Richard Heath ’54 was a retired businessman and Golf Course Development Consultant for Golf Technologies, a Golf Course Design Company. Mr. Heath graduated High School in Robinson, IL. went on to Duke University for two years on a basketball scholarship and later transferred to the University of Illinois where he graduated and was a member and Worthy Master of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. Dick joined the Military serving in France in 1953-1954 as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Following his military service, Dick returned to Robinson and joined in the family business, eventually becoming Vice President of L. S. Heath and Sons until 1969. For his many contributions and countless hours of promotion, Mr. Heath was made an Honorary Life member of the Quail Creek Country Club, Robinson, IL.
Author Archive: Alpha Tau Omega - Gamma Zeta Chapter
Joining the “Zeebs” would be worse than Herpes
ATO picks up some great free agents
Daily Illini
Friday, May 29, 1970
In 5 intramural divisions… Point trophies awarded Five new Intramural Achievement Point Trophy winners have been crowned, one in each of the five divisions. The trophy, symbol of athletic supremacy, is awarded on the basis of most points earned throughout the year in ten intramural sports. With a second place finish in 16 inch softball, Townsend 4S gained enough points to overtake Weston 3W and capture the Achievement Point Trophy in Men’s Residence Halls division with a total of 344. Weston 3S finished second with 329 points followed by Scott 2W (299) and Snyder 2W (220). Townsend earned a large portion of its points on the strength of championships in volleyball and water polo. In the Fraternity Blue division, Phi Epsilon Pi edged out last year’s point trophy winner, Alpha Tau Omega by a quarter of a point, 321.25 to 321…
“The year after helping Phi Epsilon Pi beat ATO out for the All Points Trophy, Vie and I joined ATO.Continue reading
“It was like gravy on the potatoes”
Daily Illini Thursday, November 30, 1972
End of a Great Team for champion ATO
By Joe Haughney
Daily Illini Sports Writer
“It was like gravy on the potatoes”, said ATO quarterback Doug Mayoras, after he cooly maneuvered his team to the University championship.
Dick Murphy ’65: San Diego’s Judge to Mayor
Dick Murphy ’65 served as Worthy Master at Gamma Zeta. Since those days he had a fascinating and varied career: from a Pentagon official in the White House to a California Superior Court Judge to Mayor of San Diego. His book, “San Diego’s Judge Mayor”(available at Amazon.com) chronicles his life journey and lessons learned, including his ATO Illinois experience.
What was the impact of your leadership as Worthy Master on the chapter?
In my opinion, the most significant contribution that I made was to bring unity to disparate factions among the brothers.
Excerpt from “San Diego’s Judge Mayor: How Murphy’s Law Blindsided Leadership With 2020 Vision” by Dick Murphy, Gamma Zeta ‘65
Dick Murphy was Gamma Zeta Worthy Master in 1964/65 and then went on to an incredible career that included business school at Harvard, law School at Stanford, a stint as an aid in the White House … while also working in the Pentagon War Room, time as a banker, a lawyer, a California judge and finally Mayor of the 7th largest city in the United States, San Diego. The following is an excerpt (reprinted with permission from Dick) from his biography, “San Diego’s Judge Mayor: How Murphy’s Law Blindsided Leadership With 2020 Vision” which provides an interesting insight into his time at ATO at the University of Illinois.
Here’s a link to the Amazon page for his book if you’d like to purchase – http://www.amazon.com/San-Diegos-Judge-Mayor-Blindsided/dp/096204024X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373580210&sr=8-1&keywords=san+diego+mayor+judge
Illinois Fraternity LifeContinue reading
Catching up with Dr. Michael Terry, Gamma Zeta ’94 – Head Team Physician for the Chicago Blackhawks
Talk about a Gamma Zeta ATO through and through, listen to this resume…
- Pledged during informal rush first semester of freshman year
- Moved into the house second semester freshman year and lived in the house through graduation
- Served terms as Social Chairman, Rush Chairman and as a Senior was President of the Senior Advisory Committee, a small group of seniors who served as mentors to the younger members of the fraternity, particularly focused on redirecting some hazing practices that had gotten out of hand
- Was awarded the prestigious Thomas Arkle Clark Award as a Senior as the top Senior ATO in the country
- Met his wife Lynn through an ATO brother
- Introduced his sister to brother Doug Ausnehmer and they later married
- Nearly 20 years after graduation, still counts among his best friends, guys he lived in the ATO house with such as Doug, Dan Tarpey, Quinton Bailey, Matt Menna and Jay Nuttal to name a few
- Describes his ATO experience as “fantastic” and the guys in the house at the time then and now a “strong and tight group”
Matthew Massucci ‘96 Reflects on Balancing Good Times and Working Hard
We’d like to thank Matthew Massucci ’96 for participating in this month’s alumni Q&A:
Where did you grow up and can you tell us a little bit about your childhood family, interests and activities?
I grew up in Barrington, and graduated from Lake Zurich High School.
Why did you choose the University of Illinois? What did you study?
I visited my older sister (Amanda) several times at Illinois several times and loved it. I never really considered any other schools. I was an Accounting major.
What was rush like at the time and why did you choose ATO?
I rushed in the fall of 1992 with my roommate (Al Strobl) and suite-mate (Dan Vanderweit). My roommate was a wrestler, and I definitely rode his coattails through the rush process. Ironically, Dan and I both went through pledgeship, but Al dropped out midway through (and later flunked out of school). I was one of the last pledges and I was definitely impressed with the pledge class that was in place.Continue reading
Matt Dixon ’11 – Giving the Gift of Education
How did you get interested in Teach for America? Can you provide a little background on TFA?
Teach For America is a national corps of recent college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural schools in an effort to close the achievement gap and reach public educational equity. The program also works to develop corps members into life-long advocates of the educational equity movement who can affect change at various levels – from classrooms to courtrooms. This year, more than 9,300 corps members are teaching 600,000 students in 43 low-income communities across the country as nearly 24,000 Teach For America alumni are working from inside and outside the field of education to create the changes needed to close the achievement gap.Continue reading
James R. Stansfield 1947 Diamond Circle Member ATO
Jim Stansfield grew up in Urbana. He won the state championship in wrestling at Urbana High School. His father was a geology professor at the University. He graduated from high school in ’37 and initiated at GZ in ’38. He majored in ceramic engineering but after his junior year entered the army and served in the European theater. As a resident of Urbana he never lived in the house but spent many many fun times there.
Chapter Eternal – Jared W. Davis Jr. ‘46
Barbara Davis just emailed that her father, Jared passed away late last year and this has not previously been reported to his ATO brothers. . Here is a link to Jared’s obituary: