The Wine Tasting event was created by a social committee formed to create an event(s) for brothers and their spouse or guest. Gary Renner (62-S) originally chaired that social committee and was chairman of the Wine Tasting Committee for the first four events.

From the beginning any profits would go to the Scholarship fund. Originally we weren’t sure we would generate money. T.A. Heckel (82-F) has been furnishing the ties from his private cellar from the beginning, and has been pouring each time. Alumni Chapter president Brad Fischer (78-S) remembers that the first year we netted around $2,500.

Food was never intended as a meal. For the first few years it was a meat and cheese tray from Sam’s Deli, plus fruit. A couple of times we also added wild sausage by Mitch Long (75-F) and mini meatballs by Tom Licouris (70-F). Brad thinks simple finger food is adequate. Cheese is always a hit, but tricky if it is a warm day.

A summary of the event statistics is as follows: 

• 1st 2015 – Smittcamp’s – net $1,559 – 36 paid
• 2nd 2016 – Smittcamp’s – net $4,003 – 59 paid
• 2017 – moved to Spring 2018
• 3rd 2018 – Reuland’s – net $10,073 – 71 paid
• 4th 2019 – Reuland’s – net $15,370 – 76 paid
• 2020 – Cancelled due to COVID
• 2021 – Cancelled due to COVID
• 5th 2022 – Ballinger’s – net $24,059 – 95 paid
• 6th 2023 – Ballinger’s – net $28,490 – 87 paid
• 7th 2024 – Ballinger’s – net $40,711 – 94 paid
• 8th 2025 – Ballinger’s – net $47,895 – 99 paid

On October 18 in Fresno, a few Sigma Chi alumni gathered to celebrate the 2022 Octoberfest. The menu included authentic Volga River Valley Germans-from-Russia sausages, bierocks, sauerkraut, potato salad and pretzels.Brothers who attended were John Ballinger, Greg Baxter, Don Beauregard, Pat Beggs, Tom Beggs, Rob Crossland, Tom Downing, Brad Fischer, T.A. Heckel, Sergio Ilic, Bob Koligian, Jeff Linder, Bill Matesso, Rick Nelson, Mike Patton, Gary Renner, Dave Reuland, Bill Robinson, Kyle Stephenson, Jack Tacchino, Tim Vaux and Jerry Waters.

Submitted by Dusty Lacefield 12-F, Chapter Advisor

The Interfraternity Council (IFC) is the governing body over all 11 fraternities at Fresno State. IFC consists of a seven-member executive board, three of which are Sigma Chi’s this term. Each fraternity president attends weekly meetings on behalf of their chapter. IFC has many other functions, but for now our focus is on recruitment. The board is responsible for coordinating a formal recruitment process, designed to eliminate any potential dirty rushing or unfair practices, and ensuring each fraternity has an equal opportunity to recruit new members. Potential new members sign up for recruitment through IFC by providing their basic contact information and attending the IFC info night.

The IFC info night consists of a five-minute presentation by each fraternity held Monday night on campus. Tuesday to Friday include individual events planned by each fraternity. There are strict guidelines to these recruitment events, including no parties, alcohol or women at these events. Each event is monitored by IFC board members. Our events are generally held in the evenings and include events such as house tours, dodgeball, Downing Planetarium presentation, and bowling at Fresno State Bulldog Bowl, among others. Saturday is our invite only Steaks and Sigs, where the house chef prepares an excellent meal for the brothers and potential new members. Limiting this event to invite-only allows the brothers to focus on the potential new members most likely to receive a bid.

The chapter then provides a bid list to IFC. Potential new members review their bids on Sunday where they accept a bid on the spot. On average, around 60 to 80 potential new members attend our rush events, with around 20 to 25 bids extended, although we don’t have any requirements on how many or few pledges we take. We have a nearly 100% bid acceptance rate. This year, we extended 21 bids and 20 were accepted.

The basis for recruitment and pledging remains the same as it always has. Our brothers are trained to recruit potential new members based on our seven values. Potential new members need to express interest in the brotherhood first and foremost. If they only show a desire for partying, do not meet the GPA requirements, or overall don’t seem to fit well with our brotherhood, then they are unlikely to receive a bid. The brothers conduct a review meeting on Saturday. Over the course of a few hours, they debate each individual potential new member, and a majority decision decides who receives a bid.

Our new pledge program, Preparation for Brotherhood, was adopted by all chapters about seven years ago. The program was shortened to four weeks, therefore the brothers have very little time to prepare the pledges for brotherhood. During that time, they learn about our history, our values, and participate in several group events designed to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood. As mentioned before, it’s crucial we only extend bids to those with the greatest chances of being initiated, as the chapter is limited to the four weeks of pledging.

If you know someone interested in rushing, I recommend reviewing our history and values with them, in order that they have the best opportunity to receive a bid. Although recruitment can be very intimidating, it’s important for recruits to be themselves rather than attempt to be someone they think the fraternity wants to recruit. We encourage diversity among our brotherhood, having different temperaments, talents and convictions. I hope this provides clarity for those of you that had questions regarding recruitment. If you have any questions or comments, you can reach me by email at dustinlacefield@gmail.com or on my cell at (559) 283-3778.

The Covid pandemic caused people to try different things, and that was true for the
Fresno Sigma Chi Alumni Chapter. The pandemic was officially declared by the US
government in March 2020, and that was the end of our face-to-face alumni dinners
each month. By August 2020 it became obvious that we were in for a long period of
abnormal interaction with our friends and families.

The video conferencing company, Zoom, was established in 2011 in San Jose, CA, but
it was not yet universally known. We did not want our alumni chapter to simply go out of
business until the pandemic was over, so in August of 2020 we did a test meeting using
Zoom. Invited were brothers Jordan Ayerza, John Ballinger, Tom Downing, Brad
Fischer, Tony Flores, T.A. Heckel, Dusty Lacefield, Ron LaRocca, Titus Moore, Mike
Patton, Dave Reuland, Bill Robinson, Evan Selander, Bill Smittcamp, Mark Springer,
Tim Vaux and Jerry Waters.

The test meeting worked great and we had at least a dozen more Zoom meeting over
two years that included 43 out-of-town brothers who would never be able to attend a
dinner in Fresno. One of these brothers was Signifiant Sig and past Magister, Jim
Green, who was living in Antioch, CA. At one meeting we began to discuss the 100
year anniversary of Sigma Tau/Sigma Chi on the Fresno State campus and that we
needed a reunion dinner to celebrate. Brother Green noted that we needed to have a
100-year history book, and this is where the idea was first broached.

We had two stories to tell, the history of the local fraternity, Sigma Tau, that began in
1921 and operated until its affiliation in 1952 with the national fraternity, Sigma Chi, and
Sigma Chi from 1952 to 2021. Not a lot was known about the Sigma Tau beginning but
we had some boxes of historical records which we perused and found lots of data
including a 1937-1938 “booklet” and also one for 1941, both created by the Sigma Tau
fraternity. Also, Greg Baxter’s father was a “Tau” and Greg had lots of information about
its history and some memorabilia. We found a website where past Campus yearbooks
were scanned and available for 1922 to 1968 which gave us insight into much more
details.

To gather data about Sigma Chi from 1952 to 2021, 86 brothers from across the United
States collaborated via phone, email and text over a period of six months to compile the
Sigma Chi at Fresno State story. Brothers Chuck Sant’Agata and Scott Moore reviewed
the draft and corrected grammar and spelling errors. The book was compiled by brother
Mike Patton.

This was a herculean effort, but because we were at home doing nothing, it gave us
something meaningful to do. Never waste a perfectly good pandemic.