C&C December 2006-Issue 12

Cross & Crescent a Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity publication

INSIDE: ABC’s Primetime Star

Emmy winner, ABC news correspondent John Quinones

A Golf Channel Veteran

Anchor and play-by-play announcer Brian Hammons.

MLB and NFL Announcer Josh Lewin These pipes were made for play-by-play

Warren A. Cole: A Brief Biography December 2006 . XCIII . Issue 12

Cross & Crescent a Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity publication Features Chapter News 3 Chapter and Alumni News Fraternity News 6 Brothers Feeding Others History 8 Warren A. Cole: A Brief Biography

10

ABC’s Primetime Star John Quinones has won six national Emmy Awards, shared a Peabody Award, and received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for foreign reporting. His investigative journalism provides a voice for the people who otherwise may never receive national exposure.

By Chris Barrick

12

A Golf Channel Veteran Jay Love serves in the Alabama House of Representatives while also successfully managing 16 Subway restaurants in Montgomery, Alabama. He says Lambda Chi and politics have similarities.

By Jason Pearce

14

MLB and NFL Announcer Josh Lewin All Lewin ever wanted to do was put on headphones and announce sporting events. Today, he is living that dream as he splits his time doing play-by-play for Fox Sports, the Texas Rangers, and the San Diego Chargers.

By Tad Lichtenauer Credits

Contributions

Publisher: Bill Farkas Editor: Jason Pearce Assistant Editor: Chris Barrick Assistant Editor: Tad Lichtenauer Illustrator: Jeff Reisdorfer Podcast Voice: Fuzz Martin Photographer: Walt Moser Assignment Editor: Jon Williamson Historian: Mike Raymond Contributing Editors:

Jono Hren

Aaron Jones

George Spasyk

Content for consideration should be submitted by the fiftenth of the month.

Lambda Chi Alpha 8741 Founders Rd Indianapolis, IN 46268-1338 (317) 872-8000 editor@lambdachi.org www.lambdachi.org www.crossandcrescent.com

www.crossandcrescent.com

Cross & Crescent DECEMBER 2006

CHAPTER NEWS

Chapter News Chapter news, alumni news, and reports of death Alfred (Kappa-Sigma)

Colorado-Boulder (Gamma-Mu)

Robert M. Barton (1983) was promoted to chief operating officer for U-Save Auto Rental. He previously served as executive vice president.

On November 9, 2006, the Grand High Zeta declared the chapter inactive due to their own desire to terminate operations. Under inactive status, the chapter is closed and no member can represent the organization, or conduct events in the name of Lambda Chi Alpha.

Bowling Green State (Phi-Mu) Lt. Col. Brett Meyer (1983), commander of the 732d Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, visited security forces personnel in Taji, Iraq.

Cornell (Omicron)

Stanton Lenahan (2008) was elected 2007 IFC vice president of finance.

East Tennessee State (Iota-Omicron)

Butler (Alpha-Alpha)

Joey Frasca (2007) was crowned Mr. Butler at the annual Mr. Butler Pageant sponsored by Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta and benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Brett Baker (2007) of the Student Advisory Committee was elected Grand High Theta on October 28, 2006.

Kenny Chesney (1990) won entertainer of the year at the 40th Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 6, 2006. Chesney also won the honor in 2004.

California-Berkeley (Mu)

Joseph Warne (1923) died. He was 103 years old.

California-Riverside (Delta-Nu)

Eastern Kentucky (Phi-Beta)

Nicholas Walker (2007) of the Student Advisory Committee was elected Grand High Sigma on October 28, 2006.

As a part of the Richmond Parks and Recreation Department Christmas program, the chapter is providing for Santa phone calls to area children.

California State-Fullerton (Phi-Epsilon)

Evansville (Iota-Mu)

More than 275 alumni, brothers and guests gathered to commemorate the chapter’s 50th anniversary during this year’s homecoming. Events included a reception with founders and alumni from Phi Zeta Fraternity, the predecessor to Lambda hi Alpha at Evansville. At a formal banquet special guests included alumnus and former Executive Vice President Tom Helmbock (1968) and university President Dr. Stephen Jennings. The anniversary planning committee was co-chaired by Bo Gebbie (2003) and Order of Merit recipient Bob Zimmerman (1966).

On October 19, 2006, the Grand High Zeta declared the chapter inactive due to risk management violations. Under inactive status, the chapter is closed and no member can represent the organization, or conduct events in the name of Lambda Chi Alpha.

Case Western Reserve (Alpha-Nu Colony) Eugene V. Haake (1944) died June 12, 2005.

Cincinnati (Gamma-Gamma)

Dr. Maxwell C. Kimball died October 28, 2006. A World War II veteran, he will be buried on December 23, 2006, in Arlington National Cemetery.

www.crossandcrescent.com

Henry C. Preher (1941) died August 30, 2005.

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

CHAPTER NEWS

Ferris State (Iota-Psi)

Miami-OH (Zeta-Upsilon)

State Farm Insurance named Marty O’Neill (1992) their first agent for Ferndale, Michigan. O’Neill plans to open an office in early December.

1st Lt. Dennis Joseph Maher (2004), a member of Charlie Company 3rd Battalion of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, is currently serving just outside Baghdad, Iraq.

John McLaren (1950) died February 28, 2006. McLaren was the owner of the All Seasons Real Estate Agency.

