Early Alpha Mu Days

A talk given by Chip Baber at the 50th Anniversary Celebration banquet, April 9, 2011

Thank you for inviting me to review some our early history with you. I believe I am in a unique position to talk about the early days. My pledge class (there were just two of us, Doug Wilburn and me) was the first pledge class taken after Alpha Mu voted to affiliate with Pi Kappa Phi. We were also the last class initiated into Alpha Mu. Doug decided to become inactive shortly after our chartering, and so that leaves me as the last of the Alpha Mu's.

What we now know as Beta Upsilon had its beginning in the spring of 1959. A hand full of guys who had known each other in high school decided that they wanted to start a new fraternity. They had a clear idea of what they wanted. High on their list was the idea of a closer brotherhood than existed with the typical fraternity of that day. They wanted affiliation with a national fraternity and figured that the easiest way to accomplish that was to revive a chapter of a fraternity that had previously been at the University.

Negotiations were opened with Delta Sigma Phi. Delta Sig had had a chapter here that had folded a number of years earlier. The group adopted the name "Alpha Mu" which was the chapter designation of the Delta Sigma Phi chapter they were attempting to revive. Hence our early name of "Alpha Mu Club". Unknown to the group at the time Delta Sig was in negotiation with another national fraternity that already had a chapter here. Alpha Mu broke off discussions with Delta Sig and began looking elsewhere for national affiliation. It is an interesting sidelight to history to note that Delta Sig ended up not merging with the other fraternity, that their Alpha Mu chapter was eventually revived, and their house is right across Rugby Road from us.

Anyway, Lambda Chi Alpha and Pi Kappa Phi both showed considerable interest in Alpha Mu, but it was necessary for Alpha Mu to gain IFC approval before they could join a national fraternity.

In the fall of 1959 Alpha Mu petitioned the IFC for probationary status. The IFC rejected their petition by a vote of 16 to 10, largely because the other fraternities knew very little about us, and what little they did know was largely misunderstanding. Much of the misunderstanding stemmed from our "gentleman's agreement" that we would not spend fraternity money to buy alcohol and we would not drink at our parties. I think the primary impetus for the policy was economic. There was a keen emphasis on fiscal responsibility and keeping the cost of membership low. It also enabled us to avoid special assessments; that was a source of pride as well as a good rush tool.

To give you an idea of just how little was known about us, at one point someone told us he thought you had to be a ministerial student to belong to Alpha Mu! Now we actually did have a minister in our group…Russ Davis who was a licensed Baptist minister. But Russ was not exactly your typical minister. He had his own radio show on WUVA where he billed himself as "the rockin' reverend". His trademark was a steel gray jag that he liked to drive up Rugby Road at something on the order of 60 miles per hour. He was also reputed to hold the record for Hollins run at under an hour and a half and the run to Mary Wash at something like 45 minutes. And this was long before the day of interstate highways.

Anyway, the brothers of Alpha Mu accepted their rejection by the IFC and went to work to try again. They visited many fraternities, explained who we were, and answered questions. It worked. A year later, in May 1960, Alpha Mu again petitioned the IFC for probationary status and was approved by a vote of 20 to 10. At the end of the probationary period, in February 1961, the IFC voted 28 - 2 to grant Alpha Mu full membership. I think it speaks well of the early brothers that their persistent devotion and hard work paid off in getting the IFC to go from 16 - 10 against to 28 - 2 for us in just over a year.

During this time negotiations with national fraternities were also coming to a head. Ultimately the choice came down to Lambda Chi Alpha and Pi Kappa Phi. On the evening of April 27, 1960 the brothers of Alpha Mu began voting on the two choices. Ballot upon ballot upon ballot yielded no decision. The count swung back and forth. From 18 - 9 for Pi Kappa Phi it swung to 19 - 8 for Lambda Chi. Gradually the vote shifted back in favor of Pi Kappa Phi, but it became clear that there would be no unanimous agreement. Six brothers firmly held out for Lambda Chi. Finally there were 21 votes for Pi Kappa Phi and the six holdouts began to shift their votes to Pi Kappa Phi. At 1:23 the next morning, April 28, the final holdout voted for Pi Kappa Phi to make the vote unanimous. And who was that final holdout? None other than the brother who has given more to Beta Upsilon than anyone else in our fifty years: Leroy Hamlett.

Our chartering came on May 6, 1961. That fall we moved into the house at 510 Rugby Road and as they say the rest is history.