From the beginnings of a handful of men, began a journey that continues to this day.
In the fall of 1973, a group of men entered Southern Tech and joined together to form a flag football team to play in the intramural league. They had a lot of the same classes and lived together in the dorms. Many of them were from the same hometown and had journeyed to college together. These young men expressed interest in joining a fraternity but were discouraged by the choices that were available to them. They did not want to pay the high dues of the other fraternities and felt to themselves that there was something better available. Choosing not to join one of the three fraternities on campus, they went on with fall quarter and excelled in flag football. Winter quarter arrived and three men (Jeff Post #4, Dana Whitlow #19, and Gene Williams #5) of this group were talking to each other and asked, “Why don’t we start a fraternity?” With the answer to this one question, sixteen young men formed the DF fraternity. And so, at the beginning of spring quarter on April 1, 1974 the DF fraternity of Southern Technical Institute was officially declared. Their quest had begun.
The spring quarter had the DF men searching for a national fraternity to become a part of and a team playing in the softball intramurals. Their search led them to the national DF fraternity. However, this fraternity was not what the men of Southern Tech were looking for in both the quality of that national fraternity and the high dues that were required. They felt it just was not a good fit. By the end of the spring quarter they changed their name to DFD so that it would take effect the beginning of fall quarter. They also beat everyone else in softball, hands down. Their quest continued on.
The fall quarter of 1974 had a rush that beat out all the other established fraternities on campus. This “local” fraternity was gaining strength at Southern Tech. They proved throughout the fall quarter that that they were a force on campus not only in numbers but also in sports. Word had spread about this group of guys and many national fraternities were looking at DFD to join them (now almost thirty guys strong in less than a year). The search continued on into the winter quarter and still a national fraternity had not been found. The one thing that had stuck in the minds of the DFD brothers was the hazing that was going on by the other fraternities during this time. This was not appealing to them and had a profound influence on their national search.
While the DFD men were looking for a fraternity, Sigma Nu nationals had heard about a group of students in a local fraternity a Southern Tech. The division commander for Sigma Nu at this time was Dr. Tom Lightsey. He was instrumental in helping found the QP (Theta Pi) chapter at West Georgia several years earlier. A man by the name of Jimmy Bryan QP #3 was asked to accompany Dr. Lightsey to meet the men at Southern Tech. Mr. Bryan went through the colonization process of becoming a chapter from 1971 to 1972 and also served as commander before graduating in 1974 and moving back to Atlanta. The meeting went well. Dr. Lightsey and Mr. Bryan were impressed with what they saw and reported back to Lexington that this group of men should be offered colony status.
The DFD men found what they were looking for. Hazing was unacceptable to the founding fathers of SN as well as to the men of DFD. This strong feeling led to the DFD fraternity to vote on April 10, 1975 to become a colony of the SN national fraternity. All they needed now was for SN to accept them.
In June of 1975, a letter arrived to the president of DFD. An excerpt of this letter reads as follows: “It is my pleasure to notify you officially that Delta Phi Delta local fraternity at Southern Technical Institute has been accepted by the High Council of Sigma Nu at its June 9th meeting as a colony of this fraternity” Signed William K. Amiott, Executive Secretary of Sigma Nu. Their hard work had paid off and they were building a solid foundation for the road to becoming a chapter.
For their time as a colony, they would need an advisor and Mr. Bryan was asked to be the chapter advisor by Dr. Lightsey. A role he gladly accepted. His insight would help the fraternity grow. The beginning of fall quarter saw only fifteen guys returning to campus. Some guys could not afford it, some transferred, a few did not even return to school. The remaining dedicated brothers put together a well organized rush and even helped freshmen move into the dorms. Dr. Lightsey and Mr. Bryan were still concerned with the low numbers. With out larger numbers the colony would fail. These concerns were quickly stomped when the colony rushed more than forty guys. Most of the colony brothers had two little brothers and some had three. This rush proved that Sigma Nu was here to stay.
They told the new candidates that Sigma Nu was not for everyone. The fraternity was formed by three civil war veterans that opposed hazing and believed that their “Honor was dearer than their life.” It was founded on ideals that men could believe in and build a life around. Most other fraternities were founded on friendship and the degrading of others called “hazing.” On November 16th, 1975, twenty-two men of DFD fraternity were installed by a Ritual team from the HG (eta gamma) chapter of Georgia State as an official colony of the SN Fraternity. There were other men in the DFD group that did not journey further. For them, their journey ended. For the men of the new SN colony, their journey had just begun. A journey that continues to this day. The men of this colony worked hard to reach the goals of becoming a chapter. There were four other colonies vying to become chapters of SN at the same time. The new SN colony happened to be in the right place at the right time. For at stake was the honor of becoming the 200th chapter (it was also the 200th year of the nation). The colony that was most distinguished would be awarded with this title. The men of the SN colony charged forward.
From the fall of 1975 to the fall of 1976, the SN colony increased its active chapter membership from fifteen to forty-four men. They excelled in sports, captured and held the rock on campus (a long standing tradition among the fraternities), and even had time for academics. There was much discussion among the leaders at the Lexington headquarters as to which colony should receive the honor of chapter #200. On October 18, 1976, the president of the SN colony received a letter from nationals stating that they had received unanimous ballots of approval from the other chapters and they had earned the right to become their own chapter. On Saturday, December 4, 1976 the forty-four men of the SN colony were installed by the QP chapter of West Georgia University as the IP Chapter #200 of the SN Fraternity. This installation was attended by the top directors of the SN fraternity and even made several local newspapers. The following spring of 1977 saw the first graduating class of IP. Jimmy Bryan stayed on to serve as chapter advisor for several more years and was extremely proud to have been associated with the men of the IP chapter.
These men journeyed on with life. They always carried with them the fruits of brotherhood that had its roots in this beginning.
Cover of invitation to chapter Initiation. Inside of Invitation with list of proceedings
Their journey had reached a milestone. None of them could have realized that it would still be going strong nearly thirty years later. Most of the original men still keep in touch. Many developed the bonds of brotherhood … a few have bonds that are stronger than family …
Portions of this story have been narrated by Jeff Post #4 and Jimmy Bryan QP#3.
Continue to check back. More to come….
Please help me fill in the gaps of our heritage.
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Patrick May #287
sigmanuiotapi@hotmail.com