Florida Southern (Epsilon-Xi)

John Reynolds, Jr. (!952) died March 25, 2006.

Jeffrey Snodgrass (1965) died August 3, 2006.

He was president of Snodgrass Opticians and past president of the Opticians Association of Ohio.

Florida State (Zeta-Rho) William T. Aspey (1950) died April 29, 2005.

Michigan State (Gamma-Omicron)

Gettysburg (Theta-Pi)

The chapter won 12 of the 24 2006 IFC awards, including Chapter of the Year, Public Relations, Campus Relations, Service and Philanthropy, Greek Community Relations, Financial Management, Chapter Standards, Leadership Development, and Risk Management.

Paul Shkreli (2009) was named Greek Male Rookie of the Year, Marcus Belanger (2007) was named Greek Academic Man of the Year, and Mark Inglot was named Greek Ivy.

Douglas Walo (2003) was appointed the housing administrator for Harvard Law School.

He previously worked in Harvard’s Financial Aid Office to the Dean of Students Office.

Nathaniel Craley (1950) died June 18, 2006.

Iowa Wesleyan (Theta-Iota)

Gilbert T. Bottger (1926) died October 1999.

Georgia Tech (Beta-Kappa)

T.W. Edmund Hankinson (1936) died July 2005.

Mississippi State (Epsilon-Chi)

Dr. Austin P. Boggan (1944) died December 15, 2005.

Illinois (Chi)

Earl Laing (1954) died September 6, 2006.

Missouri-Columbia (Gamma-Kappa) John Minton (2007) was chosen as a member of the Top 30 Royalty for homecoming.

Kansas State (Gamma-Xi)

Elliott Morse (1948) died October 2005.

Kentucky (Epsilon-Phi)

Nebraska-Omaha (Iota-Delta)

Los Angeles Alumni Association

New Mexico State (Zeta-Gamma)

Erin Myron Pollat (1958) died.

Clifton P. Johnson (1940) died December 8, 2005.

The area alumni association held its first event on November 2, 2006, at The Culver Hotel in downtown Culver City, California.

The association is currently seeking brothers to head up a regional steering committee and area alumni can expect future events in San Fernando Valley and Long Beach, California.

Chapter members performed community services for the offices of Las Cruces Downtown.

Activities included a painting party and moving furniture as a part of the effort to help with the downtown revitalization efforts.

Maryland-College Park (Epsilon-Pi)

With a number of the chapter’s founding fathers in attendance, the chapter held successful alumni events in conjunction with parent’s weekend and homecoming.

www.crossandcrescent.com

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

CHAPTER NEWS

Oregon State (Alpha-Lambda)

Southeast Missouri State (Delta-Phi)

Jeffrey Bernard Schmidt (2008) died November 21, 2006. Schmidt was a junior geography major and member of Marine ROTC.

Matt Knickman (2008) was elected IFC president, initiated into the Order of Omega Greek Honor Society, and named Delta Delta Delta sorority Man of the Year. Scott Crean (2008) was initiated into the Order of Omega Greek Honor Society and is the Gamma Phi Beta sorority Man of the Year. Tory Moore (2008) is the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority Man of the Year. Tyler Surman (2009) was elected the IFC assistant vice president of recruitment and retention.

Pittsburgh (Gamma-Epsilon)

William Baird (1953) died April 15, 2006.

Polytechnic (Theta-Upsilon) For their bi-annual reunion, chapter alumni from the 1950s and 1960s went on a cruise to Bermuda.

Southern Methodist (Gamma-Sigma)

With 16 teams competing, Gamma Phi-Lambda Chi finished first in the third annual College Bowl tournament, a game of academic knowledge and quick recall.

Purdue (Psi)

Forty alumni from the 1967–1968 classes attended a reunion at the chapter house before the Wisconsin football game. Participants spent the weekend playing golf, tailgating, and having a dinner celebration.

Southern California (Zeta-Delta)

Walter P. Acosta (1947) died on June 2, 2006.

Texas A&M-Commerce (Iota-Kappa)

Ted Peters (1966) died November 8, 2006. Peters was the executive director of the Heritage Farmstead Museum in Plano, Texas. Highlights of his 12-year tenure included installing a replica of a one-room schoolhouse and landing a coveted accreditation from the American Association of Museums.

Rhode Island (Eta)

Tighe Flatley (2007) is one of three seniors being chronicled by projoJobs to explore their experiences with leaving school, finding a job, and becoming an independent adult. Flatley is in the honors program and is a political science major with a cumulative 3.8 GPA.

Tulsa (Epsilon-Upsilon) James C. Steele (1946) died.

San Diego State (Zeta-Pi)

Union (Lambda-Zeta)

J. Darrel Gerhard (1970) died.

Timothy L. Tucker (1988) was elected president-elect of the American Pharmacists Association and will automatically succeed to president on March 17, 2008, at the conclusion of the 2008 annual meeting. Tucker also serves as a Lambda Chi chapter adviser for Union University.

Simpson (Theta-Lambda)

Robert Lane (1980) was named vice president of college advancement for Simpson College.

Washington & Lee (Gamma-Phi)

William Cobb (1934) died August 11, 2006.

Peter R. Merrill (1958) died September 8, 1992.

Robert M. McVay Jr. (1960) died on September 10, 2006.

Kenelm L. Shirk, Jr. (1933) died January 19, 2006.

South Carolina (Epsilon-Psi)

Washington State (Tau)

James K. Barron (1930) died December 30, 2005.

