Q: Why did you join Kappa Sigma?
A: In order to get on the Penn State main campus, I was forced to start summer term, back in the days of trimesters. Despite graduating with honors (barely) in 1978 from Mt. Lebanon High School near Pittsburgh, I wasn’t good enough to come in with the main crowd that fall. But summertime turned out to be a great time. Sure, I was homesick, but fortunately my older brother (Alex ’78) was still there, about to graduate in the fall. Through him, I met the brothers at the Kappa Sigma chapter and really liked their laidback personalities. I discovered that at this chapter of Kappa Sigma, there were no prerequisites for joining. You didn’t have to be a certain religion, have a certain major, come from an affluent family or be a varsity athlete. Just be someone who wants to get along with others and work together to make a difference. The resulting diversity of people in this fraternity is what made it most appealing to me.
Q: Tell us about your favorite memory of the fraternity.
A:
10. Homerun Derby
9. The Steeler Superbowls and watching the Philly contingent slither away, HA HA!
8. Finding out some brothers poached a deer and hid it on the roof of the chapter.
7. Jim France ’82 lighting 5,000 firecrackers in the stairwell, holy cow!
6. Winning the campus-wide Tails Championship with Kappa Sigma Alumni as my partners.
5. Bob Wojciak ’83, Ken Berk ’82, and Pat Gordon ’83, to name a few.
4. My real brother, Al ’78, pinning my pledge pin on me.
3. Getting initiated.
2. Bottle rocket wars with the fraternity next door!
1. Forming a potent rock band with my fraternity brother and friend, Scott Ott ’83 and playing to a packed house at Kappa Sigma! The band was named after our lead singer, The Scott Ott Band, but better known as S.O.B.
Q: What kind of influence has the fraternity had on your life since graduation?
A: It taught me to clean toilets. Sounds like a joke, eh? It isn’t. Many of us grow up pampered, even spoiled. Pledging Kappa Sigma meant learning how to take care of myself and my surroundings. There is something about rolling up your sleeves and dropping to your knees that helps you find out who you are and if your heart is really into serving others. If you can scrub bathrooms for your slovenly brothers, suddenly helping the poor seems a lot easier and rather attractive. That’s the message from my fraternity: Service can take many forms; together, we can accomplish great things for the greater good.
Q: With whom do you still stay in contact? Who would you most like to find?
A: I am in contact with the ones I have mentioned above. Of course, now that more know I clean toilets, I suspect I’ll be hearing from many of my old mates. I would actually enjoy seeing numerous other brothers I bonded with back then. Naming some would leave out others, which I don’t want to do.
Q: Tell us about your family: Have you married? Do you have children?
A: I met my wife, Vickie, in the mid ’80s when I was working in Louisiana. We moved to Charlotte, N.C., in 1988, where we still reside today. Since arriving, we have had three children: Tyler, born in 1990; Victoria, born in 1992; and Emily, born in 1994. In 1997, we adopted our 16-year-old nephew whose family fell on hard times. He made up six years of school in three years, graduated from high school, and is now in Technical College for Computer Networking Administration. He turns 21 this year.
Q: What other activities or organizations were you involved with during your college days?
A: Except for our fraternity-sponsored philanthropies, not enough, especially academically. I majored in meteorology with the goal of being a pilot. That was my excuse for not doing more extra-curricular activities. When I failed the flight physical and started looking for a job in meteorology, that’s when it hit me that my resume wasn’t as competitive as the others.
Q: What is your nickname, if applicable, and how did you get it?
A: Cosmo — Cos for short. It came from this hideously ugly silver metallic-like coat I had that made me look like I stepped off a low-budget flying saucer. My brothers were very kind. I’m sure there were numerous opportunities for far more derisive descriptions than the label they gave me.
Q: Did you live in the house? If so, who were your roommates?
A: Yes, it was mainly Pat, Ken and Woj. Mark Seli ’82, a fellow Mt. Lebanon graduate shared a suite with me, but he and Flint-head spent more time together.
Q: Tell us about a memorable time with them.
A: Pat, Ken, Woj and I loved having happy hour in our suite. The ritual for every party was drinks in our tall Kappa Sigma frosted glasses, and Steve Winwood tunes from the album Arc of a Diver. It was fun, but Pat always ended up getting all the women.
Q: What do you do for a living?
A: I am a Broadcast Meteorologist — TV Weatherman, if you prefer. I am the Senior Meteorologist for WBTV, the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. Our web site is: www.wbtv.com .
Charlotte was a great market in which to put down roots; it combines the right balance of income, geography and climate. My parents never moved, and I vowed I would try and do the same for my kids since it meant so much to me. So far, so good. We have the tallest mountain in the United States (east of the Rockies) 90 minutes northwest of us, and we can hit Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head before noon. Pennsylvania is an easy day’s drive along with Disney World.
I am also the Principal Partner in a business I started called Wright-Weather, LLC. We sell numerical model data over the Internet as a subscription service to other meteorological outfits geared primarily toward operational forecasting. Our clients include The Weather Channel, Weather Services International, The PGA Group, overseas insurance companies, numerous television stations, government installations such as the Army Corp of Engineers, Department of Agriculture, Utilities, and even a whole bunch of hobbyists. If curious, the web site is: www.wright-weather.com .
Finally, I am the managing editor for the Charlotte Observer (Knight-Ridder)Weather Page in our local newspaper. This involves submitting daily forecasts covering all of North and South Carolina, along with authoring a science Q&A column that runs 365 days per year. I have been answering questions since early 1998 and now have over 1,300 columns archived. I have been thinking about syndicating it.
Q: What affiliations do you currently have and/or public service do you participate in?
A: I am not affiliated with any one group, outside of my church. But for years I have been a speaker and/or emcee at every imaginable function to help whatever good cause they may be promoting. Currently, I am working closely with our neighboring county’s school board to help design and create online learning modules to improve their science curriculum.
Q: What hobbies do you enjoy?
A: My time is so horribly limited, that I have virtually dropped out of the one sport I love—tennis. My biggest hobby is my kids. Their youth is so short, and I cherish every moment I have with them. We ride bikes in a park adjacent to our neighborhood. I have my audio/video toys, but I’m not as passionate as I used to be. But as a former quasi-musician, I still can’t go long without music.
Q: What are your goals for the next few years?
A: As a guy hitting his stride in middle age, my goals are to simply maintain. In many respects, my goals have already been exceeded. I’ve been lucky, damn lucky. Oh sure, I work hard, I’m diligent, but so are most other people. My primary goal is to take care of my family, inspire my kids to be productive citizens, and do my own part to lend my talent, time and treasure to the community.
Brothers may contact Eric DeZubay at [email protected]