New Kappa Sigma scholarship honors Trine’s SanGiacomo

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Kappa Sigma Fraternity Endowment Fund has established a new scholarship in honor of member and longtime Trine University golf coach and faculty member William SanGiacomo.

The William SanGiacomo Scholarship-Leadership Award will provide $1,000 annually to an undergraduate of the Theta-Xi Chapter at Trine University.

The chapter raised funds for the scholarship as part of Kappa Sigma’s annual Stephen Alonzo Jackson Weekend of Giving, which raised more than $1.26 million. This event is held the first weekend of March, with chapters across North America competing to raise money for scholarships.

57-year tenure

Greg Ilko, a 1994 Trine alumnus and alumni board president for the Theta-Xi Chapter, said the scholarship honors SanGiacomo’s 57-year tenure as the chapter’s Alumnus Advisor. Funds were raised through “a lot of phone calls, emails and text messages.”

“It was an effort coordinated through a multi-generational group of alumni spanning decades from 1960s into the 2020s,” he said.

SanGiacomo arrived at what was then Tri-State College in 1965 to teach English. He became a charter member of the Theta-Xi Chapter in 1966, serving as Alumnus Advisor until his retirement in 2023.

This past fall, SanGiacomo received the John G. Tower Award honoring “Kappa Sigma Brothers who have shown a commitment to their business, family, church, philanthropy, and community activities.” This prestigious award is considered one of the highest honors alumni can receive within the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

He is the only Kappa Sigma brother present for every initiation since the Theta-Xi Chapter’s founding.

He served 47 years as a faculty member and 50 as head men’s golf coach at Trine. His coaching tenure included 13 conference Coach of the Year and five NAIA District Coach of the Year honors. He also coached a team representing the United States in the World University Games in 1992.

He was honored with the Mayor’s Arts and Humanities Award by the City of Angola, Indiana, in 2009 for his work as drama club advisor at the university, and for his participation in plays as actor, writer and director.

When asked to take charge of Zollner Golf Course at Trine University in the early 1990s, he decided to launch a golf management major. In 1992 he moved to the School of Business, teaching golf management there until he retired from the faculty in 2012.

Record amount raised

This year, Kappa Sigma Fraternity added a new recognition option to create named scholarships in honor of beloved Kappa Sigma brothers like SanGiacomo.

The Stephen Alonzo Jackson Weekend of Giving was established in 2015 to raise funds for the Kappa Sigma Endowment Fund’s Donald C. Dilley Jr. Scholarship-Leadership Awards program. Scholarship-Leadership Awards are given to qualifying Kappa Sigma undergraduate members each year on Founders Day, Dec. 10. The fundraising event is named after Kappa Sigma’s first national board president, Stephen Alonzo Jackson.

In 2024, a record-breaking $1,262,335 was donated by 18,316 generous benefactors over three days. As a result, 17 newly named Scholarship-Leadership Awards will be awarded annually in perpetuity.

"What Kappa Sigma Fraternity just did for undergraduate scholarships is nothing short of historic," said Burt Trembly, president of Kappa Sigma's international board of directors. "To raise over $1 million in one-time donations in one weekend is unheard of. Most importantly, this effort will allow us to award scores of additional scholarships to help make college more affordable for our Kappa Sigma undergraduates."

Kappa Sigma is the largest college social fraternity in the world, with more than 200,000 living members, including over 17,000 undergraduates and nearly 300 chapters and colonies located throughout the United States and Canada. Founded in 1869 at the University of Virginia, Kappa Sigma International Headquarters is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.