Paddy Murphy Approaching!
April 1, 2008
Here’s the proof of the 2008 Paddy Murphy shirt. It will be a white shirt, with 3/4 navy blue sleeves. If you would like to place an order for a shirt, please send an email to saeniu@gmail.com.
It’s SAE’s favorite time of the year, Paddy Murphy. Paddy Murphy is a week-long philanthropy, with all proceeds going to the Children’s Miracle Network. Money is raised by different means: milk jugs, penny voting, and most notably, our softball tournament.
Brothers volunteer their time to collect spare change and coach sororities in the three day, double elimination softball tournament. The tournament isn’t limited to sororities. Other fraternities, local restaurants and bars, and NIU Intramurals all enter teams into the tournament as well. With this amount of participation, Sigma Alpha Epsilon IL-GA hopes to raise $3000 for Children’s Miracle Network this year.
Wondering who Paddy Murphy is? Read the story below.
In 1920, one of the personal habits and customs of most Americans suddenly came to a halt. The Eighteenth Amendment was put into effect, which effectively put the end to the importing, exporting, transporting, selling, and manufacturing of liquor and alcohol. This was the dawning of bootlegging, which rapidly swept across America in the early 20th century.
Paddy Murphy, according to SAE legend, was a bootlegger who was doing deals with Al Capone. During one of the arrangements, Elliot Ness and his company of crime fighters stormed in on the affair to apprehend Murphy. However, when Ness signaled for Murphy to surrender, he instead reached for a gun, and Ness shot him down.
As Murphy fell to the ground, dying of a wound inflicted by Ness, he gave Ness the secret handshake that only the brothers of SAE know. Ness, an SAE himself, realized that he had killed a brother of his fraternity. Ness ordered that Paddy Murphy have an honorary burial, in recognition of his fallen brother.
