Greek News
Sigma Alpha Mu Alumnus Takes Challenging New Job in Pro Sports
Donald Fehr, a member of Sigma Alpha Mu at Indiana University, has been named executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association. He previously was executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1986 to 2009. After leaving his baseball job in 2009, he had been advising the NHLPA before being approved as executive director over the past weekend. One of his first tasks will be discussing with team representatives a game plan for negotiating a new labor agreement before the existing one expires in 2012.
AP Names Brees as 2010 Male Athlete of the Year
The Associated Press has selected New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, a member of Sigma Chi at Purdue, as the 2010 Male Athlete of the Year. He is just the fourth NFL QB in four decades to win the annual AP award, which dates back to 1931. The Super Bowl MVP received 48 of 176 votes submitted by news organizations that make up AP's membership.
Stanford SAE Football Star Featured in Sports Illustrated
The December 20th issue of Sports Illustrated has a touching story on how Sigma Alpha Epsilon three-year starting offensive guard Andrew Phillips and his family have handled the tragic death of their father in an August 9th plane crash in Alaska that also killed former U.S. senator Ted Stevens, a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon at UCLA, and several others. Andrew's 13-year-old brother, Willy, was also on the flight and was able to crawl out of the wrecked fuselage and signal a passing search plane. Phillips and two younger brothers who are football players at other schools decided to return to school and dedicate the 2010 season to their late father, Bill Phillips.
Quick Chain of Events Affects Greek Coaches
On Thursday, December 9th, University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer, a Sigma Chi at Cincinnati, announced he was stepping down to spend more time with his family. While head man of the Gators, he won two national titles and coached Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebo. Announced on Saturday afternoon, December 11th, was that Florida has hired University of Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, a member of Kappa Alpha Order while playing for Georgia, to replace Meyer. Muschamp, who spent 10 years living in Gainesville, had been named in 2008 as the future Texas head coach when current head coach Mack Brown, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Florida State, retires. With Muschamp's forthcoming move to head the Florida football staff, Brown and longtime UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds, a member of Beta Theta Pi at Kansas State, are now faced with replacing both their offensive coordinator (who resigned recently) and defensive coordinator for 2011.
Delta Chi Alumni Win Major Baseball Honors
Longtime baseball executive Pat Gillick, a member of Delta Chi from the University of Southern California, has been voted by the game's expansion era committee for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY next July. Gillick presently serves as senior adviser for the Philadelphia Phillies after serving 27 seasons as a major league general manager. He helped build playoff teams for the Blue Jays, Orioles, Mariners and Phillies. Several days earlier, Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, a member of Delta Chi at Cornell University, was named by Baseball America as it's 2010 Major League Executive of the Year. In his fifth season as the Rangers' GM, he helped build the Rangers club which played in its first World Series.
Sigma Chi’s Valentine Joins the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Telecasts
ESPN has announced that former major league player and manager Bobby Valentine, a Sigma Chi from USC, will be a new color analyst on the network's popular Sunday Night Baseball series when the 2011 season gets underway in April. Also back in the booth as a returning analyst is former big league pitcher Orel Hershiser, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon from Bowling Green State. The network's new play-by-play man, Dan Shulman, is enthusiastic about his new colleeagues and said "If there are two smarter people in baseball, I don't know who they are."
Four Greeks Receive Grammy Award Nominations
Four stellar country music talents are included on the major nominations list for the upcoming Grammy Awards telecast next February. Charles Kelley, a Lambda Chi Alpha from Georgia, and his group, Lady Antebellum, are nominated for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Country Album of the Year (all for the single or album titled "Need You Now"). Dierks Bentley, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon from Vermont, received a Country Album nomination for "Up on the Ridge" while West Georgia's Zac Brown, of Kappa Alpha Order, and his Zac Brown Band got a Country Album nomination for "You Get What You Give". Jamey Johnson, a member of Sigma Nu at Jacksonville State, saw his "The Guitar Song" double CD nominated for Country Album of the Year.
Sports Illustrated Names Sigma Chi Drew Brees Sportsman of the Year
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, a member of Sigma Chi at Purdue, has been chosen as Sportsman of the Year and is on the cover of the magazine's December 6th double issue. SI devotes 11 and a half pages to his success on the football field, his family and the countless ways he has contributed to the rebirth of a great American city. In the nearly eight years since The Brees Dream Foundation was established to support cancer and the education of children in need, it has committed more than $6 million in Louisiana, San Diego (home of his former team) and West Lafayette, IN, the home of Purdue.
