r-I - Lam bda Chi Alpha

THE SIGMAN Unicersity of Michigan --- ­

Volume XX V I November,

MATER IAL

D O NO T . E5 r~o 't

ALUMNI AID IN SUCCESSFUL

RUSHING

Another hectic formal rushing session is over, and Sigma Zeta was rewarded with twelve good pledges . As usual the two week rushing period was extremely keen and competitive and the brothers are to be complemented on their very fine and tedious work . This fall 815 men rushed fraternities here at Michigan, the largest amount since 1949, and 506 men were pledged. However, as we felt that we did not have to strive solely for quantity, our main objective this fall, was quality. And I am confident that we achieved our goal with remarkable succes s .

I would like to thank all the alumni who helped our chapter in rushing this fall. This summer I received many letters and cards from you recommending many good men entering Michigan, who would be ex­cellent rushing material. Immediately, these men were contacted by letter invit ­ing them over to the house so we could get to know them. Without your help then, you can see that we would never have had the chance to consider them for pledgeship . Thanks again for your very able assistance and interest in Sigma Zeta.

Now open rushing is in progress and I would like to encourage you to keep up the excellent work by continuing to send me names of men here at Michigan, that are not already affiliated, who would make good rushing prospects . We already have pledged one man, and would like to pledge more. Remember the active chapter can­not do it alone, we also need your whole­hearted endeavor, in order to maintain Lambda Chi Alpha's position as one of the leading large national fraternities on campus~

Fred Barrett

SIGMA ZETA

SOCIAL SWIRL

Throughout the current pigskin season the Lambda Chi social calendar has been filled with many events. Besides the cider and doughnut open-houses after the games, actives and pledges both tripped the light fantastic to Jim Servis ' orchestra in a post-rushing season party at the house . Both the dance and open houses were a success, judging from the large turnouts.

The Sigma men were frustrated after their Homecom ing display went unrecog­nized for the winners' circle. Following a two year trend, the machinery of the dis­play went dead as the judges passed the house. Shortly after their departure the wheels started turning once again . Asi es la vida ~ (Such is life.)

Men of Sigma Zeta turned their eti ­quette and charm on the Tri-Delts at the

FALL PLEDGE CLASS Left to rig h t: First R ow : Major. S ec o nd R o w : Walt Simm on s, Jim Pickard, B ob G r if ­fith, Hal Cruger, Dick M organ, Doug Andrews. Back R ow: Jerry Stein, Jack Bre en, Jim Dutch e r, Bill Lar s on, Paul Gruner, Ral p h R ic h t e r .

PLEDGES 13

exchange dinner , which was very enter­taining to both groups. Major enjoyed every moment of it--he found the women compatible too .

The main social events of the season are yet to come. Members will escort their dates to a "shipwreck" party on No­vember 22. This function is put on by the pledges for the actives . Highlighting it will be a pledge skit, which usually turns out to be a parody on the actives.

The climax of the social season, the pledge formal, will take place Saturday night, December 6. The dance will be at the Masonic Temple to the Music of Jim Tatum and his orchestra.

Closing out the social swing will be the annual Christmas party given for the or­phans. Friday afternoon, December 20 marks the end of a very successful social s eason .

Pag e 2 THE S IGMAN November , 1952

THE SIGMAN

Th e offi c ia l publication of Sigma Zeta of Lambda Chi Alpha at the Univ er sity of Michigan is su ed quarterly for its a lum ni and fr iends ,

EDITOR - Dick Gates

Alumni ne ws will be gratefully ac­cepte d . Addres s all co m munic a tions to THE SIGMAN, 1601 Washtenaw Avenue , Ann Arbor , Michigan.

Co nt ributo rs to this issue of th e SIG­MAN were Bill Markstrom, Fred Bar rett, Hank Lang, P aul Bachmann, Dic k Good , Dick Knopf, Andrew Hess, and Dick Gates .

SIGMA N ph ot ographer ; Don Good .

