Appreciation for student athletes
I am a chapter president of a fraternity at Mississippi State University.
I wanted to write and inform about how thoroughly impressed I am with some Mississippi State’s student athletes. This past Saturday, the Kappa Sigma fraternity played the Sigma Chi fraternity in a full contact football game in Davis Wade Stadium.
This was the 16th annual Kappa Sigma Charity Classic and thus far we have raised over $880,000 through this event.
This year, through a combination of private donors, chapter fundraising and a donation from Sigma Chi, Kappa Sigma was able to raise over $94,000. This is a feat unmatched in Mississippi State fraternity fundraising history. The charities who benefited from this year’s efforts were Habitat for Humanity, Reclaimed Project and John Clark Packer, a Kappa Sigma alumnus.
Evan Sobiesk, a sophomore Bulldog kicker and current Kappa Sigma active, helped coordinate several football players to voluntarily coach. Of course, we checked with the proper channels to ensure we did not commit any NCAA violations. Bracky Brett, director of Compliance at Mississippi State, signed off on the involvement.
Evan, Dak Prescott, Gus Walley, Damian Williams, Nick Fitzgerald, Ben Beckwith and Fred Walker all were instrumental in Kappa Sigma’s 22-19 victory in the game. Their desire to give up their already limited time for a charity event expecting nothing in return would be impressive enough, but the guys went beyond that. Dak wrote up a 16 page playbook for the team and several of the guys began regularly attending practice two weeks before the game. Their energy on the sideline on game day galvanized the team and legitimized the event. It could not have been a success without their selfless contribution.
Many times the work that our athletes do off of the field can be under appreciated, but I do not want this instance to go unnoticed. It is truly encouraging to see how genuine and thoughtful the faces of our university’s football program can be. This would not happen without the infrastructure provided by Mississippi State’s leaders and coaches. The example and vision that has been set by MSU’s leadership is being played out before our eyes at events such as this year’s Charity Classic.
With that, I wanted to extend my deepest thanks to our student athletes for the contributions made to make the 2014 Charity Classic an overwhelming success. It certainly wouldn’t have happened without them
Walton Chaney
Mississippi State
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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