Although fraternities and sororities memberships and influence have ebbed and flowed over the years, loyalty to said organizations remain high to many graduate “brothers and sisters.”
Such was the case on May 14, 2022, when approximately 200-250 former Sigma Chis (SC) met for dinner at the Westin Hotel on Pine Street in downtown Chattanooga.
Those in attendance were celebrating the formation of the Delta Theta Chapter at the University of Chattanooga (once a private institution of higher learning with a mascot name of Moccasins seventy-five years ago in 1947 but now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs.
In attendance were a variety of successful graduates including a vice-chancellor of one of the highest ranked liberal arts universities in America, a former Chief Justice of the highest court in the State of Tennessee, doctors, lawyers, and successful members of every occupation/calling in the country.
Deceased members in the chapter would be the editor of the afternoon newspaper, Lee Anderson of the Chattanooga News Free Press, and a former legislator from the First Congressional District in upper Tennessee, B.
Carroll Reece.
1947 was also the year of the birth of writer, Lewis Grizzard, Jr. and that coincidence justifies an article about Lewis Grizzard’s (LG) student and fraternity life at the University of Georgia as a member of Sigma Pi (SP) during Rush Week in 1965.
In a discussion similar to the classic fraternity movie, Animal House, starring John Belushi, he reminiscenced about going through rush week in his “Elvis Is Dead and I Don’t Feel So Good Myself” (1984-Peachtree Publishers.) He recalls his visits to each frat house in the following chronological order and his impressions.
1. SAE (Sigma Alpha Epsilon) – “a very prestigious fraternity where the girls from the spiffier sororities loved to date their members.”
LG’s visit was relegated to viewing the insulation pipes in the basement;
2. SN (Sigma Nu) – no water pipe showings but “they did herd me over into a corner with two exchange students and a kid of terminal acne;
3. PDT (Phi Delta Theta) – one of the brothers took LG and two other non-selected rushees “back to the kitchen and left us with the cooks, who were peeling potatoes;”
4. KS (Kappa Sigma) – LG sensed that his chances of being selected as a member were greatly reduced when his first cousin, who happened to be the chapter president, “not only disavowed our kinship, but also swore - in a very loud voice so that his brothers could hear him - that he had never seen nor heard of me before;”
5. KA (Kappa Alpha) – they sang “Dixie” and told stories about Robert E. Lee but “the brothers treated me like a direct descendant of Union General William T. Sherman;”
6. SC (Sigma Chi) – unfortunately he got the basement pipe treatment described above in number 1 and did not get to hear any melodious signing of the “Sweetheart of Sigma Chi” that has traditionally been performed at the selection of some outstanding sorority sister; (whether LG would have been selected as a member of the Delta Theta Chapter at UC is beyond the scope of this article);
7. ATO (Alpha Tau Omega) - this was the last rejection that LG received, and he recognized that quickly when “they asked me to wait out on the porch until the bus came to pick up the rushees;”
8. Sigma Phi (SP) – LG was finally given a bid to join this fraternity and without hesitation pledged to be a member upon accepting the scholarly advice of a friend who had just been asked to be a member of PDT. “Take it, he said, “before they change their minds;”
(LG’s adherence to the rigid code of proper conduct regarding responsible manly behavior which will be discussed in a later article?)
It would be improper to even remotely suggest that those in attendance in the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of the Delta Theta at the University of Chattanooga had ever engaged in any improper conduct to be suggested and described by LG in a future article.
(Happy 75th to the Brothers!)
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You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
Jerry Summers