A LETTER FROM THE ffiGH ALPHA

Dear Broth er s, In beginn ing once again another school

year he r e a t Sigma Zeta, it is gra tify ing to not e your interest in the c ha pte r . You have s hown yo ur enthusiasm in th e ma ny fin e r ush ing r ecommendations our rush ing cha ir man received, a nd yo ur s how ings in a ttend ing our ope n houses af te r th e foo t ­ball ga mes . We a pprecia te yo ur int erest, an d want you to fee l welcome a t any time.

P hys ically we a r e qu it e we ll off, with most of th e brother 's being m os t pleased wi th th e ne w oil unit in th e fu rnace. We would like to thank the alumni, a nd es­peci ally the Hou seholding Corporation, fo r their effor ts in obtaining this unit. We hav e 37 ac tives living in the hou s e and 41 eati ng in the kitche n, be sides our 13 new ple dges . It a lso pleases me tha t among th e personnel we ha ve a decidedly younger hous e in terms of c lass bal an c e. T his fac t, plu s our fi ne pl ed ge c lass ma kes our fu­tur e seem quite br ight. And if I may add here the fi ne pledge class can be attr ibu ted to a great job by Fred Barrett, our r USh­ing chairman, a nd the men in th e hous e who r eally did one great job. Over th e

s um me r 15 of th e ac t ives we r e fortunate e no ugh to ha ve th e pl ea sure of a ttend ing ou r 23r d National Assembly at the Wal ­dorf in New Yor k City . It was a most in­spiring a nd enlighten ing exper ience, a nd I feel the Assembly accomp lishe d a lot of co nst r uc ti ve work dur ing th at t ime. I am s ure you will all r ea d abo ut it in the next Cross and Crescent which will be pub­li shed very soon.

F ina ncia ll y we feel pr etty f irm, but it is quite a tas k in ti me s s uc h as th e se to ope rate with in a ll budgets, but s ince we have been fortunate enough to have s uc h a High Tau as Sta n Lus h, we will co me throu gh okay on that score. Sc holarsh ip is a lso one of our lar ges t projec ts thi s co m ing yea r . The hous e average fell quite a bit a year ago this fall semester but with improvement la st spring , we feel we can once again get up towards th e top.

Campus relations a re good, with a large portion of th e yo unger me mber s of th e house being ac tive in s uc h or ga niza ­ti ons a s the I. F.C. , Mich iga n Daily, Mich­igan Unio n, a nd othe rs . We have ri sen in Intramural Sports program 8 places over la st yea r, a nd are pushi ng to make th e up per 10 th is com ing year .

We a re a lso beg inn ing to la y the ground work fo r Sigma's 40th Ann iver sa r y th is co m ing Mar ch on Founder's Da y weekend . We hope that you will tu ck th is thought in the back of your m inds a nd begin holding th at date in re s erve .

You will also not e tha t a soc ia l calendar fo r the next co uple of months has been printed in this is su e . We hope that you can, a nd will a t te nd a ny of th e s e fun ctions th at yo u possibl y can. Re m e mber , this is s ti ll your hous e , a nd your fr at er nity , so us e it whe never yo u ca~

Yours in Z .A .X . Bill Mar ks t r om , Hig h Alpha

A NEW MAJOR

The La mbda Chis have do ne it again I T his s e meste r we ha ve acquired our third cani ne pl ed ge in one and a half years. Fol­lowing tradition , our new St. Be rnard pup ­py has been na med Ma jo r . As a matter of fac t, Maj or is in th e same bl ood line as a ll of ou r preced ing St. Bernards , h is full na m e being, Maj or Von Sc hwar zwald Hof IV.

Due to the t r agi c los s of our last two dog s, we were about r eady to give up when Major was hit by a truck r ec ently. But he pulled through with fl ying co lo rs in time to attend the s hipwreck party.

In his short pe r iod of r esidence at 1601 Washten aw, Ma jor IV ha s already s hown a marked ab il ity in jo ur na li sm . Forty brothe rs tri ed to wr ite th e En sian article and fa iled . Ma jo r came to the r es ­cue a nd did a doggone good job. He ha s now agreed to write a co lumn in the Sig ma n. Be on th e lookou t fo r it in t he ne xt issue . Ma jor also exte nds a co rdia l invi ta ti on to a ll a lum ni to come a nd visi t h im.

