¥ hog of a as 17 Anniversary Pi Theta Tau GraduatéA - 7 i Cover Picture of “97 PT ec aoe or] \r\nFROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK...... Hello from Theta Tau, Thope things are going'as well for you in your personal lives and in the business world as they are here at Phi Gamma Delta. This chapter is continuing to carry the momentum started by the success it enjoyed dunng the previous year. As this is the first address you have received from me, I will begin by introducing myself. Iam a junior Industrial Engineenng major from Jackson, Tennessee: I have been actve in the chapter sce guning membership in the spring of 1995. What is the current state of the chapter? The spring term picked up nght where the fall term left off as Phi Gamma Delta enjoyed the most successful Spring Rush it has seen mn a2 long ume by pledging 16 men! I foresee continued success m campus activities, scholarship, and pledge education as well as continuous improvement in service and graduate relanons! Volume 18 No.1 The Golden Eagle Fiji is published quarterly by the Theta Tau Chapter of the Fratemity of Phi Gamma Delra for its members, both undergraduate and graduate, family and frends Chapter Officers - 1998 President - Kelly Irvin Treasurer - Ryan Cizmanik Recording Secretary - Jay Parker Corresponding Secretary - Brad Jenkins Historian - Brent Ellis Chairmen you might want to know Formal - Doug Patterson 523-2097 Pig Dinner - Brian Douglas 523-3758 - Brian Grooms 525-2097 Grad Rel - Brian Douglas 525-3758 ~ Lucas Yeary 372-4558 Fundraising = - Chad Crocker 372-4558 Service - Scott Demoss. 372-4411 This Issue Produced by: Brian Douglas Lucas Yeary Gentlemen, let's look to the future. As Theta ‘Tau continues to grow (50+ acnves for fall 98), we must realize the ever increasing need for improved housing:-conditions.. This is a long-term gual that will be realized if we begin working on it now. The most important step towards this or any other major goal, which will require both graduate and undergraduate support, ts the formation of a Theta Tau Graduate Association. Keith Edmondson and Brad Dozer are currently laying much of the groundwork for such an associaton. Please contact them with any suggestions or mput you may have. Brothers, I look forward to seeing you at Pig Dinner or anynme-sooner! Fratemally, Kelly Irvin “99 Perge! in Review "97 @ #5.m Grades. Above All-Men's and All-Fratemnity Avg. for the first nme in 3 yrsi!! @ 2 Place in Greek Week 3° Place in All-Sing Zero Balance with Headquarters Achieved o- Fall 97 Largest Pledge Class at 25 -Next closest in the teens. Largest Initated Class at 13 - No one else was close!! 1" Place Homecoming Overall 1" Place Open Float- Kazoo Band 1" Place in Grades (If you don’t count Kappa Alphi Pst with 2 men). Only two to top All-Men’s Avg! $1000 raised for MS at Fin Island Week 3° Place, Delta Gamma Anchor Splash we \r\n Graduate Spotlight - Matt Graves - Matt and Glenda have a child due in March, Congratulations!! Oliver Rick - Oliver will be leaving for the Air Force in March for Officer and pilot traming. Jonathan Smith - Jon and Cassie are currently living in Cookeville and Jon is working on his MBA. Lee Wray - Lee has a new office in the old library at Tech, but doesn’t have his purple carpet back vet! PERS OAAU SSRI (Seat If you have not registered for Pig Dinner yet, please do so as soon as possible. Many graduates have already confirmed, so if you are not sure yet or have misplaced your registration form here is the important stuff. All guests must be registered by March 27" _ If you won't know until that time please call. No problem! The T-shirt order will be made on March 16” so if you would like one, please let us know before then Dinner costs $30.00 per meal and Golf is $12.00 for 9 holes. Remember that there will be trophies for the winners of the Golf Scramble as well as awards for several Graduates!!! If you have any problems or questions that we can help with, let us know. It is going to bea great lweekend! coming Events Formal - March 27 ,28 - more to come Pig Dinner - Apri! 17°, 18* Fri, 6pm - Graduate Reception at the House Cooking the Pig!! Sat, 8am - Golf Scramble - Country Club Sat. Noon- Chapter Lunch For all Bros and Families! Sat. 2pm - Volleyball -Can the old guys jump? Sat, 6pm - Norris Pig Dinner -Country Club Brothers only Sat. 6pm - Ladies night - 7??? - If you need, a baby sitter can be provided Sat. 10p- “Not for College Days Alone” party Summer Party - June 27"? - more to come Ekklesia - Aug, 12-16 - See IHQ WebPage - FijiNet Homecoming - Oct.3 TTU vs MTSU for LAST time! This will be a huge Homecoming!!! t are they doi Who might you see here at Pig Dinner? Just to name a few: Todd Fairley Troy Fairley Scott Brewer Lee Wray Ross Jones Curt Chaffin Shannon Nash