Recognizing Achievements
by Jason Pearce • March 2007 • 5 Comments •
When Frankie Laine (Miami-FL HON) died last month, he left behind a musical legacy that may never be surpassed by a member of Lambda Chi Alpha.
Order of Merit
Since its inception in 1935, 311 men have received Lambda Chi Alpha’s Order of Merit award.
The Order of Merit is presented to alumni who have distinguished themselves in service to the Fraternity and its chapters.
Like the Order of Achievement, the Grand High Zeta may elect no more than 10 outstanding alumni members every two years.
The Order of Merit, however, averages 4.3 recipients per year compared to the Order of Achievement’s 2 per year.
In many cases, Order of Merit recipients are able to travel to conferences and events to receive this recognition. Some even show up every year.
Thanks to the tireless devotion these men have given Lambda Chi Alpha over the years and sometimes decades, thousands of our undergraduate members have benefited from a better fraternal experience.
One of the most successful American singers of the twentieth century, Laine produced 17 songs that climbed to the top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Charts, sold more than 100 million records, and became most famous for his theme songs to Westerns “Blazing Saddles,” “Bullwhip,” and “Rawhide.”
Yet despite all of his accomplishments, Laine never received Lambda Chi Alpha’s most prestigious award, the Order of Achievement.
Having initiated more than 250,000 men since its founding in 1909, many of our members — like Laine — have made extraordinary contributions in their chosen professions.
The Fraternity has two main avenues of recognizing these men and their accomplishments, which are to feature them in the Cross & Crescent and to honor them with the Order of Achievement award.
While the Cross & Crescent features two to three alumni in each monthly issue, the Order of Achievement has averaged only two recipients a year since its inception.
Order of Achievement
Established in 1958, “The Order of Achievement shall consist of alumni members who have distinguished themselves by outstanding success in the fields of business, industry, the arts, science, or other professions and thereby have brought honor and respect to the Fraternity,” according to the Constitution.
In almost 50 years, 101 members have received this honor. Recipients include President Harry S. Truman (Missouri-Columbia HON), psychologist B.F. Skinner (Hamilton 1926), U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun (Harvard 1929), Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle (California-Berkeley 1918), and Academy award-winning actor Dean Jagger (Wabash 1922). But is that enough?
The Grand High Zeta is limited to electing no more than 10 alumni every two years. Most recipients are elected to receive the award in General Assembly years, but they may receive it at another appropriate event such as area alumni receptions.
Even if the Fraternity were to give out 20 Order of Achievements a year, we still wouldn’t be able to honor those who are deserving before their passing.
At this very moment, we have multiple members currently serving as congressmen, state supreme court justices, Nobel Prize winners, Hollywood actors, TV personalities, Fortune 500 CEOs, military generals, astronauts, professional athletes, and even a few billionaires.
While these extraordinary accomplished individuals frequently grace the pages of the Cross & Crescent, most have neither received the Order of Achievement nor been nominated.
It’s not that they aren’t deserving of the award. In 2000, the Grand High Zeta drafted and approved a document titled “Protocol for Election of Order of Achievement Winners” that better defines the parameters and criteria a candidate must meet in order to be considered.
This document provides two pages of qualifying examples such as Nobel or Emmy Award winners, presidents or CEOs of NYSE and NASDAQ traded companies, congressmen and senators, or coaches and athletes of professional sports teams.
Using these qualifiers, the Communication department has organized a list of more than 700 extraordinary members — and growing.
Research and Discovery
Each month, the Cross & Crescent team searches for two to three alumni who have interesting and successful stories to tell. Some of our leads are submitted by our readers, while other discoveries come from good old research and journalism.
To help us keep track of our most successful members and story ideas, we developed and maintain a web-based list that we call “Notable Members.” While a few of these men have received the Order of Achievement, the vast majority have not.
Here are some examples of how few of our members have received the award in each professional category.
- Academy Award: 1 of 4
- Astronaut: 1 of 3
- Basketball Hall of Fame: 1 of 3
- College Football Hall of Fame: 0 of 3
- College or University President: 5 of 35
- Congressman: 8 of 30
- Fortune 1000 CEO: 3 of 14
- Hollywood Walk of Fame: 2 of 4
- Military General: 2 of 23
- MLB All-Star Game: 0 of 3
- MLB Hall of Fame: 0 of 3
- NFL Hall of Fame: 0 of 3
- NFL Pro Bowl Game: 0 of 10
- NFL Super Bowl: 0 of 14
- Nobel Prize: 0 of 2
- Presidential Medal of Freedom: 2 of 4
- Rhodes Scholar: 0 of 23
- Senator: 6 of 10
- State Supreme Court Justice: 0 of 11
- West Point Graduate: 0 of 114
By all accounts, this is an impressive list of names and accomplishments. A list like this makes one feel proud to be a Lambda Chi. You might even go so far as to say that Lambda Chi Alpha played a part in helping these men rise to the top.
