan Switzer '00 has done an excellent job in maintaining our position as one of the leaders among Cornell fraternities in community service hours. Among the contributions made have been to the Child Life Program and the Child Sexual Abuse Program. The chapter also had the best participation among fraternities in the IFC sponsored Collegetown Cleanup. Another project involved setting up an office for a philanthropic organization. The brotherhood managed to awaken early on a Saturday morning to help make Collegetown's streets cleaner. The Pi Kappa Alpha house has undergone a lot of improvements this past year. Major improvements were made to various rooms including the addition of new ceiling fans. If you happen to pass by the house, make sure to check out the newly installed hammock in Room 9. Brothers Larry Klecha '99, Dan Switzer '00, and Brian Kabot '00 worked many hours to build an A-frame that holds the incredibly stable hammock. House Manager Josh Elkin '00 built a new mailbox to sort incoming mail. In addition, the front doors have been fixed to swing outward (instead of inward) in order to increase the maximum capacity of the house deemed by the fire inspector. Thanks to a new refrigerator and a new milk machine, late night snacks have become more popular this semester. The purchase of a new ping-pong table has increased gameplay within the brotherhood and has spurred the creation of a new position, the Games Chair, currently filled by Randy Auerbach '00. Among his duties are to keep all gaming materials in proper shape and to develop a ranking system for the highly competitive Beta Theta chapter table tennis league. Among future improvements being considered has been the renovation of the nest. Numerous alumni over homecoming reminisced on the time they spent living in the nest and expressed interest in fixing what they called "the best room in the house when I lived here." The condemned nest requires a lot of improvements in order to pass inspection and the means for funding the project is still being determined. Other proposals include the addition of skylights to Room 8 and 9 inner rooms to meet building inspection requirements. In intramural sports, athletic chairs Jeff Birnbaum '00 and Brian Kabot '00 have been working tirelessly to bring home an All-Sports crown. To start the semester off, Seth Wunder '99 and David Becker '97 teamed to tie for first place in golf. The basketball team is looking better than ever. Due to the loss of height from last year's squad, a new offensive scheme had to be designed. Implementing a west coast style run-and-gun three-guard offense, guards Mike Arnold '00, Jeffrey Gomez '99, Chris McNally '00 help spread the court for dominant low post players Dan Switzer '00, Seth Wunder '99 and Justin Denery '99, who have manhandled every opponent to come their way. Coach Andrew Schleimer '99 with the help of quiet, yet inspiring assistant Brian Kabot '00 have guided the team to a sizzling 4-1 record. The Beta Theta Chapter currently has seven varsity athletes as members. There is one tennis player, five lightweight football players, and two track athletes. One may observe that this adds up to eight. This is due to our two-sport star Robby "Neon Deion" Navarro '00 who flashes his skills as a tracks sprinter and as a wide receiver. The lightweight football team said goodbye to seniors Robert Schiffer '97 and Chris Weldon '97 who had stellar seasons anchoring the offensive line. Chris Weldon won the team's diligence award for his dedication while Robert Schiffer attained second-team All-League Honors. Thanks to the work of chairs Mike Arnold '00 and Justin Heindel '99, Pikathlon weekend (November 6-8th) was a major success this year. The weekend started with a Thursday night tab at Dino's followed by after hours at one of the annexes. Friday night consisted of a brotherhood event at the house after which came the successful Pikathlete run through Collegetown. The weekend culminated on Saturday with the Pikathlon house party. The brothers strutted in their togas as they sang along to performer Stephen Bard in the best party of the first semester.

Homecoming '97

lar12@cornell.edu

The wine and cheese on Friday night was very successful. Saturday morning started with the annual Alpha Theta Meeting. Among issues discussed were house improvement proposals and Larry Klecha's appointment as Alpha Theta Capital Improvement Trustee. The weather could not have been any better for our Saturday morning tailgate which featured the grill work of Andrew Schleimer '00 who maintained a booth packed with hungry brothers and alumni. The formal went smoothly with fine dining provided by Mark "The Cook" Wagner. The attendance was so overwhelming that two separate dinner servings had to be held. Alumni and current brothers joined in singing house songs and partied the rest of the night with Stephen Bard performing. For the alumni, it was time to say farewell during the Sunday morning brunch.

Visiting alumni had a great time rekindling their college days and were able to survive the weekend in good health. Many expressed their anticipation of next year's event and hope to see the others who were not fortunate enough to make it this year.

A partial list of alumni attending Homecoming:

Elliot Dee Hans Rempel Bill Grivas Ed Conti Tim Cole
Rick Eno Chuck Weinberg Michael Bates Barry Lawrence Kevin O'Connell
Tom Yazdgerdi Jeff Rosenberg Paul Linskey David Miles Bill Page
Andy Glasner Lars Fuchs Constantine Katsaros Danny Hest Caben Chester
Dustin Peterson Will Rukin Jake Sigmund Geoff Teillon Andrew Fabian
Bill Schwab Steve Graciano Adam Peters Cliff Liu Matt Elias
Michael Wirtheim Lowell Taub Matt Kaufer Victor Blas Michael Sloan
George Lakis David Kim Jason Cavaliere Eric Wood Evan Cagner

'97 Summer Party

shm6@cornell.edu

Mailing Address Change for Beta Theta Alumni

Calendar

May 1, 1998	Spring 1998 Beta Theta DATA deadline
October 17, 1998	Homecoming vs. Bucknell
November 1, 1998	Fall 1998 Beta Theta DATA deadline
November 6, 1999	Homecoming vs. Yale

Alumni Notes

Ralph Peters '49 writes that he and his wife are both in good shape; they sold the 'old homestead' in Baltimore MD this past May, and have now moved to Belfast ME, a town of ~6500 people -- living at a much slower pace.

