Shield and Diamond Spring 2012 : Page 4

Pike Feature LUTE OLSON INITIATED INTO THE BONDS Legendary Basketball Coach Joins Forces With PIKE for Brotherhood and Community Service In regards to the Fraternity, Olson acknowledged, “It is a nice feeling to be a part of this organization; I am looking forward to finding more ways to support Pi Kappa Alpha.” Lute and his wife, Kelly, were also featured guests at the PIKE Founders Day banquet in Tucson on March 3rd, which drew a record 350 attendees including top University administrators. Lute Olson, the man Lute Olson was born on a farm just outside Mayville, North Dakota on September 22, 1934, and would go on to attend high school in Grand Forks for the 1951-52 season, where he led the basketball team to the 1952 state championship. Distinguished guests included Pi Kappa Alpha Executive Vice President & CEO Justin A. Buck, Olson, Southern Arizona Alumni Association Secretary Brent A. Seebohm and International President Kevin E. Virta. “Do something you have passion for and work harder at it than you ever have. Leadership is all about leading by example.” – Lute Olson Gamma Delta ’12 n February 11, 2012, in conjunction with Pike University’s Leadership Summit in Irvine, California, basketball great Lute Olson formalized his relationship with PIKE and was initiated as an official member of the Fraternity. Pi Kappa Alpha’s Supreme Council officers and CEO Justin Buck (Southeast Missouri State, Epsilon Iota ’96) were in attendance for the exciting event. Gamma Delta Chapter (Arizona) served as the initiating chapter for the former Arizona Wildcats coach. “He was very, very excited,” said Gamma Delta Chapter President Charles Eisner ’10, “this legend is excited to be a part of our organization – he had a big smile on his face the whole time. He took it so genuinely. It was refreshing.” Brother Olson shared an hour of remarks on leadership, gentlemanly values, and championship character. Regarding leadership, Olson stated during his keynote, “Do something you have passion for and work harder at it than you ever have. Leadership is all about leading by example. Your devotion, dedication, and enthusiasm for your role is the key to leadership.” O The grandson of Norwegian immigrants, Lute grew up with a solid work ethic and a stoic outlook. When he was five years old his father passed away from a massive stroke. He was youngest of four children. Lute participated in everything – he played in the band (sousaphone), sang in choir, threw shot and discus in track, and also played football, basketball and baseball. In his 2006 autubiography, Lute! The Seasons of My Life , Olson recalls: “The game of basketball has taken me around the world, several times. It’s provided me with an unbelievable range of experiences.... It’s enabled me to form countless wonderful friendships, and do the one thing I wanted to do more than anything else, be a coach. “I learned how to play the game in the small town of Mayville, North Dakota. I also played football and baseball and even threw the discus and the shot put. I enjoyed them all, they were fun, but mostly what these sports did was keep me occupied until basketball season started. I played basketball every chance I got. When SHIELD & DIAMOND 4 • SPRING 2012

