Go Big With Your Merlin Olsen Day of Service Event!

Order of Constantine Sig, Significant Sig and 1962 International Balfour Award winner Merlin Olsen, UTAH STATE 1962, was a large figure of a man, standing at 6 feet, 5 inches and carrying enough mass to be a Pro Bowl star on the defensive line for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.
The undergraduate chapter at Utah State now wants to host a service event that equals the size of one of their most prestigious alumni.
For the 2012 Merlin Olsen Day of Service on Sept. 15, 2012, the Gamma Kappa Chapter is planning a large-scale event on campus that plans to get the university’s entire Greek-letter system involved in the service project. “Our vision is to get the entire campus involved in the next few years,” says Consul Justin Zizumbo, 2013. “I just would like to see a whole day of continuing to honor Merlin as much as we can.”
The morning of Sept. 15, the chapter will help welcome the local Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity colony to campus through a public ceremony before hosting its Merlin Olden Day of Service event around noon.
Currently, the plans are to line up a service event through Utah State’s service center that may include a clothing drive for a local high school student in need and a hands-on painting or cleanup project. The chapter plans to close the night by hosting a thank-you celebration viewing in the student center of the Utah State versus Wisconsin college football game.
The chapter is proud to promote Brother Olsen’s name because he was both a loyal Fraternity and university alumnus. “He is probably the most prestigious alumnus from our chapter. The [football] field was just dedicated to Merlin Olsen. They built a statue of him outside the football stadium. He has always been big in the hearts of the Sigma Chis here,” Zizumbo says. “That’s why we always want to get involved.”
All undergraduate or alumni chapters planning a philanthropic event for that day are encouraged to let Sigma Chi International Headquarters know about it! Send an email to honormerlin@sigmachi.org describing what service the chapter will be providing and where it will be performing the service.
Anyone with questions regarding the day can contact Associate Editor Jim Cogdal, BRADLEY 2003, at (847) 869-3655, ext. 253, or jim.cogdal@sigmachi.org.