"Belfast is on the Penobscot Bay, and watching the boats is great, but sedentary, fun. Last January, I suffered a stroke while on a trip to Baltimore to begin emptying the house. Fortunately, I only lost partial use of my right leg and arm; I'm learning to write all over again, and am slowly on the comeback trail."

David Susnitzky '84 [DSusnitzky@aol.com ] and wife Patty moved to California in early '96. "We're enjoying life in Silicon Valley with daughter Janet (8) and son Brett (6). In a weird twist of fate, we've moved into a home on Cornell Drive. Give us a ring if you're in the Bay area."

Paul Ostrowski '75 [paul_ostrowski@pikas.com ] married Susan Kuplicki in 1997. "I saw Dik in Washington D.C. in May. Don't believe anything he writes, especially about the bar 2 blocks from the White House."

Bill Jenkins '70 writes that he's "glad to see that Beta Theta is continuing to do so well. Congratulations on the Outstanding Chapter Award."

Dik Saalfeld '80 [KELLEYPhil@aol.com ] just got back from two weeks in the Amazon basin and the Andes, as well as a week in Canada. "We had a few days in DC, then tomorrow it's off to New Zealand for two or three weeks, after which we will return for a couple of weeks to rent our house. Then we will move to New Zealand for two years. Other than that, nothing is new. Same-o same-o. Just your standard world travel and relocation to the other side of the planet. More soon in the next installment of my self absorbed semi-annual missive briefly outlining my fanciful version of what is going down in our lives. Kelley has a job lined up in NZ, and I plan on winging it. My goal is to make my way to Papua New Guinea and get eaten by savages. Or at least tasted. More soon."

Frank O'Brien '31 sends his thanks and appreciation to Chris Weldon and all the Pikes at Beta Theta on their continued efforts to make us "the best". "It makes us feel that our efforts in the past were worthwhile!"

Frank's grandson Chris Braceland graduated June '97; "poor boy went Chi Psi - too bad (for him!!)" Frank is planning to be back in 2001 to chair Class of 1931 70^th Reunion; he has chaired all since graduation.

Bob Parsons '51 met a fellow Pike Hillis Johnson (Drake '52) of Jackson MI while enjoying his sailing retirement on his ship Miss Teak.

Jeff Leising '62 [cleising@aol.com ] has been married to wife Tracy for 32 years; has sons Matthew, 24, and Adam, 20, studying in Medicine and Law at University of California campuses. Jeff is currently working on a Cassini Spacecraft which will be launched to Saturn in October.

Garry Nolan '80 has been out at Stanford for a number of years. "Took a brief stint at MIT and Rockefeller with David Baltimore, a leading Nobel Laureate, then came back to Stanford as a Faculty member specializing in gene therapy, cancer, and immune system diseases."

"Haven't seen many of the brothers over the years, but welcome hearing from former classmates."

"Hope all is well. Still great to see that Amador, Cole, and Dik have the administration of the local chapter in their thrall (are we surprised?). Amador: pay Dik his money!"

Bob Forness '87 [106064.1262@compuserve.com ] and wife Lindsay (Hotel '84) are grateful for daughter Keri's successful fight against spinal meningitis while all on a recent vacation. Now we're all ready for a real holiday! Brian is now 16 months and already a terror. Sounds like he'd make a good Pike, huh? E-mail is great - have gotten in touch with at least one long-lost Pike friend. Post us, or come visit London!

Bill Bosak '89 [bbosak@graymatr.com ] & wife Patty are expecting their first child... on Labor Day!

Kevin Dukes '90 [kdukes@erols.com ] will wed Miss Kristin Busch in November, 1997. Alas, she has no familial ties to the brewing company, so please don't call looking for a good price on kegs or taps...

Chapter Eternal

Edward Krech '27
January 28, 1997

Frank Copp '29
March 7, 1997

Bernard Quick '35
July 30, 1996

Harold L. Hess '37
March 26, 1997

Raymond Adams '50
May 14, 1996

Harry Gilbert '50
April, 1997

Michael Carter '86
June 10, 1997

Directory

term	Alpha Theta Director
1998	Steve Amador, Treasurer
1999	Tim Cole, President
2000	Neil Cantor
2001	Ken Hull, Vice President
2002	Rick Eno, Alumni Relations

Spring '98 Undergraduate Exec Board
President	Lucas Kovalcik '98	lak5@cornell.edu
Internal VP	Chris McNally '00	cpm7@cornell.edu
External VP	Larry Klecha '99	lrk3@cornell.edu
Treasurer	Nelson Anderson '99	dna5@cornell.edu
Secretary	Seth Martin '98	shm6@cornell.edu

Go to Beta Theta E-mail Directory

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