A sea of sorority sisters in green shirts and 22 flag football teams assembled on the Quad for Pi Beta Phi’s first “Angels in the End Zone” tournament on Saturday.
Pi Beta Phi set up the event to raise money for its philanthropic program: Read. Lead. Achieve. The money raised will be split between the Pi Beta Phi Foundation’s literacy and friendship funds.
The foundation’s literacy fund supports initiatives such as donating to organizations, including First Book, and bringing new books to families and schools in underprivileged areas, according to Pi Beta Phi Vice President of Philanthropy Samantha Pskowski.
Raffles at the event included a $50 iTunes gift card, a 32-inch flat screen television, a Darrelle Revis poster, five tickets to the Giants/Packers game during Thanksgiving break and more.
“[The raffle] drew in more attention for our event,” Pskowski said. “I know people who spent $40 on trying to win those Giants’ tickets.”
Modell’s Sporting Goods store in Hamden donated a gift card for the raffle. Representing the store, Andy Leduc handed out discount coupons at the event for students to go and shop.
“It seemed like a fun event to come down and spend some time raising some good money,” Leduc said.
The flag football tournament was the main focus of the day and drew in a diverse group of participants.
“We thought it would be a fun, interesting event,” Pi Beta Phi Vice President of Communications Kelsey Eng said. “A lot of the organizations have sporting events and this is one that no one has done yet.”
Sophomore Joseph Romano says he was glad he and his team decided to come out and play.
“Other than my team, everything was great,” Romano said jokingly, after a loss against the Tau Kappa Epsilon team. “The event was really cool. There are a lot of people here. It’s a really good environment.”
The friendly competition has players looking forward to next year’s tournament.
“I can see it definitely becoming bigger and better next year,” junior Greg Hayes said. “I think it was well-organized and it’s all for a good cause. It’s just great to be out here today.”
After more than six hours, there was still a large group in attendance for the final game. Pskowski says the feedback has been positive. She already received an email from a fraternity saying its members had a great time and cannot wait to come back next year.
The Tau Kappa Epsilon team won the tournament and a $100 T.G.I. Friday’s gift card to use to celebrate its victory as a team.
“It was a well-run event by Pi Phi and I couldn’t be happier with the turnout,” Tau Kappa Epsilon senior Scott Romano said. “It was good fraternity bonding.”
His teammate, junior Jake Loskant, also appreciated the spirit of the tournament.
“We did a great job playing today as a team,” Loskant said. “It really gets us all close with the other fraternities and sororities. We’d be happy to do it again.”