NEW PLEDGES ARE ACTIVE

Th e ten fr eshm e n, two s ophomores and one ju ni or that ha ve pl edged Lambda Chi Alpha th is semeste r represent a wide field of in tere sts , r an ging from dramatic s to coaching.

Dou gla s G . Andre ws , LS&A '56, in­tends to e nter dramatics whe n he gradu ­a tes. His fa vor ite hobby is ma gi c , at which he is a capable exper t. He ha il s fr om Hillsda le , Mic higan .

J ohn F. Br een , LS&A '5 6, of Det r o it is one of the athletes of the pl edge c lass, being adept a t bas ke tba ll , fo otball and ba s eb al l.

Harol d Cruger, LS&A '55, is pres ident of the pledge c lass. Hal is fr om P ort Hur on, Michigan. Already he ha s s hown him s elf to be a n asset to th e hous e foo t ­ba ll tea m .

J im D. Dut c he r , Educ . '55, is a mem­ber of th e Michigan freshme n football s quad . Jim , who is from Alpena, Mic h i­gan, hopes to be a coac h someday .

J a m e s Fehlig, Engr. '56 , is ou r f ir st pl edge obtaine d in open rushi ng. J im ' s home is Dea r born, Michigan. He plans to be a c ivil e ng ineer .

Rober t E . Griffith, LS&A '56, Detroit , is going t o e nter industrial management. Bob 's hobbie s are ba sketball a nd hoc key .

Paul L . Gr uner, A&D '56 , comes from Detroit. His int ere sts include te nn is a nd art. Paul is to be a n architect.

Wil ford L . La r s on of Delma r , N.Y . p lans to become a m ec hanical engineer in 1956 . Golf among other sports is his fa ­vo rite hobby.

R ich ard Morgan, also of Del ma r , N .Y. hopes to receive a degree in mec hanical engineering in 1956. He ha s proved him ­self to be one of th e most capable a thle tes on .th e hous e tea m s.

J a mes A. P ic kard, En gr . '55, is from P or t Hur on, Mic h igan . Ji m a lso is a me ­chanical engi neer . Sports of a ll k inds in­te r es t him .

Ra lph Ric hte r, LS&A '56, is t he only futu re la wyer in th e pledge cl a s s. Ralph, who is fr om Ferndale , Michigan , enjoys tra c k a nd painti ng .

Walte r Simmo ns , Engr , '5 6, is a nother of t he ma ny future mechanical e ng ineers. Coming from St. Cla ir , Mi chigan , Walt is a spor tsman, ac tive in swimming, foo t ­ba ll, a nd wres tl ing.

Geral d T . St e in , En gr . '54 , Cleveland, is studying in the f ield of indus tria l ma n ­agement. Jerr y inc ludes sailing , skating, and hunting among his hobbies.

T H E SIGMANN ov ember, 1952

L A M B DA C HI GRID IRON STARS L e ft to right: Fro n t Row: Vince Mc Lean , Bill Markstrom , Dave West , A n d y Hess ,

Ray Stokes . Second Row : W a y n e Leeng r an , G e n e Kotchkodan , Paul L ob o, Jerry Groat , Don Good . Third Row: Dick Good , Pete Vesti v i c h , D ick Knopf , Jack Nich ol s.

CROSS COUNTRY TEAM FINISHES SECOND

Th e cr oss - country team , headed by Dick Brown, finished second behind Kappa Sigma in the campus-wide fraternity meet. Brown, who took s ec ond pla ce, Mark McQuiggan, who placed fourteenth, and Dave West, who finished in th e nineteenth s pot, were the top thr ee runner s in the house . Ed York and Hank Lan g co mple ted t he fiv e man squad.

In intramural track the hous e finished fourteenth among th e forty fraternities in the outdoor track events. Pled ge Dick Mor gan was the out standing performer, taking third place in the pole vault. Mor-­ga n might have taken a first if he had not slipped in his final attempt.

