About Us

Upsilon graduates have yet to join the Honorable John Blutarsky in the Senate chambers, but many from Sigma Pi's UCLA chapter have become upstanding members of their communities after their years of revelry and academia ended on campus. Most of all, they have learned over the years to stay off the roof, not mess with the fire extinguishers and wear their Bruin Upsilon spirit with pride.

Alumni from years far gone and recent still reunite with their brothers annually to reminisce about good times and create new ones. Our major annual event is Founders Day, held every year in February around the anniversary of our 1923 founding as the first fraternity on campus. During the fall, big crowds show up for football tailgaters at the Rose Bowl, and sometimes Pinche Ruben Zuniga cooks his Mexican fiesta. He's not as strict as Pearlie was, but he's much more level-headed and cooks tastier food than Jerry Hughen and Charlie Eaton.

Brothers come and disappear and reappear again, to the wonderment of all. Richard Hofman showed up at the 2005 Sigma Pi World Series in Fullerton, one of his first events in years, because he "just wanted to play softball."

Like brother Hofman, you are invited to rejoin the circle any time, too.

UCLA spirit still runs deep. Jim Ballard sat in Chancellor Young's seat at the 1996 Final Four in Seattle. Rob Ward, Alfred Hernandez and Steve Lantz have followed the football team to Tennessee, Alabama (turn left at the MacDonald's), Oklahoma (oh, do you own this place?) and Washington (the Arabian Goggles and Cory Paus incident/ scandal) in recent years, and a group of 10 is already preparing for the 2006 road trip to Notre Dame.

Upsilon has a stellar athletic history, too. Elvin "Ducky" Drake was the longtime track and field coach and coached two Bruins to the gold and silver medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics: Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang. Rudy Feldman, captain of a 1953 Pacific Coast Conference champion team, later worked for the NFL San Diego Chargers and was an honorary captain at a 2004 game in the Rose Bowl. Bob Seaman, one of the early Americans to break the 4:00 mile, was the answer to a Los Angeles Times trivia question in 2005. Cecil Hollingsworth, a brother from the 1930s, later coached the early Bruin gymnastics teams. Briggs Hunt was a two-time AAU lightweight wrestling champion, UCLA wrestling coach for 30 years and co-coach of the 1960 Olympic wrestling team. Jamie Parady runs youth soccer camps in Marin County. Don't forget Seth Bluman in the Dodgers' ticket office either; hit him up for tickets if your team is ever in town!

Many alumni contribute to their community. Herman Quispe joined the Tournament of Roses in 2005. John Brott works for the non-profit Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services. Mike Liskey has traveled twice to Benin with his church and trains the national basketball team and local youths. Sean Bloch volunteers regularly with Transit People, helping take disadvantaged youths on field trips. Ajay Patel is an annual volunteer at L.A. Works Day and has helped to organize a team from his work. Derrick Hindery is active in protecting indigineous peoples in South America from invasive corporate oil exploration. Stu Johnson is a supporter of educational foundations in the South Bay. Brad Reichard has done work on domestic partnership issues from his public relations firm in Boston. Kasper Szaba joined the Peace Corps and is serving in Ukraine.

In government, Stratis Zampathas served as secretary of the Sacramento Landmarks Commission and as a commissioner of the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency. He played a central role in obtaining and planning the federal funding and redevelopment of Old Sacramento and the state-funded Railroad Museum of Sacramento

In business, John Parker is a patron of the UCLA Andersen Graduate School of Business and travels the world, especially to Indochina. David Zeichick owns his own computer company in Encino.

Others are successful in medicine: Dr. Chris Koutures mans the sidelines at high school football games in Orange County. Dr. Lance Fuchs helps at summer camps for sick children in San Diego. Dr. Robin Matuk is completing a residency in Albuquerque. Dr. Becket Mahnke is a pediatric cardiologist for the Army, based in Hawaii. Scot Kawano works for the UCLA School of Dentistry.

Others are prominent in law: Jim Ross, a great-grandson of Jesse James, was an Orange County superior court judge for many years. Arturo Martinez is a Los Angeles deputy city attorney (criminal prosecutor) and has served as a judge pro temp for Los Angeles County Superior Court. Gary Gross is a deputy county counsel for Los Angeles County and currently represents the Sheriff's Department. Carlos Vega is a prosecutor for Contra Costa County. He took law classes at USC taught by Ajay Patel.

Others are prominent in music and the arts: Jimmie Crist's band received playtime on local radio stations in the early 2000s. Brian Goldman was the manager for Pseudopod, a popular local band during the late 1990s. Dr. Reinard Beck has owned the Harvelle's and Trio music clubs. Todd Jefferson?s great animation skills got him work at Activision video games. Steve Kaplan is an independent movie producer and has traveled to the Cannes Film Festival. Keith Hayes, a glee club member on campus, plays in a bluegrass band in Monterey, the Courthouse Ramblers.

Others have served our country with honor. Fred Thornley, a student body president during the early 1950s, had served in World War II on the USS Bon Homme Richard aircraft carrier in Admiral Halsey's 3rd fleet. His ship attacked Okinawa in preparation for the invasion and ended up next to the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender.

Rear Admiral Jim Seely, who flew 1,000 sorties and became Controller of the Navy via the campus ROTC program, was honored with a Founders Award at Convocation in 2000. Col. Marty Donohue was an Air Force helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and now works for NASA in Florida. Col. William Bennett served in the Marine Corps.

A number of alumni have served the national fraternity in positions of importance: presidents Stedman Gould (1954-56) and William Cutbirth (1960-62), treasurer Frank Gray (968-70), and trustee of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation William Meyer. Meyer was a former Corporate Secretary of Carter, Hall and Haley and served for many years on the expansion committee helping to establish chapters on a dozen southern California campuses.

The Upsilons have gone international in their travels and studies. Tim Howell and Steve Yu visited Thailand in 2004. Matt Sumrow taught law in Prague in the 1990s. Sam Ghattas attended medical school in the Caribbean in the 2000s. Larry Furst traveled to Thailand to visit his wife's relatives. Dave DeFazio went to England to study medicine, which prompted the beginning of the Carpaci-fest tradition. Mike Alvarez took Jeff Bara to his homeland Spain in 2005. Herman Quispe, after marrying in Rome several years ago, plans to attend the World Cup in Germany in 2006 after watching games in South Korea in 2002, France in 1998 and Los Angeles in 1994 (when he was interviewed by forearm-endowed Huell Howser prior to the U.S. upset of Colombia). Sean Bloch has set up computer systems for his law firm in Beijing. Richard Marcus interned for a Minister of Parliament in London in the 1990s.

If you ever disappear on us, you are still welcome to come back between the holidays and join the circle again. We hope you will!