Rooney Receives Significant Sig Award

Dan Rooney, founder of Patriot Golf Day and the Folds of Honor Foundation, has been named one of 34 recipients of the 2008 Significant Sig award, the highest honor bestowed upon an alumni member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Rooney follows others in the golf industry to receive the honor, including Past PGA President J.R. Carpenter, 12-time national blind golf champion Charley Boswell, former August National Golf Club Chairmen Hord Hardin and Jackson Stephens, and current PGA Tour star Luke Donald.

Rooney, 35, a resident of Broken Arrow, Okla., is a 1995 graduate of the University of Kansas, where he earned a master's degree in performance psychology in 1996. He turned professional that year and competed until 1998 as a tour professional. Rooney also is a golf course owner, residential developer, and an F-16 pilot in the Oklahoma Air National Guard. He is a Captain in the U.S. Air Force and a decorated military aviator, who will be making a third tour of Iraq later this year.

In 2007, Rooney founded Patriot Golf Day, a nationwide fundraiser jointly supported by The PGA of America, United States Golf Association (USGA), the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), which produced more than $1.1 million in donations nationwide. This year, all proceeds will benefit Rooney's Folds of Honor Foundation.

The Folds of Honor Foundation's mission is to provide scholarships to the spouses and children of troops injured or perished in conflict. This year's Patriot Golf Day will be conducted during the Labor Day weekend, August 29- September 1.

The 2008 Significant Sigs roster includes Retired Joint Chiefs of Staff member BG. Cecil Neely, actor Eric Close, Retired Major General M. John Bowen Jr. and educator-author John Ash. The roster has representatives from 17 states, the District of Columbia and Canada.

The Significant Sig Award recognizes those alumni members whose achievements in their fields of endeavor have brought honor and prestige to the name of Sigma Chi. Since 1935, the Sigma Chi Fraternity, with national headquarters in Evanston, Ill., has recognized more than 800 members as Significant Sigs. Candidates in any profession, occupation or service work as eligible and only living members are eligible for consideration.