For a Texan, a “smoker” is the major equipment required for barbequing beef brisket, pork or chicken in order to imbue the meat with a unique flavor. For a collegian in the 1950s, a “smoker” was the opening event for the “rush” season prior to joining a fraternity. I attended several smokers my freshman year at Kent State. Perhaps, this was one of the reasons I began to smoke cigarettes. Fortunately, it was not necessary for participants to inhale cigar smoke.
The smoker offered a semiformal opportunity to meet potential fraternity brothers and to compare the lifestyle of different Greek-letter societies. I attended several smokers offered by the groups in which I had an interest. It was soon obvious to me I wanted to become a member of Delta Upsilon. However, with rushing being a two-way street, the DU’s were not interested in my becoming part of them. I did not receive a “bid,” an invitation to enter a pledge period with them. I had no idea why I had not been offered a bid, but I did not accept one from any of the other fraternities I had rushed. I was stubborn; it was ΔΥ or nothing.
I was not sure why I was that interested in this particular fraternity, to the exclusion of all others. I did like the guys I had met at their smokers and hoped I might become close friends with them. The group, itself, was well known on campus. The House provided significant members for basketball, swimming, and diving. Many were well-established in collegiate government and in other campus groups. Delta Upsilon, itself, was also unique, I learned, as an international Greek-letter society. The brotherhood had been among the first social fraternities established in New England (1834.) However, it was not, as all others were, a “secret” society. Members had no special handshake nor closed initiation; they identified themselves as a “non-secret” Greek-letter fraternity.
During the fall quarter of my sophomore year, I was determined to join DU. Once again, I went to smokers sponsored by other fraternities and received several bids, but none from DU. During the winter quarter, beginning in January 1955, I once more made the rounds of smokers, but in a more limited manner. Jack Gordan, my roommate at the time, went with me to DU, the only smoker he attended. On January 26 the bids were released. One of them was from DU. I accepted the bid; Jack who had never rushed a fraternity previously, also received a bid and became a pledge with me.
The following summer, in August, I learned about what had happened during the final rush days of January. Lucy, a pin-mate of one of my closest DU brothers (actually, my “big brother”) and I attended summer classes. She told me, over a brace of “seven-sevens” one late night at Rocky’s, of the fateful discussions that were held about me during a January Chapter meeting.
There had been a huge argument. Many brothers weren’t on speaking terms for days afterwards. No wonder one of them, who later became a close friend, looked at me so strangely my first week of pledging. He must have expected I should have two heads!
Two of the leading DU’s, who had been against me previously, now orated for two hours. Many of the Chapter members were annoyed. They divided into two camps; evidently, I had some friends there, after all. Finally, the two who had been against me, agreed not to “blackball” me. It seems that both of them, who were of Italian heritage, were concerned that by accepting me, the fraternity would give the appearance of being too “Italian” and suffer in future recruitment.
Strangely, one of the traditions of the local fraternity was the annual “WOP-Harp” picnic! At this spring event, each brother, voluntarily taking a side in a beer-baseball battle, added an “O” either to the end or the beginning of his last name. In this game, the player had to chug a beer at each base before advancing to the next. Girlfriends continued to supply cups filled with brew at each stop. By the time the game ended, well before the ninth inning, the besotted players would enter into a free-for-all, resulting in every brother being dumped into the lake where the picnic was routinely held.
I never did understand how my Italian name, once more, played out in my destiny. But according to Lucy, after I was accepted as a pledge, there was no further dispute about my joining Delta Upsilon. Although other pledges were discussed for blackballing during the process, I remained immune.
Several times, over the years after graduation, I have attended reunions with the group during Kent’s Alumni Homecoming Weekend. Unfortunately, DU has gone the way of many fraternities and no longer has an active chapter at KSU. Nevertheless, I still have fond memories of those happy days of the fifties when I established bonds of brotherhood with those who are dedicated to Dikaia Upotheke, Justice our Foundation.