During the broadcast of ESPN’s “College GameDay” football show, chapter members from South Carolina and Tennessee held up a Lambda Chi Alpha flag that was visible throughout the show.

www.crossandcrescent.com

Hubbard F. Burrows (1954) died.

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

FRATERNITY NEWS

Brothers Feeding Others 2006 North American Food Drive collects 2.5 million pounds.

By John Holloway (High Point 1993)

Since 1993, Lambda Chi Alpha has been coordinating an international philanthropy project that has now raised more than 28 million pounds of food for the needy across North America.

Called the Lambda Chi Alpha North American Food Drive, this annual event is arguably the largest single-day philanthropic project sponsored by a collegiate organization.

What’s 2.5 Million Pounds?

This year, Lambda Chi Alpha collected almost 2,564,846 pounds of food with approximately 100 chapters and colonies participating.

• Using cans of Campbell’s Chunky Grilled Chicken & Sausage Gumbo, the total pounds of food Lambda Chi Alpha collected would:

In 2005, the Fraternity collected more than 3 million pounds, which was the most food ever collected in a given year.

• soar 712,457 feet tall if stacked end to end, roughly 35 times higher than the highest point in North America (Mt. McKinley - 20,230 feet).

Food collected by chapters directly supports the hungry and needy within their local community. Participating chapters typically gather money or canned food and donate all proceeds to a local food bank, shelter, or charity.

• feed one whale for 977 days (a Right Whale eats an average of 2,625 pounds per day).

For some shelters, Lambda Chi Alpha’s food drive is the single-largest source of charity they receive and rely on our chapters every year.

• treat the whole county of Worchester, Massachusetts, to an all-youcan-eat buffet...twice.

Each can of food collected not only feeds someone in need but also raises the awareness that helping those in need is a cornerstone of what Lambda Chi Alpha is committed to doing.

• overflow an Olympic-sized pool.

• fill about 288,443 empty stomachs (a human stomach can hold about 3.4 liters of food).

• equal 478,771,160 calories.

• let Mrs. McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles Donovan McNabb’s mom) feed her 11 hungry football players for 72 years.

“Brothers Feeding Others” is more than a slogan. It is the embodiment of the true principles upon which our Fraternity is founded.

Ryan Stewart (Eastern Kentucky) “Huge improvement from last year’s total and we are excited to report our totals for this year!” (24,100 Pounds)

Comments from members No more clearly are our principles exemplified than in the comments and stories of our members who took part in this year’s North American Food Drive.

Brian Meunier (Evansville 2008) “Although we did not collect as much as last year, it’s still a tremendous amount of food and it’s still great to bring that to the Ozanam Family Shelter.” (5,800 Pounds)

Zach Lee (Alabama 2009) “We are so proud that this marks our first year of participation in this great event.” (8,500 Pounds)

Allen Schuhmann (Kentucky 2008) “We had a blast raising canned goods for the NAFD. We gave our canned goods to God’s Pantry Food Bank.” (1,645 Pounds)

Wylie Bindeman (East Carolina) “This is just a start for our chapter, but we are making great strides and plan to continue making and achieving our goals.” (130 Pounds)

www.crossandcrescent.com

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

FRATERNITY NEWS

B.J. Alexander (North Texas 2007) “We held a date auction benefiting the North American Food Drive.

The event raised more than $3,000. Chapter members also donated cans throughout the spring and fall semesters.” (6,500 Pounds) Brian Ludlow (Western Ontario 2007) “Very successful food drive, canvassed five residential routes consisting of approximately 3,650 homes. We also obtained local corporate sponsorship from grocery stores and restaurants. We donated all collected food and monetary donations to London Food Bank.” (11,000 Pounds)

Cumulative Results

Making a Difference The time and energy put into the food drive is returned exponentially in the happiness and joy that our efforts bring to the community.

Lambda Chi Alpha is able to give to those less fortunate through a simple act that provides people immediate strength to approach the day, hope that tomorrow is going to be better than today, and faith in the idea that people do care about others and are willing and able to lend a hand.

Thankfully, hope abounds when our members are willing to give of themselves to support those with needs in their local communities.

To view how well your chapter participated, visit the Lambda Chi Alpha website Top 10 Chapters Reported • High Point (395,305 pounds) • Kansas State (250,000 pounds) • Truman State (220,400 pounds) • Missouri-Columbia (131,110 pounds) • Butler (123,616 pounds) • Nebraska-Omaha (112,629 pounds) • Mississippi State 112,500 pounds) • Kutztown (101,760 pounds) • Central Florida (95,250 pounds) • Louisiana-Lafayette (80,000 pounds) Photo Credits in Order of Apperance © Courtesy/Source: flickr.com/photos/basak/227480302/ All Rights Reserved. © Courtesy/Source: flickr.com/photos/jamescalder/239600271/ in/set-72157594278047598. All Rights Reserved.

www.crossandcrescent.com

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

HISTORY

Warren A. Cole: A Brief Biography (Part One) Insights into the founder of our Fraternity.

By Mike Raymond (Miami-OH 1967)

Settled in 1663, Swansea, Massachusetts, is a town of about 16,000 located in a somewhat rural area of southeastern Massachusetts.

Like many older towns of today, there is a large retail business area clustered along major highways bordering the town.

Cole graduated from Durfee High School in 1908. After graduation, a year of work, and a few weeks as a student at Brown University, he entered the law school at Boston University.

