Recap of Founders Day 2010

On April 10 a bunch of Gamma Xi undergraduates, along with alumni from a few different chapters, got together at South First Billiards in San Jose to celebrate Theta Chi’s founding in 1856. It was a great opportunity for the actives to see the alumni still know how to have  a good time, and shoot some mean stick.

Thanks to everybody who came out, and we hope to see even more of you next time.

Spring 2010 Actives vs. Alumni Basketball Game

The alumni were victorious once again, notching a 76-43 victory over the actives. Alumnus Troy Marcyes scored a game-high 25 points. Sunil Gangadhara scored 13 and Nav Suprai scored 12 for the alumni squad. The actives were led by David and Kyle with 15 and 7 points respectively.

Many thanks to the following:

• Daniel Rodriguez & Mike Kirby for keeping score
• Wesley Dugle for getting the actives organized
• Dave Coburn for game photos
• Pat Horton for the facilities

Check out more pics here.

Fancy New Fence

The active brothers recently built a great-looking new fence to surround the back patio.

Founders’ Day Event; April 10, 2010

On Saturday, April 10 alumni from all chapters living in the bay area will get together to celebrate Theta Chi Founders’ Day at South First Billiards in San Jose. Wives, significant others and friends are welcome to attend. Regional Counselor Tys Sniffen will provide a brief update on the state of Theta Chi in northern California.

To see who’s coming or RSVP yourself, please visit the event page in Facebook. If you have any questions or aren’t in Facebook yet and want to RSVP, email Greg.

Winter 2010 Gamma Xi Gazette is in the Mail

Look for it in a mailbox near you any day now, or check out the preview PDF by clicking the image to the right.

12th Annual Active/Alumni Turkey Bowl

The alumni will be looking to continue a tradition of dominance. Last year was the closest game in the series. Can the actives get over the hump vs. men who may already be over the hill? Come Friday morning and find out.

When? Friday, November 27 from 10:30am to 1:00pm
Where? Calabazas Park in Cupertino (at Rainbow and Blaney)

To learn more, see who’s coming or RSVP visit the event page at
http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb#/event.php?eid=202723994253

If you’re not on Facebook yet email Pat Horton.

Fraternally,
- Greg

Gamma Xi to Rock Out for a Good Cause on Saturday

Gamma Xi’s “Rock-a-Thon” philanthropy is this Saturday from noon to 9:00 pm. A mere $3 donation gets you in the door, scores ya pizza and a coke, and gets you access to nine 9 awesome hours of live music compliments of the killer DJs and rockin’ local bands listed below. All proceeds go to chapter neighbor and all-around good cause Grace Baptist Church.

12:00-1:00 Welcome
1:00-1:30 DJ Boogie / Heat Davis
1:30-1:45 Raffle Drawing
1:45-2:15 Los Tiliches
2:30-3:30 Cylinder
3:45-4:15 Mother Goose
4:30-5:00 Boom Boom Stereo
5:00-5:15 Raffle Drawing
5:15-5:45 Vincent Do with Band
6:00-7:00 Jonah and Timeless
7:15-7:45 April Chase
8:00-8:30 Your Stupid Brother
8:30-9:00 Closing Thank You / Raffle

To learn more or RSVP, visit the event’s Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=189321531334&ref=nf

Recap of Homecoming ‘09 Open House and Tailgate

Over 200 people enjoyed the tacos, beer and good times of the Gamma Xi tailgate before SJSU’s homecoming game against Idaho on Saturday, making it the biggest Gamma Xi alumni event in recent memory. A number of alumni came by the house beforehand to see how the place is holding up, specifically to check out the results of the capital campaign that’s raised some much-needed funds for the improvement of the house.

The actives and alumni from throughout Gamma Xi’s history for all-you-can-eat catered tacos and plenty of libations. The t-shirts were very popular and on display throughout the afternoon and into the evening as we supported the Spartans (who unfortunately lost when Idaho scored a go-ahead TD with 1 minute left…) and then met up at San Jose Bar & Grill after the game. Here’s a video, and a photo album is below.

[album: http://www.thetachisjsu.com/photos/homecoming09/]

Gamma Xi Bob Pisano Recognized as 2009 “Outstanding Alumnus”

In August the College of Social Sciences recognized Bob Pisano, a brother of Theta Chi Gamma Xi who graduated from San Jose State in 1965, as their outstanding alumnus for 2009. The award is the highest honor given to an alumnus of the College of Social Sciences, intended to recognize someone for outstanding professional achievement.