Actives Defeat Pledge s in Football Finale .

Aft er a mediocre s eason in intr a ­mural c ompet it ion th e football team closed out the year with a 12- 0 victory ove r the pledges. Cheered on by a block "M" s ecti on and a "marching band?," the a ctives scored once in eac h half. Elliot Burd took a fifteen-yard pa s s fr om Dick Good for the first tou chdown and Good ran ten ya r ds for the other score . Hal Cr uger le d the pledges in their futil e cause.

During the regular int r amural season Sigma Zeta had a 2-2 record. Th e first

game was won from Delta Chi, 2-0. Dav e West trapped a runner in the end zo ne for the only po int s scored in the ga me .

Acac ia was beaten in th e next s tar t, 13-7. Blair Milliken and Dick Good scored on tou chdown pas s es from P ete Vestivich. Vestivich a lso to ssed to Dick Knopf for an extra point.

Th e first loss was sustained when Alpha Si gm a Phi tallied in the first half to beat the La mbd a Chis , 7-0 . Enter ing th e s ec ond pla ce playoffs , th e hous e wa s beaten by Sigm a Alpha Ep silon, 2-0, on a di sputed s afety. In the la st thr ee minutes of th e ga me a pass by Pete Vestivich in­tended for Jerry Gr oat wa s bl oc ked by an on-rushing lineman. The pa s s was a t ­tempt ed fr om the end zone and the r eferee ruled that th e ball had been intentionally grounded and awarded a safety to SAE .

Oth er outstand ing football players dur­ing the seas on were lineman, Bill Mark­s trom, Vince McLean, Wayne Le en gr an, Andy Hess , and Don Good , and backs Gen e Koch kodan , Ray Stokes, and J ack Nichols.

In a ll year standings Si gm a Zeta is cur rently in seve nth place among th e forty hou s es on campus . This is a jump of twelve plac e s from last year's fin al stand­ing . Sigm a Zeta s tands an excellent cha nce of finish ing in th e top ten this year .

A trophy is being instituted th is year for the one pl ed ge and on e active who par ­ti cipates in the most intramural s po r ts. In or de r to ga in creditfor participat ing in a s port , the pl ed ge or active mu st play in at lea st th r ee-quarters of the ga mes .

P a g e 3

SC HOLARSHIP RISES

The sc ho last ic r eport of Sigma Zeta for the 1952 s pr ing sem e s te r is a marked improvement ove r that of the previous semester . Th e hous e point average in­creased .08, which is .03 better than the increase of a ll fraterniti es , and .08 be tte r than the increas e of a ll men- -who didn 't rais e their average .

The e leven pl edges achieved a point average of 2 .22, with Don Good being th e highest pl edge with a point average of 3 .2 . The actives ac hie ved a point avera ge of 2.48, with the honor s for high scholarship going to Richard Gate s , who ended the semester with a 4.0 point averag e. Con­gr atula tions to Dick for being one of the fortunate few ev er to r each this ofte n dreamed of, but se ldom attained, goal.

The hous e point ave r age for the spring semester wa s 2.43 , whi ch gave us a point average of 2.40 for the last school year. Concerted eff ort is being made to improve the scholastic situa tion .

SIGMA IS 40

Sigma Zeta will th is year mark an im­portant year in its history. We will be celebrating forty years of exis tence here on the University of Michigan campus . March 31, 1913 , we were installed as th e eighth c hapte r of Lambda Ch i Alpha Na ­tional Fra ternity .

Since this is s uc h an important mile­stone in the life of this Zeta, we feel that it would be fittin g to have a 40th Anniver­sary celebration on the regular National Fraternity' s F ounder s Day weekend, whi ch would be March 21, 1953.

We a lready have a commi ttme nt fr om a couple of our Nati onal Administrative off icer s to a t te nd th e anniver s a r y, be side s the assurance of the presence of one of our national offi cers, and a veryoutstand­ing speaker. Plan s are being formulated for having a banquet in Detroit in order to reach more a lumni and a l s o to secure a better place in which to have it.