Creating Our Fraternity It appears that the idea of creating a college fraternity was on Cole’s mind from the start of his education at Boston University.

When Warren A. Cole (Boston 1912) was born there on November 15, 1889, Swansea was a thriving town with ironworks, farms, fisheries, and many small businesses. Since Cole’s birth, Swansea has managed to retain much of its late 19th century charm.

The genesis of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity is surrounded by differing stories, interpretation of facts, time lines, and an underlying controversy that has not been resolved to this day. Without question it is a story worthy of its own telling at another time.

Founder Cole graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Law degree in 1912. He then set about the work of building an international fraternity.

Cole spent most of his life within a 50-mile radius of his birthplace.

Despite this fact, Cole created an international fraternity with more than 250,000 members scattered throughout the world.

Cole made remarkable contributions to the development and growth of Lambda Chi Alpha in its earliest days. He served as either Grand High Archon or Grand High Alpha from its beginning to the end of the historic Ann Arbor Assembly in January 1920.

In 1969, Cole’s daughter, Irma Cole Pollard, stated that the family could boast of a former lieutenant governor of Rhode Island, Massachusetts Congressman Major Everett Horton, and Hugh Cole, the first selectman of Swansea, Massachusetts.

In addition, the nearby Cole River was named after one of his family relatives. Without question the extended Cole family was important to the political and economic history of Swansea, Massachusetts, and the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

She claimed that Cole selected the letter “L” to represent the first name of his first wife Lottie, the letter “C” to represent the family’s last name of Cole, and the letter “A” to represent the first letter of the Greek alphabet!

In addition to holding Lambda Chi Alpha’s highest office, he was the administrative and traveling secretary, and the editor and treasurer of the Purple, Green, and Gold Magazine throughout World War I. During his tenure in office, the Fraternity grew to 53 functioning chapters.

Since the current meaning of Lambda Chi Alpha was not adopted until the Second Assembly in 1913 it is possible that this story is true.

The current meaning of our Fraternity’s Greek letters was adopted more than two years after Cole married Lottie Mae Hathaway.

Cole’s Married Life Cole was married twice. His first wife was Lottie Mae Hathaway.

They were married on September 13, 1910. The couple lived in Boston at 22 Joy Street and later at 12 Newberry Street.

If nothing else, Pollard’s story adds another layer of confusion to the original meaning of our Fraternity’s name.

Both of these places served as meeting sites for Alpha Zeta.

Lottie Mae Cole became a favorite of early members of the chapter. She spent many hours helping the members

Pollard also reported that an old family tradition established that the name Lambda Chi Alpha has an older, esoteric meaning than most of our members are not aware of today.

www.crossandcrescent.com

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

HISTORY

of Alpha Zeta put their living quarters in good order.

Cole and his first wife had three children together.

Cole’s House Served as First Headquarters

Cole married his second wife, Ethalyn Brayton Chace, on August 28, 1919, in Barrington, Rhode Island. Cole had three more children during his second marriage.

For the first decade, Lambda Chi Alpha lacked a central office. Records were divided between Grand High Alpha Warren A. Cole (Boston 1909) in Swansea, Massachusetts, and Registrar Samuel Dyer (Maine 1912) in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

It is interesting to note that his sons, Albert Warren Cole and Nathan Warren Cole, never became members of our Fraternity.

Office equipment consisted of Cole’s manual typewriter and, later, a neostyle duplicating system. Only the magazine was printed. Copies of the constitution, the ritual, and all correspondence were pounded out with the assistance of carbon paper.

Cole held many different jobs during his lifetime such as store owner, jewelry salesman, employee of the Brown University Student Union, member of the Massachusetts Highway Commission, insurance salesman, and Pinkerton detective.

As of 1915, some records were transferred to the home of magazine business manager E.J.C. Fischer (Cornell 1910) in Pennsylvania.

With Dyer’s resignation after the Ann Arbor Assembly, the need for a centralized system of records was all too apparent.

Other Fraternal Groups and The Last Years Throughout his life Cole was an energetic and involved fraternity man. Like many adult men of his day, he was a “joiner.” In addition to founding Lambda Chi, he was Grand Chancellor of the Rhode Island Knights of Pythias and a better than 50 year member of the Pioneer Masonic Lodge in Somerset, Massachusetts, the Patrons of Husbandry (Grange), and the Loyal Order of Moose.

Although Cole resigned shortly after the Ann Arbor Assembly, he was reinstated by the Grand High Zeta in 1957. In 1959, was the honored guest at the 50th Anniversary observance of the founding of Alpha Zeta in Boston.

At the request of Fischer, who was elected Grand High Alpha at the Ann Arbor Assembly, Bruce McIntosh (Depauw 1916) was asked to help establish a formal central office.

The first office was in Kingston, Pennsylvania, in the attic sewing room of Mrs. E.J.C. Fischer.

Fortunately for all concerned, about two weeks later, a front office on the second floor of a building at 160 South Main Street across the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was obtained for a bargain price of $20 a month.

he

A Mystery Remains to be Solved In the next part of this article, the mystery of the “lost grave site” will be uncovered and revealed to all. It is a story of two expeditions sent to Swansea, Massachusetts in search of Cole’s final resting place. Stay tuned.

Cole died on December 29, 1968, at Truesdale Hospital in Fall River, Massachusetts.

