Alumni Center
One of the greatest benefits of being a Phi Delta Theta Brother with Indiana Delta is developing bonds of friendship that supersede all social, cultural, geographical, and age barriers. No matter where a Phi Delt goes or what he does, he's likely to encounter a Brother in the Bond.
This page is to help you connect and get involved with the chapter and all its workings. We need your head, heart, and help to maintain the legacy of brotherhood, service, and ongoing fortitude of Indiana Delta. Check here for all the latest in Indiana Delta alumni events and communication!
Alumni Resource Team:
Casey
Adams 1439
Communications
Franklin Phi serves as Grizzly Golf Coach
One of the goals with our new communication effort is to inform you of opportunities for brothers to connect and reconnect. The Griz Golf Classic is happening August 3, 2018 at The Legends Golf Club, 2555 North Hurricane Road, Franklin, IN 46131. The entry deadline has already passed but we encourage you to donate even just a little. This outing was first organized by the Franklin College Athletics department to consolidate the many different outings supporting the various teams to one event with the goal to eliminate the spread of interested Alumni too thin. This consolidated outing promotes all athletic programs and gives donors the opportunity to designate their contribution to a specific program or the general athletic department fund.
Brother Curt Holcroft, ‘98, Bond# 1407, is the current head coach of Men’s Golf at FC. He first got involved in the outing by handling the silent auction of items submitted by the teams. Last year’s outing resulted in double the amount of funds for the Golf program that their best ever effort previously provided.
Brother Holcroft was approached for the coaching position in 2015 and described himself as “humbled” to be considered. Curt noted, coaching at the college level is the “ultimate goal as a coach.” When asked what it means to be coaching at FC in particular, “It’s a chance to give back and show appreciation for all the people who didn’t give up on me as a student and pushed me to be better.” His message to golfers during their time on the team is, “If we don’t make you a better person, father, husband, etc. we have let you down.”
What stood out most to Curt in his time as a student was the support of staff, professors, advisors, teammates, friends, and brothers. “When you are struggling all of these people are around to pick you up and motivate you to keep going.” Curt sees Greek life at FC as an important part of the education experience and one that needs nurtured. “Being in a Fraternity taught me a lot and I like my own golfers to have that opportunity as well.” Curt is very adamant regarding the part Alumni need to play in that nurturing. “We have many local alumni, if we can get everyone to just give a little time, checking on the house and/or the chapter, being mentors, it can really add up. College decisions affect the rest of your life, we need to show them what’s out there.”
One of Curt’s most significant memories of his time as an undergraduate included the following: “My Freshman year on the baseball team we had a game at Hanover, which is not only the rival, but near my hometown of Madison, IN. There was a ground ball hit to (fellow Phi) Eric Neidlinger, ‘94, Bond# 1368, which peeled the nails off his fingers. I had to go in for him. My first at bat I hit a ball that bounced off the top of the outfield fence for a double. That was the moment I knew, I belong here, I can play at this level.” Curt’s solid playing career at FC also led to his selection to a team of college players representing USA in Europe during the summer.
I’d like to thank Brother Holcroft for his time sharing. It is evident he is living out the Phi Delta Theta mission and vision, and also that of Franklin College.
Indiana Delta receives $50 thousand
Gift Honoring Von Boll
The family of Karen (Boll) Robideau, daughter of Von Boll (’52 / Bond# 797), have made a $50 thousand gift to the Phi Delta Theta (Indiana Delta) chapter at Franklin College to endow vital physical upgrades, landscaping, and mechanical repairs to the chapter house in their father’s honor.
“This gift will allow Phi Delta Theta to re-invest much-needed improvements to this grand old house, the home of Indiana Delta, enabling the chapter to re-colonize and rise to new strength and prominence as Franklin’s first and foremost fraternity,” said Karen (Boll) Robideau, the Boll family representative. “(Brother) Greg and I are deeply moved by the opportunity to honor our father and his passion and devotion to Phi Delta Theta and Franklin College."
Von was a dedicated member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Franklin College in 1952. He began his career with the finance department of Indiana-based Cummins Engine Co., and in 20 years he advanced from the service manager to the Assistant Vice President. In 1971, he purchased Cummins Michigan distributorship, which he successfully operated for 30 years before retiring in 2001. Von was the longest-serving board member at Franklin College; he was awarded an alumni citation in 1983 and an Honorary Doctorate in 2003. The Boll name adorns multiple featured structures around the Franklin College campus and will be commemorated with a plaque at the chapter house honoring this gift from the family.
“The Indiana Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta is poised to advance the process for recolonization at the college after losing its charter in 2016,” according to Joe Hoagland, House Corporation President of Indiana Delta. “The Phi Delta Theta Fraternity experience provides that vital nexus for educational growth, personal development, and a purposeful worldview through the support, brotherhood, and growth as a brother. We believe a Phi Delt develops continually in the classroom, and throughout their careers with the fraternity as a bedrock foundation. Though Phi Delta Theta and our alumni community, we can leverage all of it for a greater impact for future Phi’s,” he said.
Our father always said the “Phi Delta Theta experience prepared me for professional life far better than my formal classes ever did,” adding “That house and my brothers provided me the keys to understanding the world needs you to think above yourself and venture beyond your front door as a man of principle.”
The Phi Delta Theta chapter is honored to recognize Mr. Boll and generosity of Karen, Greg, and the Boll family in their devotion and support of the practices and values of the fraternity.
2019
Brother/Coach Keith Fiedler
Passes Away
Brother Keith A. Fiedler ('73-Bond # 1150), after a short battle with cancer, died Sunday, June 9th at age 66. It was sudden and unexpected news in Carmel, where Fiedler spent the entirety of his 31-year coaching career, including from 1997-2004 as the head coach of the Carmel High School Greyhounds.
Fiedler – or ‘Coach Fieds” – was a beloved figure on the football field and in the classroom, where he taught biology. Jack Beery first became acquainted with Fiedler while going through the Carmel football camps in the late 1970s. He later came back to serve as an assistant on his staff.
Carmel was 65-33 with five sectional championships in Fiedler’s eight seasons. Prior to his tenure as a head coach, Fiedler was a defensive backs coach and assistant defensive coordinator at Carmel from 1974-84 and defensive coordinator from 1985-96 under Jim Belden at the school. He was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
Dullaghan was newly-hired at Carmel in the spring of 1973 and in search of an assistant when he attended a practice at Franklin College. When Dullaghan asked legendary Franklin coach Red Faught if he had any potential candidates, Faught pointed at Fiedler. “‘That guy right there,’” Dullaghan remembers Faught telling him. “‘You’ll love him. I’m sure he’d make you a good coach.’” It turned out to be a perfect fit. Fiedler, who was an all-state running back at Woodlan High School in 1969 and was a standout player at Franklin, immediately took to coaching defensive backs.
“He was ahead of his time as a defensive secondary coach,” Dullaghan said. “He was doing things with coverages that nobody else was doing at that time. And he just did a magnificent job of getting those tough little defensive backs to play their butt off for him. He knew how to handle kids and motivate them without yelling and screaming. I was the one doing that half
the time.”