As time goes on you will be r ec ei ving c ir cula r s and notices so as to keep the date and occasion fr e sh in your mind. Try and put the 21st of March in the back of your mind now, and we'll do the rest.

N ov e mber, 19 52

HOMECOMING ATTRACTS

ALUMNI

Michigan 's well-earned v ictory over Minnesota 's Golden Gophers set the s tage for another succes sful Hom ecoming cele­bration at 1601 Washtenaw. Th e fin e weather , along with the trad iti onal dis­plays , a ttrac te d a larger than usu al group of alumni fr om all over the co untr y . Thi s year, howe ver, Homecom ing was without one of its usu al attractions. The a nnual hom ec om ing dance was postponed until a week later, . s o we would be able to dan ce to th e music of Tommy Dors ey .

Th e open house after the game at­tracted alm ost fifty Sigma Alumni, who r eturned to renew old memories a nd ac­quaintance s. The actives and alumni of the chapter were very happy to welcome back to Michigan, Doctor Perry J ay Lock­wood, ' 14. As many of you know, Doctor Lockwood was o ne of our founding mem­ber s, his Zet a number being Sigma 1. An atten t ive group of actives li stened e nthu­sia stically to Doctor Lockw ood , as he told us of the history of Lambda Chi Alpha when it was first es tablished on th i s campus .

Past High Alpha Ben Gates, '51, dr opped in with s om e friends to dis cu ss th e game . It seems that Brother Gates is spotting the footb all ga mes for r ad io again thi s year. Many of the alumni that wer e in the same c la s s as Ben als o dr opped in to r e­new old fr iendsh ips . Am ong them were : Warr en Roeger, Charlie Rymes , and Ch ick Giffin.

Ju st as the hot chocolate was be ing ser ve d, we found another group ' of a lums gat her ed together. Rob ert McMillin, Arthur Belmonte, and Frank Pipp seeme d to be carry ing on a good old-fashioned "bull session" about the good old days . Art, howe ver, had some very special news to r el ate to his friends. Art has an addi-

THE S IGMAN Page 4

S ig ma 's Hom e coming D i s pl a y : L ambda Chi

P a s a d e n a L i mi t e d .

ti on to his fa m ily . A dau ghter, Deborah Elaine Belmont e, was born to Eleanor and Arthur Belmont e on October 15.

Becaus e th ere was no Homecoming dance s ch eduled af te r the game, Gar y Hicks , '51, a nd E.!. Sm ith , '50, de cided to hold a party at the ir place that night. Many of th e a lum ni stayed for dinner at the house and then left for E . I .' s. From a ll r ep orts that flo at ed back to the house the next day, it was a huge success.

The big new s of the hom ecoming week was the return of Walter Stein from the Korean War. Wally wa s s tationed with th e fir st di vision of the Fleet Marine Force, in which he saw action at Seoul and Inchon. We were certainly glad to s ee that he was back with us s af e and s ound. Wally thought

Al pha Sidetracks Ik e and Adlai f or t h e

that he would be able to co me back to sc hool in Febr ua ry . He had about a year left in hi s s tudies for a degree in phar­mac y . He is now s tay ing a t his hom e a t Route 1 in South Ha ven, Mich igan .

The cha pter , howe ver , also lost a man during hom e coming week. Bla ir Milliken was acc epted by the Offi cers Candidate School a t Newp ort, R .I. where he will be­gin his training towards be coming a n en­s ign in the line of the U.S . Navy. His pres­ent addr e s s is: L B. Mill iken, OCSR , U.S.N.R., Section D-1, U.S. Naval School, Newport, R.I.

It wa s a pleasure for the hous e to see s o many alumni come back and we hope that next year will bring even more broth­ers back to reminisce with us.

Sec - 3 4 - 66T H E SIGMAN L a m bda Chi A l ph a F r a t e r n i t y 1601 Wa s h t e na w A venue II An n Arbo r , Michigan

(Re tu r n p o sta ge g ua ranteed.) L ~

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