His immediate cause of death was attributed to cerebral arteriosclerosis.

For the last 15 years of his life, Cole lived with his daughter, Irma Cole Pollard in Fall River, Massachusetts. However, he spent a part of most days at his Barrington, Rhode Island home with his dog, chickens, and garden work.

Funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Allen Webster Joslin, the Rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Swansea, Massachusetts, on January 1, 1969.

Cole was buried at the ancestral birthplace of his mother near Swansea, Massachusetts.

www.crossandcrescent.com

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

FEATURE

ABC’s Primetime Star Emmy winner, ABC news correspondent John Quinones

By Chris Barrick (Butler 2004)

Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, John Quinones (St Mary’s 1974) and his family were so poor that he used to shine shoes in front of downtown bars to make money.

was his dream of becoming a broadcaster.

“I had a dream to someday be like Geraldo Rivera, the correspondent on 20/20,” Quinones says, “He was doing great stories, uncovering corruption and social injustice.”

When the owner of Blanco Drugs learned of Quinones’ dream, he introduced him to the general manager of local radio station KKYX.

One summer, things got so tough that the family joined a caravan of migrant workers headed to Michigan and Ohio to harvest cherries and tomatoes.

Quinones was hired as an intern, but admits parts of his job weren’t impressive.

“It’s really a Texas thing, but the DJs had horses in the back of the radio station that they would use in rodeos and parades,” he explains. “So part of my job was to take care of the horses.”

By the age of 12, Quinones became an expert cherry and tomato picker. While he was glad he could help his family, he had a dream of making something more of his life and one day making his parents proud.

At night though, he would go into the studios to read copy and newspaper articles in an effort to improve his pronunciation and delivery. The hard work paid off; following graduation he got a job at a Houston radio station. A few years later, he secured a job as a television reporter in Chicago.

“It was in those cherry rows in Michigan I decided I wanted to do something that wasn’t such hard labor,” Quinones says. “My dad looked at me one morning at 6 a.m. while we were picking cherries and said, ‘So do you want to do this rest of your life or do you want to educate yourself?’”

ABC Comes Calling In early 1980s, there were many civil wars going in Central America. Nicaragua and El Salvador were frequently covered by the national media.

Becoming a Reporter Quinones decided he wanted to attend college but needed to find a way to pay for its tuition. While in high school, he found a government funded program called Upward Bound.

Bill Steward, an English-speaking correspondent from ABC News, was sent from New York to Nicaragua to cover one of these wars.

The program gives remedial classes to high school students from the inner city and impoverished families who want to go to college.

“So you don’t immediately fail when you are a freshman in college, Upward Bound helps prepare you,” Quinones explains. “In the summer of every year of high school, I took classes to better prepare me for college. I also took classes every Saturday during the school year.”

His translator unfortunately looked like a leftist rebel. When the two were stopped at a military checkpoint, they were both killed.

Quinones attended St. Mary’s University, where he took many of his Upward Bound classes. The first semester was paid for by the program, but he had to work three jobs to help pay for rest of college.

It was at this point that ABC News decided to hire Spanish-speaking reporters who could better understand their environment and soldiers, should they encounter them.

“I worked in the geology department, the cafeteria, and for a pharmacy, Blanco Drugs,” Quinones says. “Not too many people know this, but while I was at St. Mary’s I also had a rock band. We would play at Quinceaneras.”

What really drove Quinones to do all this work

www.crossandcrescent.com

At the time, Quinones was a local reporter in Chicago and had just won a regional Emmy Award. ABC took notice.

10

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

FEATURE In 1982, he became one of the youngest correspondents ever hired

by ABC to work on Peter Jennings’s “World News Tonight.”

that this Mexican patient was with ABC News.

“I get so excited about doing those stories,” he says. “I love what I do. Journalism is my life, and it’s all I ever wanted to do. The adrenaline gets pumping, it’s exciting.”

“I was based in Miami, but really lived in Central America,” says Quinones. “In the 1980s I covered the Contra war in Nicaragua, the Leftist insurgence in El Salvador, and the U.S. invasion of Panama. Panama, 1989, was one of the scariest moments I have had as a correspondent.”

His favorite story is when he swam across the Rio Grande River as a Mexican immigrant trying to get a job in the United States.

He paid a smuggler $300 for a social security card and fake birth certificate, got on an inner tube, and swam across river.

During the invasion the Panama, soldiers who were loyal to the dictator Manuel Noriega attacked the Marriott hotel where all the reporters were staying. They took 40 American reporters hostage at gunpoint.

The camera crew was hiding in bushes on the American side filming the whole thing. The package won an Emmy.

“It was my favorite one,” Quinones says. “I will never forget the words of my producer, ‘John, you are the only Mexican to swim across the Rio Grande and then go to his suite at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.’”

“I was hiding under my bed with my producer because we heard them taking out people kicking and screaming,” Quinones says. “That night we were spared, as they never did come into my room. But my producer, Robert Campos, and I spent eight scary hours waiting to be taken.

Out the windows, we could see our colleagues being taken at gunpoint.”

Quinones says he loves doing stories that involve real people and thinking about the good that comes from exposing whatever crime or corruption is occurring. Whether it’s children living in Colombian sewers, slave children working as sugarcane cutters in the Dominican Republic, or the last vestiges of the Mayan civilization living in destitute.

If he and other reporters can shed light on those dark corners of the world, it makes all the undercover and dangerous work worthwhile.