Graduate Note: There will be an Archon position open soon. If you are interested, contact Kelly Irvin, CP. Pierson Simon Kong Chen Doug Patterson Jay Banasiak Oliver Rick(maybe) Bill Greer Stacy Hunt New Members New Initiates: Ken Capozzi Jay Chapman Chad Crocker Michael Dalton Scott Demoss Ryan Fulkerson J Horton Chris Howard Eric May John Warmath Eric Weber Lucas Yeary Brent Young Spring Pledges: Greg Boykin Nick Bridges Clark Denson Kevin Ford Matt Henry Ricky Jett Brent Kenny Blake Mayo Jim McGhee Jimmy Nelson Sean Vanderwalker Rob Wheeler David Whitaker Brian Wilbum Daine Wright w \r\ne Expansion As our Chapter is contmuously growing m number and stature, we must constantly think of the future challenges in store for it. The most obvious of which is the Chapter House. In the past few months, an opportunity to act for that future has come to our attention. The empty lot directly between our house and Walnut is up for grabs. At the current time the Chapter is renting the property for $50.00 a month However, this is only a temporary solution, as it will become necessary to purchase this lot in order to have it for our future needs. Additionally, we have leamed that the house and property next to that lot are also available for rent and eventual sale The Chapter has considered renting this property as well, however, we have not done so as of yet I am sure that by looking at the property diagram you can see the obvious reason why we might wish to purchase these properties. This would give Fiji a half block on which to construct a future home or expand the current one! The effort to eventually acquire these properties is being the Chapter President. Brad can be reached at headed up by Brad Dozier. We encourage any of you who are bdozier@edge.net or at 615-373-7090. Further details will able and willing to help with this endeavor to contact him or be discussed at Pig Dinner EMEC E Ca Ste RL The Theta Tau Chapter has had the advantage over other chapters and fratemities in past years due to the strength and involvement of its graduate members. Today is no different, except in the fact that we do not have a structured organization with which to best utilize our graduate resources. This is where the Theta Tau Graduate Association will make its mark The majority of Theta Tau’s graduates are still living in Tennessee or are close on its borders. Nashville and Knoxville both enjoy the largest concentrations of our graduates This puts them within a reasonable distance of the Chapter itself and makes either of these locations a good base for the Association's activities, The Graduate Association would help the Chapter by being one of its best graduate communication tools as well as by providing the Chapter with the combined experience and know- how its members would possess. In essence, it would function like a chapter, but would be an organization equivalent toa BCA or the House Corporation Functioning in this capacity, the organization would probably meet once a month and would have presiding officers as well as general members. Those members not within convenient driving distance of a meeting would simply communicate their input by other means. Any graduates who are interested in being a part of the Graduate Association should contact Keith Edmondson at 615-331-8421 or Kelly Irvin, CP. Further details will be discussed at Pig Dinner. 1998 Ekklesia - 150yrs of PHI GAMMA DELTA The 1998 Ekklesia, celebrating Phi Gamma Delta's 150th anniversary, will be a special event! Plans are already under way to hold the largest, greatest, and most significant event in our Fraternity’s history in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! The event will be held on August 12-16 at The Westin William Penn (site of the 100th Ekklesia), Special sesquicentennial events include a visit to the Alpha Chapter at Washington & Jefferson College and a trip to the log cabin where the immortal Six first met in 1848! Please watch the FijiNet "Announcements" page for updates 4 \r\nDo you remember; A P Friday, May 1 Noon I’ve taken off work early to go home and get ready for the weekend in Cookeville. Do | really even want to go? I wonder how many people I will even know. The last time I was at the Chapter house was Pig Dinner two years ago. And that was before they got the new house. I don’t know... I told Randy and David I would be there. And I would love to see Hal, and Rex. And of course Jeff and Dan and Tim. Gosh, it’s been a long time since I’ve talked to some of those guys. Man, the good times we used to have...I remember when Todd and Carter 6:00 p.m. “Tennessee Tech University, Burgess Falls Road, Next Exit.” I can remember when that sign used to signal that I was almost “home.” Home for almost five years of my life. Five very good years 7:30 pm Okay, the new house is on Peachtree and one block over from Kappa Sig. I wonder if they still have those Halloween water balloon fights? There it is. Looks pretty nice. Definitely bigger than 421 North Wainut. Well, lets go inside. 