Brother remembered

The members of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity will never forget their brother, Ryan Gibson.

Gibson graduated magna cum laude from SMU in 2000, with a degree in biology. He lost his battle with leukemia in February of last year, after fighting the disease for nearly six years.

Now, each year the Pikes honor him by hosting the Ryan Gibson Memorial Powder Puff Tournament. This year will be no exception. The third annual tournament will be held Saturday.

Former Pike philanthropy chairman Andrew Novak created the tournament in Gibson’s honor.

“He left such a huge legacy in this house. He was the greatest friend. He gave friendship and warmth to everyone, and we all remember him for that. I wanted to do something to honor his memory,” said Novak, a first-year law student.

He decided to create a female flag football tournament because of the success of powder puff as a high school tradition, Novak said.

“I thought it would be a great way to carry over the enthusiasm of Powder Puff to college,” he said.

All the proceeds from the tournament go to The Ryan Gibson Foundation. After his death, several of his fraternity brothers set up the foundation to pay tribute to Gibson. The foundation receives money from Pike philanthropic events, such as Powder Puff, along with other donations. The interest from the money in the foundation is donated to assist leukemia research.

In the tournament’s first year, the fraternity raised $2,500. Last year, $3,000 was donated. It is hoped that this year’s tournament will be an even bigger success.

“This is a key year for us, because the tournament is only three years old,” Pike member J.W. Marshall said. “We want to keep it going and secure it for years to come.”

The tournament will begin at 9 a.m. with preliminary matches at the SMU intramural fields. The women will play according to the rules of SMU flag football. There will be two divisions in the tournament. One will be teams made up of new sorority members. The other divison will consist of teams made up of active members. This year the tournament will include teams from Alpha Chi Omega, Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi. The Soul Sistas and a team made up of graduate law students will also compete. All preliminary games will last 20 minutes.

The semifinal rounds will begin at 2 p.m. Both the semi-final and final games will be played in Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Games for each round will last 40 minutes.

“For the teams that keep winning, it is a pretty long day of flag football,” Marshall said.

Novak said the day is designed to bring the campus together.

“The best thing about Powder Puff is bringing women from all over the campus together. It is a unifying event. It also brings our house together in a way that not many activities do. There are no boundaries. Everyone is involved,” Novak said.

His fraternity brothers believe that Gibson would be happy with the tournament.

“The whole event embodies the spirit of friendship and togetherness that Ryan brought to everyone,” Novak said. “He really wanted to bring this campus together. I think this event would make him proud.”

Brother remembered