Though the two made it through that night, Campos was taken the next day when the soldiers returned for more hostages. He was held 12 hours and then released.

“You have given a voice to people who may never have access to that kind of exposure,” Quinones says.

Quinones and the Fraternity Quinones was attracted to Lambda Chi Alpha because it was involved in the community.

Quinones Goes Primetime In 1991, Quinones was hired to work as a co-anchor and correspondent on ABC’s “Primetime Live” to do long-form journalism, requiring him to often spend time undercover.

He felt this involvement was a good and honorable thing, as opposed to other fraternities that cared more about drinking and getting wild.

He did one story where they were paying Mexican and Asian immigrants to have surgeries they didn’t need, so the medical practitioners could collect from insurance companies.

Quinones’s time with Lambda Chi was very limited, but he was then, and continues to be, a proud member. Working three jobs made it difficult for him to get too involved, but he attributes much of his success to the Fraternity.

“They would pay someone $1,000 to have a colonoscopy and then turn around and bill the insurance companies $20,000,” Quinones explains. “It was a multi-million dollar scam that the FBI called us in on to participate with them on.”

“I did learn a great deal about friendship, loyalty, and respect,” Quinones says, “Lambda Chi Alpha had a lot to with the forming of the young 19-year-old kid from San Antonio.”

Quinones offered himself as someone willing to have an operation, hoping to illustrate the story. He was wearing a hidden camera and other cameras were strategically positioned to cover what happened.

In particular, he remembers the initiation ceremony, which he says was a pretty wild and moving event.

“I took it all the way to where I was in the operating room.

I put on the robe and the nurses were getting ready to administer the anesthesia before I finally said I don’t need the operation,” Quinones says. “I said I had to get something from my car, but came back with my camera crew.”

When the doctors recognized him, they were stunned www.crossandcrescent.com

“I have never done anything like it. Afterward I had a real feeling of being a part of something that mattered.”

Photo Credits in Order of Apperance © Copyright 2006 ABC, Inc. / Virginia Sherwood © Copyright 2006 ABC, Inc. / Ida Mae Astute © Copyright 2006 ABC, Inc. / Ida Mae Astute

11

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

FEATURE

A Golf Channel Veteran Anchor Brian Hammons tells you how to “Keep it on the short grass” When Gold stars, Lorena Ochoa, Karrie Webb, or Annika Sorenstam approach the tee before a LPGA tournament, Brian Hammons (Butler 1983) from The Golf Channel is there.

By Jason Pearce (Elon 1994)

The Golf Channel’s impact may not have been as great as the boom Tiger Woods brought to the game, but it sure packs a 400-yard wallop.

“We now have a 15-year contract with the PGA Tour,” says Hammons. “We’re basically partners with the Tour. We came from the ground floor and are now approaching the penthouse. It’s been quite a ride and I’m very proud to say I’ve been a part of it.”

For almost 12 years now, Hammons has been on air calling the shots for the first network created for golf fans. “The Golf Channel went on the air January 17, 1995. I did the very first show on the Golf Channel,” says Hammons, who has been there ever since.

Play-by-Play Watching golf on TV wasn’t always this successful.

“I can remember back when television first jumped into golf,” says Tom Meeks (Butler 1963), USGA’s former senior director of rules and competitions. “They would televise maybe the last three or four holes; that was all you got.”

Any fan of the sport would easily recognize Hammons’ “Keep it on the short grass” catch phrase or his signature mustache. While catch phrases and facial hair are a part of his charm, it’s Hammons’ ability to tell golf ’s story that has become an integral part of the game.

A Game to be Played Journalist Dave Marr was once asked by his employers at ABC why golf ’s TV ratings weren’t higher. He said, “Golf is a game to be played, not watched.”

“Let’s face it, there are a lot of things happening in any given round at any given time that could have a major affect on the outcome of a championship,” says Meeks. “So thanks in part to The Golf Channel, golf now as gone from just barely grassroots coverage to featuring the entire round.”

While there may be some truth to his statement — a 2002 Golf Digest survey found that 94 percent if its readers would rather play golf than watch it on television or in person — media entrepreneur Joseph Gibbs and golf legend Arnold Palmer felt there was enough interest in golf among the public to support a 24-hour-a-day golf network.

Hammons is The Golf Channel’s anchor for its award-winning news show, “Golf Central.” So for the first nine or 10 years, “I was pretty much stuck at the studio,” he says. “But in the last few years, I’ve branched out by adding some play-by-play commentary for the LPGA. I’ve gone from being a homebody in Orlando to America’s guest.”

Already an established TV announcer in Indianapolis, Hammons was following the development of The Golf Channel in several magazines in 1994. When he learned that a friend was moving to Orlando to help get the network started, he sent in a tape and was offered a job.

Next year, Hammons will not only continue to offer play-by-play coverage for many of the LPGA tournaments, he will also cover a lot of the Champions Tour (formerly called the Senior Tour).

“I was very fortunate to get in on the ground floor when The Golf Channel first opened,” says Hammons. “We went on the air January 17, 1995. I got down there in December of 1994.

Being able to get involved with a company that started from scratch and is now big in the golf industry is very satisfying.”

“I enjoy doing the play-by-play,” says Hammons. “It’s not something I had done a lot of in my career for I’ve been a studio guy 90 percent of the time. But I enjoy the off-the-cuff aspect of play-byplay, which is completely different than doing a studio show.”