The recognition was based on Bob’s decades of leadership and success in the motion picture industry. He is currently the chief operating officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, and during his career he has served as national executive director and CEO of the Screen Actors Guild and vice-chairman of Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

In addition to voicing his appreciation for the award, Bob spoke about issues affecting the motion picture and music business today, primarily in the area of intellectual property and piracy.

Here’s the Spartan Daily article about his recognition. Congratulations, Bob!

Homecoming ‘09 T-Shirt Design Unveiled

(Click the image for a bigger preview)

Quantities are limited, pre-order yours today!

Homecoming Tailgate Registration Now Open

The Gamma Xi Alumni board’s SJSU Homecoming ‘09 tailgate is coming together…all we need is you!

So please register right now!

Not sold? OK, here’s the situation and my plea…
The more we know about who is coming the better we can plan, so to encourage advance payment/registration we’re offering some sweet discounts and a special “All In!” package for those of you who buy the whole kit and kaboodle of tailgate food, beer, a t-shirt and your game ticket.

Here’s the math…
Tickets will set you back $25 if you buy them at the gate. Then our tailgate will cost you $10 for food, $10 for beer. (Still a good deal, mind you…) And you’ll definitely want one of the t-shirts we’re making, that’ll be $15. That’s $60 my friend! Our limited-time-offer “All In” package gets you all that for just $50 ($35 for kids) and you’ll get credit for a $20 donation to our 2009 capital campaign. Pretty sweet deal eh? (If you’re a friend of the chapter or alumni scene instead of a member or alumnus and want to give that credit to a friend, just say so in the comments.)

That do the trick?
Cool! Now please register now!

If you have any questions or suggestions please email greg@thetachisjsu.com.

Is Your Address Up to Date?

We’ll be sending a printed Gamma Xi Gazette newsletter in a couple weeks, and want to make sure it reaches as many alumni as possible.

As such, please make sure your mailing address is up to date.

If you’re wondering, here’s a hint: If you haven’t received a couple letters from the alumni board in the last year or so, it’s not.

Thanks for your interest and support.

- Greg

Spring ‘09 Workday

Many thanks to all the alumni and actives who pitched in to help fix up the house this past Saturday, especially alumni Todd Bartz and Dave Coburn who helped build a new bench where the trophy case used to be, and fixed numerous issues with electrical fixtures and broken stairs, and alumnus Nate Kong who set the whole thing up.

Awesome demonstration of the assisting hand
and Theta Chi for life in one fell swoop!

Bill Brown; 69-75

Bill lives in Demorest, Georgia. You can reconnect with him in Facebook.

Family
Mary Jane (wife); Emily & Abby (daughters)

Career
College Professor, School of Education, Piedmont College

What do you do for fun?
Tennis; family; tending to 10 acres – gardening and grapes; community involvement; Knights of Columbus

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Brodie Greer; Larry Stonebarger

Kevin Mapes, 88-93

Kevin still lives in the bay area.

Family
Married Michelle Keller on New Year’s Eve 1995.  First date was her AO-Pi Pledge Dance.  They have a 7 yr old daughter, Saira; 3 yr old Son, Justin; and a newborn son, Brian.

Career
Aerospace Engineer.  Satellite design and Missle Defense.  Last job was Flight Software Manager

What do you do for fun?
Bike, soccer, basketball and Turkey bowl.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Larry Larson, Mike Pardini, Pat Horton, Jim Beers, Rob Ashe, Gary Zandstra and Marc Archidiacano but mostly I hang with the family.

Comments:
I suggest someone throw a party and invite me because I am a lot of fun.

Lance Wright, 86-93

Lance lives in Watford, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.
He’s in Facebook and LinkedIn

Family
1 Son, Leon

Career
I run a Sales and Marketing Consultancy

What do you do for fun?
Pub, Karaoke, Computing, Comedy

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Mike Leong, Warren Schwartz, Mark Atkinson

Mike Rodsater, 62-67

Mike lives in Long Beach, CA
Family
I’ve been married to my wife, Chris for 31 years; have three wonderful and beautiful daughters; a terrific grandson, and  soon to be, in Jan ‘09 a new and also wonderful grandaughter.

