By Dalton Lee, Baldwin Wallace ’11
There’s an age-old adage stated among fraternity men nationwide; typically mentioned at your first recruitment event and carried through the years to come. “It’s not four years, it’s a lifetime.”
Bill Brasch speaking at the Louisville 75th.
But is it really? Year after year passes following graduation, and life seems to pile on an endless slew of new happy distractions. Careers, family, traveling, and countless other matters pull you a little bit further away from the wide-eyed brother of Phi Kappa Tau who was so utterly consumed by life as a fraternity man. This is merely the reality of growing older and is in no way indicative of how treasured even the most distant of brothers are to this organization. The truth is, losing touch and letting go is easier. It takes a deep passion and commitment to continue giving more of yourself to this organization. It’s a sacrifice of some productivity during a workday, a few weekends with the family throughout the year, or of some much-needed free time. This continued service to our brotherhood goes beyond keeping in touch with a small group of men, and bridges into the task of bringing an entire chapter back together. These fearless leaders take on the daunting task of keeping contact information up to date for generations of brothers within their chapter; plan banquets, dinners, anniversaries, and a number of other events; and work diligently with the Executive Office staff to curate the best possible post-graduate experience for members of Phi Kappa Tau. Continuing to display their devotion to this brotherhood and their chapter, these are the men who bring us out of our own bubble and welcome us back into the fray with open arms.
This past year, Phi Kappa Tau chapters around the country celebrated various anniversaries and many held events in celebrations of these landmarks. Among these were Alpha Psi at Texas-El Paso celebrating an 81st anniversary, Gamma Alpha honoring the 65th anniversary of their Founding as Mu Kappa Mu local fraternity, Beta Beta at Lousiville with a 75th anniversary celebration, and Omicron at Penn State ringing in 100 years of brotherhood.
Texas El-Paso celebrating 81 years.
For Alpha Psi, this was a gathering for the first time in 30 years, and saw a weekend filled with a Friday night poolside reception at the former Chapter House, before moving down the street to dinner; a Saturday night Reunion dinner, attended by 75 brothers, family members, and loved ones; ending with a Sunday farewell lunch. This event stemmed from an impromptu dinner in August 2021 attended by 11 brothers and snowballed into the jam-packed weekend attended by 60. Gamma Alpha gathers their brothers every five years for a reunion—this year's coming the weekend before Labor Day. With over 200 graduate members in attendance and 350 total guests, the men of Gamma Alpha had an abundance of reasons for celebration. Charter Members in attendance were awarded framed copies of the original charter, annual scholarship recipients from their CEG were announced, and the entire event was documented by Marty Schendel, Michigan Tech '81. Receiving the Phi Award for his contributions to the chapter, Jim Bacon, Michigan Tech '59, announced the creation and first recipients of the Bacon-Hlivak Legacy Scholarship with his son and grandson.
Events like the Alpha Psi and Gamma Alpha reunions are a treat for the attendees, but for the planners of the event—the aforementioned dedicated few—these take diligent planning and months of work. For this piece, we were fortunate enough to speak with John Mountz, Penn State ’90, and Bill Brasch, PE, Louisville '67, on the subject of planning anniversary and reunion events. For those looking to plan an event like this in the future, let their advice be a guiding light to sure success.
Senator Mitch McConnell with undergraduate brothers at the Louisville 75th.
The first step in planning any event is gathering attendees and notifying as many brothers as possible. For Brasch, his success in this regard comes from decades of diligent work—maintaining one of the most thorough lists of brother’s contact information within our fraternity. For the last fifty years, Brasch has maintained his zero lost alumni mentality, and has nearly accomplished it throughout the duration of that time. This extensive list aided in gathering an astounding 842 people at the 50th anniversary for Beta Beta and roughly 300 at the 75th anniversary. Both parties began the process by issuing save the dates via their social media channels, then locked down a date and issued a formal invitation. As the event drew closer, the groups would use mailers and email lists to drive traffic toward the social media channels. Omicron also included a "see who is attending feature” and had those on the planning committee send direct invitations to their close personal friends—this led to a large increase in attendance.
The next step is to begin the process of organizing the event. Mountz and the Omicron planning committee began putting together their centennial five months before it was to be held, but he not only recommended, but strongly encouraged, beginning up to a year in advance. For Omicron, the goal was to create the most inclusive possible event, in hopes of reaching the largest audience. When planning the events for Beta Beta, Brasch has some strict guidelines for curating the best possible experience and garnering the most attendees. Utilizing opportunities presented by the campus, Brasch organizes these events on the same weekends as Louisville’s homecoming—giving those who participate the options to go to partake in the other activities throughout the weekend and limit the need for alumni to travel back for multiple events. When asked what advice he would give to fellow alumni planning their next event, Mountz stated, “Make it fit the personality of your chapter while also using this event as an opportunity to showcase what is great about our national organization. Many of our alumni were unaware of how the fraternity has changed over time and including staff from headquarters and/or leadership from the National Council just enhances the event for everyone.”
Learning from the experience of an anniversary expert like Brasch and the innovative Omicron planning committee is only the tip of the iceberg. As you venture into planning the next event for your chapter, go into it knowing that you are amongst the men who add depth and truth to the lifelong aspect of our organization. Working to bring brothers back together, to reconnect those who may have lost touch, and rekindle relationships that have been long lost. The diligent work and dedication are rewarded beyond measure—for each brother brought back into the fold is not only a chance to reinvigorate their love for our organization, but a reminder of those days once spent surrounded by your fellow Phi Tau’s, learning and growing together as a whole.