Play-by-play commentary for a round of golf is very different than the commentary of faster-paced sports such as football or

www.crossandcrescent.com

12

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

FEATURE basketball. There are a lot of gaps in the game that need to be filled.

It’s in these gaps that Hammons shines.

“With golf, there are so many stories,” he says. “A typical field can consist of 144 players or more, and every one of them is a good story.

For example, there’s a 17-year-old kid who just earned his PGA card and who overcame Leukemia. He will now be playing at the highest level of golf.”

Making a Strong Entrance

“Everybody has a story out there,” says Hammons. “Tiger Woods isn’t going to win every week. There are guys who are going to win that you’ve never heard of before; and if he is leading the tournament, we’ve got to give you a reason to stick around and care for him.”

When Fred Haas, Jr. (Louisiana State 1937) played his first PGA Tournament, he did so as an amateur — and won.

By July 1945, Byron Nelson was on a winning streak, having won nine straight tournaments on the PGA Tour and was getting better.

An Early Start At the age of 18, Hammons’ break into television came early. “I was a freshman at Butler, so I was fortunate to get an early start.”

On July 26, Nelson shot a 66 the first day of the Tam O’Shanter tournmanet in Chicago. The next two days he shot a 68 and a 67. Finishing an amazing 19 under par, Nelson secured his 10th consecutive victory.

One week later, he garnered his 11th win at the Canadian Open in Toronto.

But in August 1945, Nelson finally met his match when Haas won his first PGA Tour at the Memphis Invitational as an amateur. Nelson placed fourth.

“I knew I wanted to be a sports broadcaster at an early age,” says Hammons, who aspired to become a baseball announcer.

When considering which college to attend, he ruled out Indiana University because on-the-air jobs were restricted to seniors.

Haas went on to have five tournament victories in the 1940s and 1950s.

He even played on the 1953 Ryder Cup team.

His tendency to make a strong entrance repeated itself when Haas entered the Senior PGA Tour in 1996, for he won the Senior PGA Championship on his first attempt.

“I was too impatient for that, so I turned to Butler,” he says, which allowed freshmen to be on the air.

“If you are golf fan, you know that the US Open is usually the most difficult tournament of the year and that the courses are the hardest the players will ever play. Tongue-in-cheek, players would curse him every year for the difficult setups he laid out at the US Open. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.”

His big break, however, didn’t happen on campus. Hammons’ first on-the-air experience occurred while he was interning for WRTV Channel 6, a local television station in Indianapolis.

“I started helping the sports director there. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I was on the air.”

Meeks feels the same. “Brian’s a neat guy who is very knowledgeable when it comes to golf and all of the aspects of golf,” says Meeks. “It’s always been fun for me to be around Brian, particularly with our relationship with both golf and Butler.”

Clearly, Hammons’ break into the industry happened at a very early age. While he enjoyed his brief involvement with Lambda Chi Alpha — he was elected vice president of the chapter when he was a freshman — his professional ambitions became his primary focus.

Hammons and Meeks have long known each other were from Butler University. It wasn’t until this story, however, that they learned they were both Lambda Chis. Sometimes, the best play doesn’t occur until you’re on the green of the 18th hole.

“At 18, I knew I had received a huge break and I wasn’t going to blow it,” says Hammons. “I was more interested in developing my career than I was interested in being a typical college student. While I liked the guys, the fraternity no longer fit in with what I was doing in college.”

Photo Credits in Order of Apperance © Courtesy Golf Channel. All Rights Reserved. © Copyright tendolab. All Rights Reserved. © Copyright Dominik T. All Rights Reserved. © Copyright Annais Ferreira. All Rights Reserved.

Before long, Hammons’ new fraternity became the game of golf and everything that came with it. Golf ’s leading expert on rules and competitions, Meeks, was one of them.

“I’ve known Tom Meeks since I came to the Golf Channel because he was the guy who set up the US Open,” says Hammons. www.crossandcrescent.com

13

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

FEATURE

MLB and NFL Announcer Josh Lewin Josh Lewin adeptly juggles his broadcasting duties for Fox, the Texas Rangers, and the San Diego Chargers. at a young age of 16, Josh Lewin (Northwestern 1990) began his broadcasting career doing play-by-play for his hometown New York Rochester Red Wings, then Baltimore’s class Triple-A baseball farm club in the International League.

By Tad Lichtenauer (Butler 1987)

To add a another challenge to his already hectic schedule, Lewin became the radio play-by-play voice of the NFL San Diego Chargers in July 2005.

“I was ready for a new wrinkle,” he says. “As much as I love baseball, trying to learn the NFL was a cool challenge. It’s definitely something I needed to jump into with both feet.”

After deciding to attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to study journalism, Lewin continued to spend many of his weekends traveling to Red Wings’ games and doing play-by-play.

Lewin says that learning about the NFL was like going back to school. He took a crash course where they fed him a lot of knowledge in a short period of time and found it to be very invigorating.

When Lewin began his job announcing the Chargers, he knew he had to win over the fans so he wrote an open letter to them to show his passion for announcing sports.

“I was lucky,” he says. “They kept a spot warm for me on their broadcast crew, so anytime I was able to meet the team on the road, I was able to get some on-air experience.”

“All right, I know I’m up against it on a handful of fronts,” Lewin wrote at the time. “I’m known first and foremost as a ‘baseball guy,’ I’m not a native San Diegan and I never played a down of varsity football, not even in high school. God gave me a choice of strapping athleticism and decent pipes and, for some reason, I took the pipes.”

