A Servant Mentality

Nelson Farris (Cal State Long Beach ’63) Sees Parallels Between His Sigma Pi Experience and Career with Nike

Throughout his 40-plus years with Nike, Nelson Farris (Cal State Long Beach ’63) has been dedicated to serving athletes to be the best they can be. Nelson is proud to be a part of one of the most successful organizations in the world that has been built upon teamwork, collaboration, passion, devotion, commitment, and competitiveness. While Nelson and his Nike colleagues have spent countless hours developing the company’s brand and first-class service to some of the world’s greatest athletes, the foundation for his career wouldn’t have been possible without the lessons he learned from his Sigma Pi brothers.

“As I tell people, no Sigma Pi, no Nelson,” Nelson said. “I was an undisciplined 18-year-old with a lot of energy. The Fraternity became a family that I really didn’t have at home, and the older guys sort of became mentors to me. I grew from my college experience and have grown up at Nike. I’ve been with them a long time. I was just a young kid, but I brought that same fraternity energy into the business. There was a place for me. The Fraternity allowed me to be who I was. It didn’t ask me to become another person.” Just as Nike’s top-notch athletic footwear and apparel has helped athletes achieve their goals, Sigma Pi provided Nelson an environment to become the best person he could be. Nelson already had two good friends in

Stan Wise (Cal State Long Beach ’63)

and Ron Perry (Cal State Long Beach ’62), who had joined Sigma Pi before him, and they were men he knew he could trust. He quickly realized that the other men in the Chapter were blue-collar guys who hailed from the area just like he did, so there was an important sense of security that Nelson found at Sigma Pi. “I learned a lot about the discipline that came from working together during all the competitions like 49er Day, Homecoming, and Spring Sing where we would compete together as a Fraternity,” Nelson said. “I was learning how it wasn’t about me; it was about whether 50 guys could come together and trust each other to get something done. I played on two intramural flag football championship teams to accomplish the same goals, bringing diverse talents together to compete and win.”

Brothers from Beta-Omicron Chapter at Cal State Long Beach gather together each year. This photo features a gathering of the Chapter brothers in 2013. Nelson Farris is featured bottom row, center.

Through his highest of highs and lowest of lows, many of Nelson’s Sigma Pi brothers have been his biggest supporters ever since he graduated from LBSU. They’ve enjoyed summer vacations and New Year’s Eves together and have also helped each other cope with the losses of loved ones.

“Because of my connection to the Fraternity and Greek life, I met my first wife, Sharon, who was an Alpha Phi and a Sigma Pi queen. Sadly, I lost her to cancer in 2009,” Nelson said. “My family experienced the worst of life at that time, so we’ve tried to have the best of life for all of us who are alive. Part of that is why the Fraternity is so important to me. It’s giving back to help the people have their best life. You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow, so you might as well learn to live as fully as you can today.” Nelson has been a loyal supporter of his Fraternity over the years through his work and contributions to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. He’s been blessed to work alongside

Ed Panconi (Loyola Marymount ’82)

and many other brothers who have shown an unwavering commitment to developing lifelong educational and leadership values in Sigma Pi undergraduates nationwide. “Investing in the foundation is investing in the management of the Fraternity. It has to be based on trust and the belief that you can make a difference by helping other young men across the country at this critical time in America’s evolution and the big picture,” Nelson said. “It’s giving back. Look what happened to you that was positive, learn from your failures, and look at what you can do to help the same thing happen for current and future undergraduates so we can produce the next generation of really talented men who are going to go out in the world and contribute.” Helping others succeed will never get old to Nelson. Even at some of the greatest heights of his career with Nike, there have been some small Sigma Pi connections along the way. During the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Nelson served as Nike’s track and field promotions director. His team used fraternity houses, including the UCLA Sigma Pi house, as bases of operations. “My job was to collaborate with the athletes and the people that were running the fraternity houses that we rented,” Nelson said. “We had a team of people that oversaw the food and cleaning and a team that assisted athletes as needed. We had another team that worked with the IOC. I worked through all those groups, so my job was to pull everyone together. It was an amazing experience.” Working with others has long been one of Nelson’s greatest strengths, and it all started with his Sigma Pi experience. After spending much of his tenure with Nike as the senior director, he now serves in more of an internal consultant role to offer his insight whenever it is needed. Whether it’s been through his work with Nike or efforts with the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, Nelson always strives to have a servant mentality. “Nike allowed me to be myself and work with others for greater causes— just like in the Fraternity,” Nelson said. “Nike’s greater good is serving athletes with innovative products. How could we be better? How could we compete better? How could we get along with other people? How could we really help other people? The word serve is huge. How do we serve our customers all over the world by doing a better job? A lot of that came from those four or five years with Sigma Pi.”