11:00 p.m. Man I can’t believe Ive been here over three hours. And I don’t think I've stopped running my mouth yet. Hal and MacIndoe haven’t changed a bit Well, slightly calmer, but still a blast Of course, Lee’s here keeping the undergrads on their best behavior. The Chapter is really organized. A registration table, grad directory information for us to correct, a registration packet which has the weekend schedule, an update on the Chapter, and a report from Tech Fijis Inc. Impressive. Saturday, May 2 9:30am Time to tee off at the Country Club. I think they said we have 36 brothers playing in the annual Pig Dinner Scramble. I just hope Martin doesn’t decide to play bumper cars with his cart. The day is absolutely beautiful I met Phil Wallace "88, Pig Dinner Chairman. He's got a fantastic show underway. Good job Phil 3:00 p.m. Back to the house. I like this volleyball court idea. I can’t believe all the grads I haven’t seen since graduation. Jonathan is here. And Robbie is still one of the nicest guys around. And now he owns a BMW. Drew Sowell is here. And Daniel Ray. Kermick Hamrick. The Depot Alumni Wilmore. Carl Martin. And he’s been on time for everything, 4:00 p.m Annual meeting of Tech Fiyis Inc. Seems like they have the house finances under control. Randy's fundraising drive is very ambitious. But then Randy’s ideas always are And they always succeed. | need to remember to make my pledge to help support the various programs of the Chapter-scholarships, rush, newsletter, house purchases fund. 5:45 pm. Dinner at the Holidome. Is this place really in Cookeville? I like the way they have assigned tables with the place cards. Four grads and four undergrads at each table. 6:00 p.m Look at all the grads who have shown up since golf. Ken Lynn and Kell And you've got to be kidding, Matt Graves. And Rex. And Joel and DO And I am really enjoying talking to the undergrads. These men are very impressive. 6:15 p.m Jonathan's reading of a letter from Corey really meant a great deal Corey hasn’t been back to the Chapter in years and yet he took the time to write and say how much Phi Gamma Delta meant to him. 7:00 p.m. Dinner was well worth the money with the ‘all you can eat’ buffet. Now on to the program You mean they still have the snake award? And this new “Most abused by KD” Award is fantastic. They could start a Hall of Fame for all the Brothers who should have won that award, Bill Scott gives a report on the state of the Chapter. Randy outlines the fund raising program for the next year \r\n 0 you remembe and hands out the pledge cards. And now awards 8:00 p.m Peter Claus, Archon Secretary, is the featured speaker. Very impressive credentials. A Philadelphia lawyer. And the message he brings about Intemational is very important. I hope the undergrads are listening to the thoughts and ideas he is conveying But I’m finding it hard for me to listen... looking around at old friends... at young men who have replaced us... carrying on the Theta Tau Phi Gam tradition 9:00 p.m Dinner is over. Some of the grads are on their way out of Cookeville. We say goodbye and shake hands and say next time we can’t wait so long to get together again. I hate to say goodbye. 10:00 p.m The house is packed for the after dinner party. And some grads have finally arrived. Kerwin and Brummett And even Jane McMaster is here. I’ve been hearing stories from the undergrads that sound just like stones from my years here. All Sing ...the Depot is still around ... games against the E’s and Phi Delts...bemg in control of the ASB ... Sororities getting mad because we are too secretive. ..long card games Sunday, May 3 3:00 p.m. Today the sun is still shining. We had a nice Brothers only get together at the house this moming. And we've been playing volleyball since lunch. People are slowly beginning to leave. They say goodbye and then hang on to talk for just a few minutes more. A FANTASTIC weekend. And things seem so much the same. Yes, there are new names and faces. But they have the same goals, the same ideals. The same personalities... No, the house is not the same physical structure. But I haven’t really noticed, because the voices and the laughter and the smiles are still the same. I can see myself dancing in the front room with the floor shaking in the old house just as clearly as if it were happening now. I’m not sure what has amazed me more. That old friends are still the same, Or that the new ones I've made this weekend are so much like us...I will make the effort to come back often...even when my graduate friends are not here... because it’s nice to