Lewin structured his class schedule at Northwestern so he had to attend classes only on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings.

Lewin says he is very fortunate to have three very understanding employers who do not want to stand in the way of anything he wants to accomplish. But sometimes, tight schedules create interesting challenges.

“I would get in my rickety old car and drive from Chicago to wherever the Rochester team was playing,” he says. “I would hope to get there on Wednesday night or Thursday and then spend three days, if not four, doing my precious couple of innings of play-byplay. That’s really what I enjoyed and what was important to me.”

Occasionally, there is an “imperfect storm” that hits in August and September when Fox baseball, Chargers football, and Rangers baseball all overlap, which can make for some interesting travel.

He then would drive back to Northwestern, sometimes driving 11 hours or more, so he would be back on campus late Sunday night in order to attend classes on Monday morning.

During one particularly crazy day this past August, Lewin provided TV play-by-play for a Fox Sports’ Saturday baseball game — a home game for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Squeeze Play Today, Lewin is the TV voice for the Texas Rangers professional baseball team, where he just completed his sixth season as the play-by-play announcer.

When the game was over, he then traveled 90 miles down to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, to provide radio play-by-play coverage for the San Diego Chargers’ NFL preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks.

Prior to coming to Texas, Lewin called Detroit Tigers games on Fox Sports Net Detroit from 1998 to 2001.

Despite an occasionally tight schedule, Lewin says, “I’m doing exactly what I’ve wanted to do since I was five — be at a sporting event with a headset on my head.”

In addition to his Rangers duties, Lewin also is one of the voices for Fox-TV’s coverage of Major League Baseball, occasionally subbing for lead play-by-play announcer Joe Buck when Buck is doing a National Football League broadcast or another assignment.

www.crossandcrescent.com

14

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006

FEATURE Boredom Leads to Book Writing Before he became the radio voice of the San Diego Chargers, Lewin spent the off seasons writing two books about baseball, You Never Forget Your First and Getting in the Game.

Hall of Famer, Former Texas Ranger Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ferguson “Fergie” Jenkins (Illinois State HON) is a Canadian former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent several years playing for the Texas Rangers.

“Those were pretty much born out of boredom,” he says.

“Figured I’ve got some time to kill and might as well pretend that my journalism degree did me some bit of good.”

A three-time All-Star, Jenkins won the National League Cy Young Award in 1971, the first Chicago Cub pitcher and the first Canadian ever to do so.

Published in October 2003, Getting in the Game is about professional baseball’s winter meetings that had really never before been captured from the inside.

Jenkins, Greg Maddux, and Curt Schilling are the only major league pitchers to ever record more than 3,000 strikeouts with fewer than 1,000 walks.

In You Never Forget Your First, published in August 2005, Lewin interviewed about 100 current and former baseball players about their first day in the majors, creating mini-biographies, highlighting the personalities hidden behind the on-field accomplishments.

In 1974, Jenkins, then with the Texas Rangers, became the first baseball player to win the Lou Marsh Trophy, an award given annually to Canada’s top athlete. He also won a career-high, and still a Rangers’ franchise record, 25 games that year.

Ferguson Jenkins was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 1991 became the first Canadian ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He also was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2004.

An outstanding all-around athlete, Jenkins also played basketball as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Although Lewin jokingly admits that his books did not knock the Da Vinci Code off the bestseller list, he had fun writing them.

“The guys at Lambda Chi didn’t seem like typical fraternity, Abercrombie and Fitch-wearing (guys),” he says. “They were very real, very cool. Nothing against Abercrombie and Fitch.”

Lewin says he was just more interested in a stress-free environment where he could hang out and watch ball games with good friends. Of his fraternity brothers he says, “They were very like-minded guys. We had fun times, great experiences.”

With his current schedule, he says it will be a while before he is “bored” enough to write another book.

Of course baseball was always a big part of what the chapter was doing. They would often take the “L” train from Evanston to Wrigley Field, sit in the bleachers, watch the Chicago Cubs play, and heckle Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson.

Early Career Priorities Since Lewin spent many of his weekends at Northwestern traveling to do play-by-play for minor league baseball, he unfortunately did not have a lot of time to commit to the Fraternity.

“There’s no way I could commit to being rush chairman or treasurer” when I was traveling and away from the campus so much, he says.

Ironically, the night that Lewin finally decided to accept his bid to become a Lambda Chi, also revolved around baseball.

“My interest was getting out and getting my career started,” he says. “My priorities were getting my resume ready, to go try to do this (broadcasting) for a living.”

Lewin also says that he almost did not join Lambda Chi as he was somewhat anti-Greek when he came to Northwestern after high school.

It was the night of the infamous Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox when Bill Buckner missed the ground ball and the Mets went on to win the series.

Not surprisingly, when he met the men from Lambda Chi he says they were different than the other fraternities.

Luckily, the brothers who were yelling at the TV that night stopped long enough to welcome Lewin into the Fraternity.

Photo Credits in Order of Apperance © Courtesy San Diego Chargers. All Rights Reserved. © Courtesy Rick Heitmeye. All Rights Reserved. © Courtesy National Baseball Library & Archive © Courtesy wakalani. All Rights Reserved.

www.crossandcrescent.com

15

Cross & Crescent

DECEMBER 2006