Greek News
2011 Greeks in Pro Football
An updated list of players and head coaches in the National Football League and Canadian Football League has been compiled, as we have done for a number of years. To see the current list, please click here. If you are aware of active players left off the list, please send them and their NIC fraternity affiliation to Jay Langhammer at Jlangha132@aol.com. As new names become known, they will be updated in the Greeks in Sports link on this website.
Two Sigma Chis Named to PFRA’s Hall of Very Good
The Professional Football Researchers Association, in its publication The Coffin Corner, has announced its Hall of Very Good class of 2011. Among nine former pro football greats selected are two members of Sigma Chi fraternity: longtime Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Andy Russell, who went to the University of Missouri, and Lou Saban, who went to Indiana University before four years as player for the Cleveland Browns. His greatest fame came in the American Football League as head coach of the Boston Patriots (1960-61), Buffalo Bills (1962-65, 1972-76) and Denver Broncos (1967-71). During his first stint with the Bills, his teams won two AFL championships. Each year, members of the PFRA vote on leading pro players who had great careers but have not been chosen for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Two Greeks Win CMA Awards
Two members of NIC fraternities were big winners at the Country Music Awards show and several other Greeks were award nominees. Receiving the Vocal Group of the Year award was Lady Antebellum, featuring co-lead singer Charles Kelley, a Lambda Chi Alpha from Georgia. Also nominated in the same category was the Zac Brown Band, led byZac Brown, member of Kappa Alpha Order at West Georgia. Brown's group also received nominations for best single and song ("Cold Weather") and Album of the Year ("You Get What You Give").
The other major Greek winner was Kenny Chesney, a member of Lambda Chi Alpha from East Tennessee State, who, along with singer Grace Potter, won Music Video of the Year for "You and Tequila". Chesney also was a nominee for Male Vocalist of the Year. One of the five nominees for Best New Artist of the year was Luke Bryan, a member of Sigma Chi at Georgia Southern.
Alpha Delta Phi Football Star’s Story Featured in Sports Illustrated
The nine page feature story in the November 7th issue of Sports Illustrated is on the brief life of one of Williams College's football greats, Mike Reily, whose number 50 jersey will be retired at the school's November 12th Homecoming game. Reily was a three-year starter at center and a third team small college All-American who was popular on campus and president of the Alpha Delta Phi chapter. He was struck by Hodgkin's disease after his junior football season but fought back to co-captain his team as a senior. After graduating in June of 1964, he lived just 41 days after his graduation from Williams. After his final football game, his coach and the team equipment manager decided to pack his three game jerseys in a box. Over the next 47 football seasons, five more head coaches and six more equipment managers quietly honored the fact that there was no number 50 on the squad.
In October of 2010, several of Mike Reily's teammates wondered why his name was not included on a list of the school's all-time greats on Williams' football website. Several athletic department people got involved and an assistant coach, along with the current equipment manager, spotted an old cardboard box on a shelf in the equipment room and checked it out. The torn box, which was taped up, had writing on the box, in two places, saying FOOTBALL #50 DO NOT ISSUE. It was determined that Williams had never retired a football jersey number and the contents revealed that the jerseys had been worn by Reily. With the contents of the box resolved, the athletic department decided to honor Reily's memory this fall by retiring their first jersey and establishing the Michael Meredith Reily '64 Award for the football player who, in the estimation of his teammates and the equipment manager, best exemplifies the qualities of performance, leadership and character.
