For Matt Fabrizio ’99, the Kingdom has always felt like home. Now a few hours away in Philly, Matt still plays softball with at least seven brothers, works with one, and meets up with several each month for Man Night. He especially likes to preserve the memory of a beloved brother lost to combat, Sean Thomas ’97.
Read on for our Q&A with Matt to find out more about him, how these brothers have stayed so close, and the memory of Brother Thomas.
Q: What’s your Chi Phi story?
A: At Penn State, you need to “make a large campus smaller” by getting involved in some kind of on-campus activity. Whether it’s sports, clubs, student government, or Greek life, you pick the spot that fits. Following in the footsteps of an older friend’s advice, I visited Chi Phi in spring of my freshman year and felt at home immediately. I moved in while still pledging and lived there through my fifth and final year on campus. The Kingdom was a special place and visiting it was never enough.
Q: Do you have any favorite Chi Phi memories?
A: I know that over many years and many wars, many Chi Phis have given their lives in the name of combat for our armed forces and fought for our country. But for our generation, it is most important to preserve the memory of Brother Sean Thomas ’97, a quirky central Pennsylvanian Chi Phi, that didn’t even pledge until he was 22 years old. He had an aura that lit up any room he entered with pure comedy. He strove to help others and married his college sweetheart. Sadly, he was killed in action in Afghanistan. Sean personified the reality of war to a generation of our fraternity, and although we shall never hear his infectious laugh again, I’m better off for having known him.
Q: What has inspired you to give back so generously to the chapter?
A: The most important reason I chose now to give back is because I did not have the means during the big fundraising that saved the house in 2011, so I’m happy to have the opportunity simply to do my share this time around. Some of the best years of my life happened while I called 360 E. Hamilton Ave my home. To be able to return to the Kingdom on a random football weekend and observe all the things that are different, and (even better for an old guy) all the things that are still the same is particularly special. It evokes a unique feeling you can’t get by walking past your old dorm room or running into someone that lives in the same off-campus apartment that you did.
Q: Do you still keep in touch with any brothers? Who and how?
A: Of the 14 seniors that graduated with me, almost all of them ended up in Philadelphia for one reason or another. For years, over a dozen of us lived within blocks of each other in Philly. At least seven of us (Brian Belles ’98, Damian Taranto ’99, Dan Carroll ’98, Greg Miller ’97, Pete Golbin ’98, and Jason Pollack ’99) still play softball together (6x champs). And even discounting Cory Daddona ’99 (whom I work with), rarely does a week go by without a live Chi Phi interaction. We return to PSU for a football weekend annually. We’ve caught the one PSU Ice Hockey game in Philly each of the past three years. And now all our kids call most of my Chi Phi friends “Uncle So-and-so.” But by far, the most enduring Chi Phi event, which still goes on to this day, is “Man Night.” Man Night takes place on the second Thursday of every month, almost always in Philadelphia, where we all meet for dinner. It’s been going on monthly for over a decade, and even now, 18 years since graduation and with friends/neighbors added to the list, there is never a Man Night without multiple Chi Phi attendees.
Q: What’s new with you these days?
A: I’m married, have one son, and one dog. I live in Devon, PA (a suburb of Philly) and spend my summer weekends in Dewey Beach, Delaware. I coach high school ice hockey at Episcopal Academy and work in commercial construction for a close friend. I have one Chi Phi T-shirt left (Chi Phi Rush 1995) and I still wear it once in a while.