LUTE OLSON INITIATED INTO THE BONDS

On February 11, 2012, in conjunction with Pike University’s Leadership Summit in Irvine, California, basketball great Lute Olson formalized his relationship with PIKE and was initiated as an official member of the Fraternity. Pi Kappa Alpha’s Supreme Council officers and CEO Justin Buck (Southeast Missouri State, Epsilon Iota ’96) were in attendance for the exciting event. Gamma Delta Chapter (Arizona) served as the initiating chapter for the former Arizona Wildcats coach. “He was very, very excited,” said Gamma Delta Chapter President Charles Eisner ’10, “this legend is excited to be a part of our organization – he had a big smile on his face the whole time. He took it so genuinely. It was refreshing.” Brother Olson shared an hour of remarks on leadership, gentlemanly values, and championship character. Regarding leadership, Olson stated during his keynote, “Do something you have passion for and work harder at it than you ever have. Leadership is all about leading by example. Your devotion, dedication, and enthusiasm for your role is the key to leadership.” In regards to the Fraternity, Olson acknowledged, “It is a nice feeling to be a part of this organization; I am looking forward to finding more ways to support Pi Kappa Alpha.” Lute and his wife, Kelly, were also featured guests at the PIKE Founders Day banquet in Tucson on March 3rd, which drew a record 350 attendees including top University administrators. Lute Olson, the man Lute Olson was born on a farm just outside Mayville, North Dakota on September 22, 1934, and would go on to attend high school in Grand Forks for the 1951-52 season, where he led the basketball team to the 1952 state championship. The grandson of Norwegian immigrants, Lute grew up with a solid work ethic and a stoic outlook. When he was five years old his father passed away from a massive stroke. He was youngest of four children. Lute participated in everything – he played in the band (sousaphone), sang in choir, threw shot and discus in track, and also played football, basketball and baseball. In his 2006 autubiography, Lute! The Seasons of My Life, Olson recalls: “The game of basketball has taken me around the world, several times. It’s provided me with an unbelievable range of experiences.... It’s enabled me to form countless wonderful friendships, and do the one thing I wanted to do more than anything else, be a coach. “I learned how to play the game in the small town of Mayville, North Dakota. I also played football and baseball and even threw the discus and the shot put. I enjoyed them all, they were fun, but mostly what these sports did was keep me occupied until basketball season started. I played basketball every chance I got. When two feet of snow covered the court, I’d sweep it off and start shooting. We’d play outside with gloves on when it was twenty below zero. Playing with gloves was easy. Mittens were tough, though.” Lute is a graduate of Augsburg College in Minneapolis as a three-sport athlete. He also earned a masters degree in educational psychology and counseling which served him well through his 40+ years of coaching. In college, he was a three-sport athlete (basketball, football and baseball) at Augsburg College from 1953-56. As a senior in 1956, Olson was recognized with the Augsburg Honors Athlete Award, which is given annually to the top male student-athlete. Since that time he also has been honored by his alma mater with induction into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 1977 and received the Augsburg College Distinguished Alumni Award in April 1986. After five years of prep coaching in Minnesota, he moved west and coached for six years in Anaheim and Huntington Beach, California, high schools. Olson was inducted into the Two Harbors, Minn., Sports Hall of Fame in July 2001. He then guided Long Beach City College to three league titles and the 1971 state junior college crown and was the conference coach of the year in three of his four seasons. Olson followed that with a one-year stint as the head coach at Long Beach State (1973-74), where he led the 49ers to a 24-2 record. That got the attention of Iowa, which hired him for the next season. Olson was married to the former Roberta (Bobbi) Russell for 47 years. Bobbi passed away in January 2001. Olson has five grown children – daughters Vicki, Jody and Christi, and sons Greg and Steve – and 14 grandchildren. Prior to his 25 year tenure with the Arizona Wildcats, Olson coached basketball teams at the University of Iowa for nine years and Long Beach State, and Long Beach City College for four years, after having coached high school teams in Minnesota, as well as Anaheim and Huntington Beach, California. He compiled 180 victories coaching high school basketball. He never ever thought he would coach Division 1 basketball – his whole goal was “to be the best coach that I could be that year, and the next year I should be even better…in motivating young people to be the best that they could become.” Olson has 46 NCAA tournament wins, one behind John Wooden and one ahead of Bob Knight. In 2002, Olson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame along with Magic Johnson, Coach Larry Brown and the Harlem Globetrotters team. He also coached the US national team in the 1986 FIBA World Championship, the last U.S. amateur basketball team to win in international competition. His team defeated the Russia in the gold medal game, the first time the U.S. had won the world championship in 32 years. Past University of Arizona President, and now Fiesta Bowl Executive Director, Dr. Robert Shelton stated when Coach Olson retired, “Lute, you have taken a generation of young men and taught them what it means to be leaders, community givers, and you have set a model for us all.” Past UA Athletic Director Jim Livengood concisely shared upon Lute’s coaching career completion, “On behalf of Wildcats everywhere, you have been an incredible class act, an unbelievable ambassador, and quite honestly one amazing basketball coach. Thanks for being Lute Olson.” Former UA player and Phoenix Suns President/GM, five-time NBA champion and current NBA television analyst Steve Kerr shared, “When Coach arrived at UA, the team was awful, we had four wins overall, we were horrible. Lute was such an amazing coach that within two years he had us in the NCAA tournament. More importantly though, he was a father figure to hundreds of us, putting us on the right path in life and in a group of friends that we will have forever.” PIKE and CATwalk Lute Olson’s devotion and enthusiasm led directly to his association with Pi Kappa Alpha. The story of that partnership illustrates one of PIKE’s primary precepts: service to the community and caring for others. Olson’s first wife, Bobbi, died in 2001 of ovarian cancer. The basketball court at UA is named the Lute and Bobbi Olson Court in her honor. Following Bobbi’s death, representatives from Greek Life came to Lute with a plan. “They said they’d like to do something in Bobbi’s memory,” said Olson, “they thought that a walk would be a great way to do it.” That plan evolved into CATwalk, a walk developed to raise money for the Bobbi Olson Fund for women’s cancer research, education and prevention at the UA Cancer Center. With Greek Life running the operations, CATwalk raised more than $500,000 over the course of 11 years. But after Greek Life chose to take on a different project this year, the event was in danger of extinction. However, thanks to Pi Kappa Alpha and its 205-man Gamma Delta chapter, CATwalk has new life. With Olson and 104 Arizona PIKE undergraduates and alumni members on hand at the Pike University Regional Leadership Summit, the Fraternity announced it had taken over total operations of CATwalk. “This is a major accomplishment for our brotherhood to partner with The University of Arizona Cancer Center and formally welcome Coach Olson into our ranks. This is outstanding for the entire Greek system who have been so supportive of CATwalk for more than a decade,” shared Chapter President Eisner. The University of Arizona Cancer Center is creating the new Lute Olson PIKE Fund, in conjunction with the Bobbi Olson Fund, with proceeds entirely benefiting local cancer research. The 12th annual CATwalk event will be scheduled for Saturday, December 1st, 2012, which is also Gamma Delta Chapter’s 88th Founders Day anniversary. “This collaborative progress by our alumni association and undergraduate chapter has already greatly energized our nearly 2,000 Gamma Delta Chapter alumni. We are committed to expand CATwalk throughout the Tucson community and among the many PIKE parents and alums statewide,” said local Tucson business owner Edmund Marquez, president of Pikes Southern Arizona Alumni Association. “His (Olson’s) heart and soul is behind all this,” said Dr. David Alberts, director of the UA Cancer Center. “He loves this. It was his creation. I think that there’s new energy and I think the Pikes are going to do a great job and it warms my heart that Coach Olson is still involved in this, and so is his family.” It was this partnership that brought the famous Lute Olson into PIKE membership. “At a dinner that alums hosted for Kelly and me, we strategized CATwalk philanthropy event growth and then they asked me if I would like to be a PIKE. I said I had never been involved in a fraternity, and instantly said yes to join the elite membership,” said Olson, who missed his first Arizona basketball home game since his retirement to attend the Irvine Pike University event. “It was really a lot of fun.”

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