By Mitch Holt, Staff Writer
Members of Pi Kappa hosted a chili cook-off Saturday to honor a former professor; the event raised more than $450.
The cook-off honored the life of Dr. Charles Trevathan, avid chili consumer and professor of sociology and social work, who died Oct. 12 of last year.
The event took place near the GATA fountain and attracted about 50 guests. Students, faculty and members of the Abilene community attended the event.
“We were pleased with the results,” said Matt Hurley, president of Pi Kappa and social work graduate student from Abilene. “We didn’t know how it was going to turn out.”
Hurley said the club was able to raise such a large amount of money because of the sheer generosity of those who attended.
Phyllis Trevathan, widow of Dr. Trevathan, was at the event to taste each chili recipe, and she had many nice things to say about the event, Hurley said.
Participants in the cook-off submitted their chili recipe and plenty of chili to feed the spectators present, and guests who wanted to taste chili recipes were asked to contribute $3. All of the funds collected at the event were put toward the Charles Trevathan Endowed Scholarship Fund.
The winner of the cook-off was Glenda Weatherford, administrative coordinator in the Music Department, with her Kampfire chili, which is a combination of several popular chili recipes tweaked to her own specialty.
Weatherford said 50 attendees was a decent turnout for the first year of the event, but she would have liked to see more students and faculty in attendance and more people submitting chili recipes.
“I believe this would be a wonderful tradition,” she said. “Matt Hurley is to be commended along with the other Pi Kappa students who helped.
“I believe it might be better attended during the fall after the weather cools down and things are not quite so busy.”
Hurley said even though the decision to hold the chili cook-off won’t be up to him every year, he plans to encourage future presidents of Pi Kappa to hold the event.
“[Dr. Trevathan] would have loved it,” Weatherford said. “I believe it would be a great tradition to start.”