Career
Currently I am a consultant with K&R Negotiations where I do negotiation training and negotiation opportunity planning.  Prior to this, I spent 30 years in the technology space, starting with IBM, Nynex, wireless industry as well as the software industry.  For most of that time, ran sales organizations from small to large.

What do you do for fun?
Travel, play golf, snow and water ski, ride motorcycles, usually up for just about anything

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
After starting my career in LA,  we have moved around quite a bit living in Big Bear Lake, CA, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and now back to Long Beach. I have lost touch with most Gamma Xi’s so I’m really looking forward to the 60’s reunion next June in Reno.

Rob Thorson, 87-91

Rob lives in Citrus Heights, CA.

Family
I married my college sweetheart, Karen, in 1993, and we have two boys, Nathan (8) and Trevor (5).

Career
I am working with Scott Jensen at his advertising agency as his media director.  We have been working together for the past four years.

What do you do for fun?
In my free time, I enjoy camping, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and coaching my boys sports teams.  I have been coaching baseball and soccer for the past few years, and I am going to begin coaching basketball in the near future.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
I am still in contact with Scott Jensen, Steve Pyle, Dan Neumann, Ron Henares, Alex Alanis, Geno Ivaldi, and Dave Anderson.  I recently ran into Peter Hubacz at dinner, and I hope to see him more frequently.

Comments:
I appreciate all of the time and effort that Greg Barr puts into Theta Chi.  I look forward to and enjoy reading his emails very much.  While I only live about three hours from San Jose, I find it difficult to make the time to get back down to any of the fraternity functions, but I plan on making a greater effort in the near future.

Ron Smith, 64-67

Ron lives in Santa Barbara.

Family
Twice married …twice divorced which makes me an O’fer …Have been hanging with Joyce for 14 years
Daughter named Allison 3 grandkids Gianna 4 / Jack 2 / Kevin Patrick 4 months ..Dog named Jave ‘ The Mutt ‘ and a cat named Molly ‘ Motorhead ‘

Career
History teacher in San Jose California
for 30 years

What do you do for fun?
Mtn Bike …play guitar / mandolin and Bouzouki…watch sports ….play with grandkids …swim …eat too much

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
A bunch of guys from the 60’s as you will see in the next frame

Comments:
I am helping set up a huge re-union of all active members from 60 – 69 in Reno Nevada in June and would like to put out the word to anyone who is in the era to E mail me at smithistry@aol.com so I can pass on the information.    A lot of guys are missing and / or we have no info on their whereabouts.

Marcus Kong, 89

Marcus lives in Fremont, CA. You can reconnect with him in Facebook and LinkedIn.

Family
My wife Kim (SJSU Chi Omega) and I got married in 1998.  We have 1 daughter, Kayla, who was born in June 2007.

Career
I’m the manager for technical support at Xythos Software.  We make a document management product.

What do you do for fun?
Spending time with my family, catching up with friends, golf, Facebook

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Most often it’s Eric Almgren, Dave Yonemitsu, Mel Brown, Steve Pyle (at least once a year and before April 15) and now a bunch of guys on Facebook.

Vern Perry, 53-56

Vern lives in Lakeview, Massachusetts.
Career
Retired Investment Banker

What do you do for fun?
Fly Fish

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Many

Comments:
Support the local chapter annually or it will eventually disappear. Leave a little legacy every year!

Anthony Sargenti, 2003-

Anthony isn’t sure what year he graduated, exactly, but he lives in Firenze, Italy.

He’s in Facebook if you want to reconnect with him and has online photo albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/PvellaPvlchraEst and http://picasaweb.google.com/Jerseynumber53

Family
Just me.

Career
I’m a bum, namely that consists of studying and walking the earth.  Currently I’m stuck in Italy

What do you do for fun?
The above mentioned.  Besides that I love to question authority, religion, government, and critical thinking.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
A lot.

Roger Poe, 53-55

Roger lives in Fremont.

Family
Wife, Liz (Hart), Delta Gamma, Class of 1961 and daughters, Tracy and Kelly.

Career
Retired (1992) as a Subcontract Administrator with Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.