In many cases, we did.
Story after story, issue after issue, the Cross & Crescent hears these men say, “I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Lambda Chi.”
They talk about the experience they gained serving as chapter officers, the people skills they learned while working with a diverse group of men, and the creative energy they received from friends with nicknames like “Tippy” and “Sudds.”
Many of our most notable members are proud to be Lambda Chis, and much like good parents, we couldn’t be happier for the way they turned out.
Why So Few Awards?
In the development world, prestigious awards given to prestigious individuals often help lure those members back into the fold. They reaffirm the member’s roots and relationship with an organization in hopes they may one day share some of their financial successes or knowledge.
Universities and colleges are sometimes criticized for granting honorary degrees in exchange for large donations. While both the Grand High Zeta and Foundation Board do not treat the Order of Achievement as a cultivation tool, it’s hidden value is always out there.
Same holds true for the Cross & Crescent. For each story, we conduct an hour-long interview and produce a two-page story telling the world about his accomplishments. It feels good to be recognized. So much so, they may one day choose to give a little back.
But if financial reward isn’t the real barrier for limiting Order of Achievement recognition, what is?
Much like university honorary degrees, Lambda Chi Alpha would like to confer the Order of Achievement award with great pomp and ceremony. We want to have the recipient attend a grand banquet filled with hundreds of members. We dream of grand speeches about how more Lambda Chis can make valuable contributions to society the way they did.
In most cases, that’s what the 100 recipients gave us. Having heard a few of those speeches myself, I can attest that powerful words coming from powerful people have a way of instilling magical moments of inspiration.
With success, however, comes greater inaccessibility. While our most successful members may want to attend a conference or reception in their honor, their busy schedules of leading wars abroad or Fortune 500 companies on Wall Street prevent them from doing so.
Take Laine for example. While his career did slow down in the 1980s due to triple and quadruple heart bypasses, he continued recording albums including “Wheels Of A Dream” in 1998, “Old Man Jazz” in 2002, and “The Nashville Connection” in 2004 right up to his death.
Lambda Chi Alpha is incredibly proud of Laine’s accomplishments. Sadly, along with many others like him, it is too late for us to tell him so.
Bill Foltz Says:
March 2nd, 2007 at 4:32 pmGiven the shortsightedness of voters on the Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, I think we should honor Ron Santo (Illinois State, Beta-Omicron 106). Brother Santo is an honorary from my home chapter, and was a preeminent 3rd baseman during the 1960’s & early 1970’s.
According to WIKIPEDIA, “He was named a National League All-Star 9 times during his 15 seasons of play (1960 - 1974), and won five consecutive Gold Glove awards for fielding excellence (1964-1968).
Santo made his debut with the Cubs on June 26, 1960. He played with the team until 1973, then finished his career with the cross-town Chicago White Sox in 1974. During his 14-season run with the Cubs, Santo hit 337 home runs; he was the first third baseman to hit over 300 home runs and win five Gold Gloves, a feat since matched by only Mike Schmidt, a Hall of Fame player.”
When one considers his accomplishments on the field as well as the many years of devotion he’s given to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Brother Santo is truly someone to look up to. I’m proud to call him a Brother.
In ZAX,
Bill Foltz - Beta-Omicron 130
Bruce Ritter Says:
March 2nd, 2007 at 5:01 pmWhile I understand the “dream of grand speeches”, certain achievements seem to demand an Order of Achievement Award. In my opinion the two example categories being awarded a Nobel Prize or Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Jon Williamson Says:
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:00 pmI can’t think of one reason not to honor a man who has risen to the top of his chosen profession. Not included on the list are Lambda Chi’s who have received their profession’s highest awards/recognition in the arts, science, medecine, the law and in writing. What are we saving this honor for? This was an excellent editorial.
chris Says:
March 3rd, 2007 at 7:20 amGreat article…101 awards in 50 years is alarming…that is a small average, especially considering 0 of 2 nobel prize nominees stastic presented here…then again, I fully understand the difficulty in saying out of 700 possible men…who do we give this to and why?
Maybe order of achievement should become like a lifetime achievement award only to be given at age X and up…
and create a different award that anyone can get who has reached high ranks in their profession.
Two award types would serve to keep the achieving professional crowd in contact with fraternity and they would have something to aim for lifelong after that.
in ZAX,
Chris.
Stephen Appeldorn Says:
March 4th, 2007 at 8:02 pmI echo Bill’s sentiment about Ron Santo. For as fine a ballplayer as he was PLUS somehow for many years managing diabetes as well as he did given what he knew about it ( March 6 marks the 33rd anniversary of my being diagnosed), the fact that he’s not yet received baseball’s highest honor nor maybe our fraternity’s merits a quick change.
in ZAX,
Steve Appeldorn
Phi-Mu 2