Did you know that former Chicago sportscaster Brad Palmer is a Gamma Zeta ATO ’61?

Known as “The Professor” by his viewers, Brad was voted “Illinois Sportscaster of the Year” a record 9 times by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He joined WBBM-AM (CBS) the day it became Chicago’s first all-news station in 1968 and went on to become Sports Director and sport anchor of both morning and afternoon drive-time.

In 1977, he also became the color analyst on the Chicago Bears broadcasts, alongside play-by-play man Joe McConnell.

In 1985, Brad moved to WLS-TV (ABC). It was his weekly analysis of upcoming Bears’ games in front of a chalk board that prompted the nickname “The Professor”. Brad went 14-2 predicting Bears’ games in 2005. He went 10-1 both straight-up and against the point spread in the playoffs, and, on that note, he retired in January, 2006. He now resides in Phoenix, Arizona.

He’s created an incredible Youtube Channel featuring highlights of his 40 year career covering Chicago sports. If you love Chicago sports or sports in general, you need to check this out.

As the Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway, here’s some hockey history, an interview that Brad did with Blackhawks Hall of Famer, Stan Mikita.

Tom “TA” Anderson’s ’81 career has taken some interesting twists and turns… from Paris, IL to Lomita, CA; from an internal staff attorney with a power company near Atlanta to a screenwriter and author. And, of course, he took a four-year tour at the ATO house at the University of Illinois, majoring in Engineering. That all makes perfect sense, right?

Tom, Lomita, CA… can you get any further from Paris, IL?

That’s funny – I always heard that Paris is further away from anywhere else! But Southern Cal is where a writer Continue reading→

Mike LaVitola ’09 isn’t wasting any time. He’s still a semester away from graduation from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and he’s already co-founded and assumed the role of CEO of startup, Foxtrot Ventures which “delivers drinks, eats and corner store necessities from your iPhone to your door in minutes”. I recently read an article titled something along the lines of “Five Questions to ask to know if you have a killer business idea”. Here’s how Mike responded to these questions… and a few more:

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Dan and Mirka Blaho with Andy, David and Matty

(Editor’s note – I started to email with Dan Blaho ’92 simply because from what I had seen on his Linkedin bio, it appeared that he had taken an interesting path that would make for a good story for the Gamma Zeta News. Then, when the news hit of the protests and unrest in the Ukraine a couple of weeks ago, it all took on a new meaning. Despite living and teaching just 15 minutes from the heart of the protests and violence in Kiev, Ukraine, Dan took time to respond for the Gamma Zeta News.)

When Dan Blaho ’92 first learned the words form the ATO Creed, “To have no narrower Continue reading→

Bill “Moley” Mohlenbrock MD, FACS ‘61 has done many interesting things in his life… member of the Illini Varsity Basketball team, married Betty Burch, Chi Omega ’62 – the Illini Homecoming Queen, served as a Naval flight surgeon aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown during the Vietnam War, completed an orthopedic residency at the University of California, San Diego, served as assistant clinical professor since 1973, and practiced orthopedic surgery for more than 25 years at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, CA. He and Betty raised a wonderful daughter Kem, who has blessed them with four grandkids.  Any of these activities would make for a fascinating interview and many of Bill’s peers are content to settle into retirement with a lot of golf and some Continue reading→

Peter Korst participated in a fascinating trip to Chile this past spring as a part of IBM’s Executive Service Corp. The following is an interview with Peter after he returned from the trip.

I understand that you just returned from a trip to Chile. How did you get involved and what was the purpose of the trip?… why Chile?

IBM is seeing its greatest percentage revenue growth in developing countries, termed “growth markets”.   Infrastructure can often be a bottleneck for those countries’ growth. Things like adequate roads and transit, water quality, power availability, education and healthcare are examples of basic infrastructure that may lag behind potential explosive growth and ultimately limit the economy. IBM is investing over $50M in pro-bono projects around the world to address some of these issues. We launched a “Smarter Cities Challenge” where cities would submit applications to land one of these projects. 400 cities applied and Valparaiso, Chile was one of 100 selected. Their application was based on economic growth which has personal automobile purchases and usage skyrocketing but with very limited space to carry the traffic, due to the geography of the region. They needed help developing an action plan to address the movement of people, goods and services in the Valparaiso region.Continue reading→