What do you do for fun?
Travel, trout fish, play golf.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Tom (Termite) McClelland, Pete Silva, Jay Silva

Rod Diridon, 88-93

Rod lives in Santa Clara.

Family
Fiancee

Career
City Clerk and Auditor

What do you do for fun?
Race cars.  Work on political campaigns.  Eat, drink and be merry.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Dave Martz, Steve Pyle, Ian Champeny, Alex Alanis, Steve Vargas, Don Cecil, a couple of others

SOCIAL NETWORKING: The Cinebar … wait, that was 15 years ago.  I’ve moved up in the world to the Normandy House Lounge.

Comments:
Man, I miss you guys!

Mike Yaghmai, 94-98

Mike lives in San Jose, CA

You can find me on both Facebook and LinkedIn. My LinkedIn profile can be found on www.mikeyaghmai.com.

Family
I got married to my wife, Leyla Hedayat, back in 2003, while I was living in Chicago. We have two kids, daughter Eleka was born in 2005, and my son, Cameron, was born in 2007. Yeah…we’re busy!

Career
After SJSU, I headed to Chicago to attend law school. After that, I got my first job at a large law firm in Chicago. Several years later, I found a nice gig with a firm in Palo Alto and made the move. After a few more years, I jumped ship and moved to an in-house position at eBay. Here, I am one the lead attorney in charge of the company and it’s subsidiaries’ branding and advertising clearance and other intellectual property issues. Just what I imagined I would be doing while we did the 100 club in the kitchen at old 123 S. 11th!

What do you do for fun?
Not much time to do anything but to manage work and the family. When I get some extra time, I try to get in some hockey. I play in an adult hockey league at the SJ Ice Center.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
A handfull. I work with Mike Lee at eBay. I also keep in touch with Hamid, Jojo Albayalde and sometimes see others, like Alex Chavarria… who doesn’t?

Comments:
I love giving free legal advice on my day off… NOT!

Dave Coburn, 91-95

Family
I was married in 1995 (Wife’s maiden name was Rosey Arreola – seriously…) and I have a 9 year old son.  I met my wife through Dodie Rios – I am sure that some of you guys remember her…

Career
I am a contract CFO for several different companies, and I own a custom cabinet shop / granite shop.

What do you do for fun?
When I have time, I enjoy hanging out with friends and family (BBQ, watching UFC fights, playing Texas Hold’em, etc..).  I went to my first SJSU game recently and had alot of fun.  I will definitely be going to more games in the future.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Alot – thanks to Greg Barr’s recommendation to join Facebook.

Social Networking
I am on both Facebook and LinkedIn.  Type in my name and you will find me.

Ned Laugharn, 94-96

Family
Married Jennifer in July 1998.  Have 2 boys, Mitchell, born in October 2001 & Nicholas, born in June 2005.  We moved to Houston, TX in early 2006 and decided to come back to San Jose in March 2008.  It’s so good to be home!

Career
Regional IT Manager for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

What do you do for fun?
When I’m not busy with family activities, I play golf (poorly), watch lots of sports, throw parties and hang out with friends as much as possible.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Too many to name!  See my Facebook profile for most of them.  If you haven’t joined the Facebook revolution, I highly recommend it for reconnecting.

Comments:
Go Spartans!

Social Networking

Look me up on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Jason Wilkinson, 00-05

Career
I am the HR Assistant at Wyse Technology here in San Jose.

What do you do for fun?
Many things…including traveling, sports watching, playing, wagering, etc. Also, in my spare time I like to read books that make you think “outside the box” in regards to karma, cash flow, and any other subject that wakes me out of my slumber.

Look me up on Facebook.

Todd Bartz, 95-98

Todd lives in San Jose.

Career
I am an Environmental Health and Safety Consultant working for EORM, Inc. headquartered in downtown San Jose

What do you do for fun?
Travel, play basketball, work on cars

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Greg Bar, Ned Laugharn, Pat Horton, etc.

Social Networking
Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1381734857&ref=profile
Linkedin, http://www.linkedin.com/pub/6/86/b1

Al Saunders Addresses National Convention

In case you didn’t know, Gamma Xi alumnus Al Saunders (currently offensive coordinator for the Rams, previously of the Redskins and Chiefs) addressed the Theta Chi National Convention in Indianapolis this past July. It’s good stuff!

Part One:

Part Two:

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