FALL 2019
Inside
The Skull & Crossbones
Society Members ~ p. 2
Finding Friendship
and Balance ~ p. 3
Meet Our Newest
Brothers ~ p. 4
ΣΦΕ
T E X A S A L P H A s U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S
S I G M A P H I E P S I L O N
A E
CCOLAD
FOUNDERS' DAY
This Fraternity Will Be Different
O
n the evening of April 6, 2019, at the Four
Seasons Austin Hotel, over 60 alumni,
guests and undergraduates braved the inclement
weather to attend our biennial Founders' Day
celebration. This year we honored the lifetime
of service of brother Jeff Otto '77 by inducting
him as the newest member of the Texas Alpha
Hall of Fame. In addition to Jeff's service as
an undergraduate leader in the fraternity, he
was instrumental in founding the Texas Alpha
Education Foundation in the early 1990s and
served as its president for a decade. Jeff was
joined at the celebration with his wife, Patty;
his brother, Jay Otto '79; his parents, Jack and
Joan; his sister, Jackie; and his son, Jordan, and
daughter, Lauren.
Professionally, Jeff is a partner at the law firm
Thompson Coe in Austin specializing in civil
trial work with an emphasis on personal injury
litigation, products liability, medical device
litigation, and other specialties. He has been
consecutively named by his peers to The Best
Lawyers in America® from 2008-2020.
Jeff delivered a stirring address to the group
focusing on the theme, "This Fraternity
Will Be Different." He began his address by
recounting the story of Carter Ashton Jenkins
and the other founding fathers in November of
1901 at Richmond College amid an extremely
turbulent time in the history of our country. In
the immediate aftermath of war with Spain,
and a new primacy in the Western Hemisphere,
President William McKinley was assassinated
by an anarchist and Theodore Roosevelt was
inaugurated all in the month of September.
With this backdrop of upheaval, Carter and
the other founders were asked by the school
administrators why a small college that already
had several fraternities needed to add another
one. Jenkins replied simply, "This fraternity
will be different, it will be based on the love of
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