Rear Admiral Ron Boxall Is Forever Loyal to Chi Phi
Brother Ron Boxall ‘84—now Rear Admiral Ronald A. Boxall—knows a lot about loyalty. He has faithfully served his country for 32 years and currently sits at one of the highest ranks in the U.S. Navy, overseeing all Navy ships at the Pentagon. But there is another group he will forever be loyal to: Chi Phi.
Ron shared with us what the brotherhood did for his life, why he stays so involved, and how military service showed him the importance of giving back.
Tell us a little about your life.
I’m from upstate New York, a place called Holland Patent. I went to Penn State and pledged Chi Phi when I was a freshman. I was a science major, a cheerleader at Penn State, in the glee club, and I even graduated… barely!
Of all the fraternities on campus, what made you choose Chi Phi?
Chi Phi just seemed like a place where there were good quality guys—not pretentious, or real “preppy.” It was just a fraternity of regular guys. A good bunch of regular guys who cared about you more as a person than where you’re from or who you know. A very grounded group of guys.
What are your favorite memories of Chi Phi?
That we could print? [Laughs]
Some of the most fun things we did were just the functions with sororities; I thought we did those pretty well. Certainly the old Bowl-a-thon, and dancing in the Dance Marathon with Jim Nardell ‘84. We had a bunch of us that did it that year; I think Mark Thompson ’83 as well. I can’t remember all the others, but I know Jim. Jim passed away a few years ago. Great guy. He was one of my pledge brothers.
What does being a brother of Chi Phi mean to you?
When I think of my memories of Penn State, most of them go back to living at Chi Phi and the people and friends that I met there. When I go back there—where some people go back to dorms or buildings where they may or may not know anybody—we actually have a place that feels like a place to come back to, that’s more intimate than some of the places you’d go back to. It’s always great to go back to all those places, but when you go back to Chi Phi, it’s memories of the best years of your life.
So you visit the house when you’re here?
Yeah. I was actually back there for homecoming. I try to stop back about once a year, usually around homecoming.
Why have you wanted to give back so generously over the years?
We weren’t one of the bigger fraternities, and as I look back, it would have seemed criminal to have that beautiful house go away, and to deprive other young men like us of the same opportunity that we had. For us to take away the memories and the place that we knew.
The last time I was in there, a few months ago, it seemed to be back to life again. We lost Chi Phi for a while, and it doesn’t seem like it’s there yet, it still seems like it needs a little more ownership from the alumni to keep it going.
It’s one thing to give enough money to just get by. You can run a campaign and say, “Oh, good, we got just enough to get by. Yay, we can keep the house.” But you have to give enough to sustain, too. For my job right now in the Navy—I just recently had command of aircraft carrier strikers in Tennessee, and now I’m in the Pentagon and I’m responsible for owning all the Navy ships—and I see what happens to things when you don’t maintain them, or you try to short-fund it. Or you make a budget plan on what you think you know, and then the unknowns come in. And I get that same sense with a capital investment like the Chi Phi kingdom.
Do you still keep in touch with any brothers?
I’m still really good friends with Lee Giannone ’81. And Ron Police ‘82, my big brother. I was just up at Penn State with Ron a few weeks ago. I had a great weekend with him and his wife Kim, who was a little sister at Penn State. And Lee and I were roommates/hall-mates. I see Lee all the time, and he is kind of a mentor to my older son. He races antique Porsches, and my son wants to be able to drive a Porsche one day.
What weekend did you last visit for?
I was a guest of the university, of the president, at Veterans Day. I was the Senior Military Officer at Penn State that was invited to participate in Veteran’s Day. So we were guests at the president’s tailgate, up in the box.
Do you ever find yourself reflecting on Chi Phi in your career?
There’s a current brother named Luke Merski ’17 who is in Navy ROTC, and it’s nice for me to go back as a naval officer and see a future naval officer in my own fraternity. It’s kind of fun for me to go and see him around the house, not just as a naval officer but as a fraternity brother and Penn State student.
What words of wisdom would you give to today’s active brothers?
Chi Phi is where you learn to grow up. We made some mistakes, but you always had someone there that could help you. It’s where you learn to rely on other people for your social growth and maturity. It was a place where you learned that you benefit a lot off of making contacts and keeping them.
What are you most proud of in your life?
Professionally, obviously I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve been able to serve the Navy for 32 years. I’ve been given command of two ships, an aircraft striker. But that pales in comparison to having a family. That’s the thing that I’m most proud of. I have one son going to college this year, and another one who really wants to go to Penn State. I’ve been blessed with a family who’s been very supportive of a difficult career with a lot of separation from the family. My wife and I have been married for 27 years now. And I’m also very proud of the friendships that I was able to have in college and maintain for many, many years. Not all were Chi Phi, but a lot of them were. So I’m certainly thankful for that and proud of that.
What are you up to these days?
I was promoted at sea. I got my second star last April aboard the aircraft carrier. I’m proud of that—that’s kind of a cool thing. I think I’m the Senior Military Officer still in service at Penn State; I think that’s true of the other services, but at least in the Navy.
The funny thing is the people who knew me in college know I was very close to not even graduating. In fact, for Veterans Day, Penn State gave me the Outstanding Alumni Award for the College of Science for 2016, and I was so embarrassed to get it. I thought, is there a GPA requirement here? Apparently there’s not. It was very humbling to be up there with someone doing research on making the world’s air quality better, and then some guy who barely got through Chem 14.