Members of Binghamton University’s Greek Life came together Saturday night to present the 24th annual Greek God competition, a showcase of male bodybuilding talents.
Karen Galan/Staff Photographer
Corey Campbell from the Chi Phi fraternity became the Mr. Greek God of 2009, beating out eight other contestants and making Chi Phi the winners of Greek God for two years in a row.
“It felt amazing,” said Campbell on his win.
First runner-up was Izaac Fouladi from Pi Lambda Phi, whose fraternity competed on Saturday for the first time in three years.
Greek God is coordinated by the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority (AEPhi), and all proceeds from the ticket sales and penny wars go to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the sorority’s national charity. To prepare for the event, members of the AEPhi sorority coordinated admissions, got businesses to sponsor the event and donate prizes and recruited the help of Binghamton Sound, Stage and Lighting.
“We [also] kept close contact with the fraternities who were participating,” said Danielle Koves, a junior member of AEPhi and co-chairman of the Greek God event.
The contest began with roll call, the introductory sketch with tributes to Batman, Michael Jackson and The Grinch. The nine contestants also displayed their bodies, after months of training and preparation, in a pose-down competition and a formal-wear skit. After these events, the judges tallied up the points, and the top three finalists were named: Campbell, Fouladi and Theta Delta Chi’s Jeremy Leiss. Following the announcement, the three underwent a question round which gave them an opportunity to address the school and the Greek community before the winner was announced.
The representatives for each fraternity were David Solow from Alpha Sigma Phi, Jonathan LaSala of Zeta Beta Tau, Ben Barnes from Phi Kappa Psi, Chi Phi’s Campbell, Mario Trizzino from Delta Chi, Pi Lambda Phi’s Fouladi, Petar Stanojevic from Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Leiss of Theta Delta Chi and Johnathon Wood from Zeta Psi.
The hosts of the show were Hayley Gerstenhaber from AEPhi and Paul Liggieri from Theta Delta Chi, who introduced main events and roasted their fellow Greek fraternities and sororities.
Campbell, a junior psycho-biology major, said he exercised five days a week for one-and-a-half hours; sometimes even twice a day after he decided to do Greek God last spring. Along with training, Mr. Greek God stuck to a weight-lifting regiment with a strict protein-heavy diet. Campbell remembers the excitement felt within his fraternity after Chi Phi’s 2008 win.
“I wanted to be the person responsible for that feeling,” Campbell said, and Saturday, he was.
LaSala, a senior political science major, also invested heavily in the Greek God event. He started working out six days a week toward the end of last year to prepare for the competition. LaSala cited the importance of every single brother for helping to put the show together, saying that without them he would not have been able to accomplish all that he has.
Fouladi recognized the importance of the Greek God event for the Greek community as a whole.
“I see Greek God as the best philanthropic event,” said Fouladi. “It raises a lot of money and brings all the frats together in the same place cheering on one person who represents them.”
As first place winner, Campbell received $150 in cash, $25 to Tom & Marty’s, $20 to Uncle Tony’s, two haircuts at Sorelle, $50 dollars to M.Y. Boutique, and $10 to IHOP.