temember where I came from Leaming to work with others that I did not always agree with, or sometimes thought I didn’t even like. Completing a project that I never thought I would finish on time. And having friends who helped me get through it. Leaming to trust and open myself up to others who were really Just as scared about life as I was Well, almost home. And I'm glad I don’t think I would want to be back in college again... But... well, it’s something I need to do very often Homecoming and Pig Dinner at least... because those friends I shared those college years with mean too much to me to leave them out of my life Thanks to all those at Pig Dinner...Grads and undergrads... who showed me that Phi Gamma Delta is really not for college days alone Your Graduate Brother Perge! Pig Dinner °98, Can you stand to miss it? \r\nFiji Island Week Is A Success Yet Again The 1997 Fiji Island Week held in September raised $1000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. With over 200 Greeks in attendance each night, not even mother nature could keep the event from being a success, although she tried! Each night's activities featured an island theme and there was fierce competition between the groups. In addition to the traditional beach ball relay, limbo contest, tug of war, and hula- hoop contest, there was also a Miss Fiji Island Contest which was a resounding success! The money raised will go to benefit multiple sclerosis research and patients in the Middle Tennessee area Rockin’ Homeco Homecoming "97 saw Fijis and ADPis having a great time together and leaving the competition wondering what happened! In each event Fiji/ ADPi made it known that the trophies belonged with us. Among them were !™ in banner, 2* in pep rally, 1" in canned food, and 2™ in float and of course... I* overall Additionaily, the Famous, or Infamous if you prefer. Kazoo Band ran away with the Open Float Division trophy in its never ending quest to get in as many pictures as possible! Unfortunately Tony Marable escaped the Kazoo mob this year, but there is always Pig Dinner which happens to fall very close to his B-day this year. But... you didn’t here that from me! Thanks to Shannon Nash, Oliver Rick, Jay Scott Brewer, Lee Wray , Jonathan Smith and Mark York for their Banasiak, Keith Edmondson, Doug Patterson, help during Homecoming! The Chapter has grown a lot in the past year, but all the best stuff has stayed the same. Theta Tau has a firm shot at Fratemity of the Year for ‘97 and has achieved most of the goals which I had set out to accomplish when I started a year ago. Many of the things we achieved are listed in the “Year in Review ‘97” column, but nothing can compare to the extreme Brotherhood and high morale in the Chapter nght now. What bigger part could there be in the ultimate goal of leaving the Chapter better than one receives it, than a Chapter which bleeds Royal Purple? I thank all of the Brothers, graduate and undergraduate, who helped make "97 such a good year for Theta Tau. Iam confident that the "98 cabinet has the tools and skills it needs to carry the Chapter even higher. Being Chairman of the Graduate Relations and Pig Dinner committees and a past officer, I hope that we will see all of you back once again for Pig Dinner and Homecoming so that one more of those goals that didn’t make it on to the completion list can be achieved! Brian Douglas Perge! CP 97 7 \r\nGraduate Relations Chairman Theta Tau of Phi Gamma Delta 527 N. Peachtree Ave. Cookeville TN 38501 GRADUATES! We are waiting to hear from you so... The Undergraduates of the Theta Tau Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta | Tennessee Technological University would be honored by your presence at our 17 Anniversary Frank Norris Pig Dinner on the eighteenth day of April, nineteen hundred and ninety-eight Special Guest Speaker Keith Henley, International Headquarters Staff Master of Ceremonies Purple Legionnaire Scott Brewer, Tech class of ‘89 We Look Forward To Having All Our Brothers Back! Cookeville Hotel Info Best Western Thunderbird Motel 900 S. Jefferson Av. Comfort Inn Days Inn Eastwood Inn Hampton Inn Holiday Inn Howard Johnson 931-526-7115 1100 S. Jefferson Ay. 931-528-1040 1292 Bunker Hill Rd. 931-528-1511 1646 E. Spring 931-526-6158 340 Interstate Dr 931-520-1117 970 S. Jefferson Av 931-826-7125 2021 E. Spring St 931-526-3333 Ramada Limited Suites Scottish Inns Southern Motel Apps Star Motor Inn Super 8 Motel Winona Motel Park Place Inn NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #241 COOKVILLE, IN Boosi Boon, DEBE Deea: - Wecan spread the word. 1045 Interstate Dr. 931-372-0086 1814 Salem Rd 931-528-5411 1957 W. Broad 931-528-5622 1115'S. Willow Av. 931-526-9511 1330 Bunker Hill Rd 931-526-1230 1798 E. Spring 931-526-7134 635 E. Spring 931-526-7183