Q) Why did you join?
A) Good people
Q) Tell us about your favorite memory of the fraternity
A) Outhouse Scramble
Q) What kind of influence has the fraternity had on your life since graduation?
A) Meeting and evaluating people
Q) Tell us about your family: Have you married? Do you have children?
A) Married sandy (thornton) 4 children eight grandchildren retired
Q) Did you live in the house?Continue reading
Q) Why did you join?
A) The guys I met during Rush Week
Q) Tell us about your favorite memory of the fraternity
A) Butch Smith, T.J. Smith, Bill Dietrich, Pete Fernandes, Bill Monroe
Q) What kind of influence has the fraternity had on your life since graduation?
A) Great memories
Q) With whom do you still stay in contact? Who would you most like to find?
A) Schmulbach, Rod Hanson, Bill Monroe. Have lost Butch Smith’s Address. Have never been able to locate Bill Dietrich.
Q) Tell us about your family: Do you have children?Continue reading
Q) Why did you join?
A) Being the oldest in my family and not knowing much about college when it was time to decide where to live, my mom described the fraternity as compared to the dorm. The fraternity deal sounded much better.
Q) Tell us about your favorite memory of the fraternity
A) Food fights, Road Rallies to pick parking spots for the year, Fixing up room #2, intramural sports, walk out
Q) What kind of influence has the fraternity had on your life since graduation?
A) During rush we used to have a saying douche bags breed douche bags. It has always helped me in making choices about some things that are close but not just right and the value of patience in waiting for the right situation. Also as president I learned that as a leader of an organization, the way to raise everyone else’s level of motivation was to raise your own.
Q) With whom do you still stay in contact? Who would you most like to find?Continue reading
Q) Why did you join?
A) I pledged at the end of my freshman year after I had time to look around campus and meet some of the brothers. I found guys with similar interests who knew how to play winning sports, excel in academics, and find plenty of time for having fun.
Q) Tell us about your favorite memory of the fraternity
A) Running for Urbana City Council in 1979. A dozen of the brothers became deputy voter registrars, and everyone pitched in to help me beat a long term incumbent. It was the first time a student Republican had ever served. We had several campaign events at the house including the election night victory party. The mayor and the Republicans on City Coucil came to 1101 Pennsylvania with the press.
Q) What kind of influence has the fraternity had on your life since graduation?Continue reading
Making friends and enjoying college were two important criteria considered by Mark Zieba ’00 when he joined the fraternity as a first semester freshman. “My brother, Matt, is two years older than me and was an ATO at the University of Illinois. I met a lot of his friends in the house and everyone seemed to get along well. I decided that joining was a good opportunity.”
Mark’s educational pursuits didn’t end when he graduated in 2000 with a major in kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Champaign. He enrolled in the dental school at the University of Illinois in Chicago and graduated in May 2004. He is now a dentist in private practice at Webster Dental, 2829 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago. In addition to his brother Matt who is in the Marketing Director at ATI Physical Therapy in Chicago, Mark remains close with many of his fraternity brothers. “Actually, there are too many to name so I won’t try. I don’t want to leave out anyone.”Continue reading
Cary McMillan ’80 grew up in Urbana, so he and his friends from high school naturally had their sights set on attending the University of Illinois. They also had the advantage of participating in rush the spring before his freshman year. Seniors scheduled to enter the University the following fall were given the opportunity to come to campus for a weekend and rush all three stages.
There were dozens of fraternities on campus at the time, but he gravitated toward Alpha Tau Omega.
“The Gamma Zeta Chapter had a lot going for it,” Cary said. “The house itself was the nicest on campus and the older guys were great. They made you feel comfortable right away.”Continue reading
Thank you to Jack Klues ’77 for participating in this Q&A.
Why did you join ATO as an undergraduate?
I initially was interested in a fraternity because I was looking for a social and living situation which would help me shrink a big university into a more manageable and navigable size. However, I can remember my first couple of introductory experiences at ATO which deepened my interest in joining. ATO was a house of true respectful brotherhood and was above all the juvenile hazing crap that still went on at other houses in those days. It was also filled with guys who loved sports and competition which I liked.
What is the funniest memory from your ATO days?