AC Homecoming Week 2019: 5 Roo Tales for 5 Days

AC Homecoming Week 2019: 5 Roo Tales for 5 Days

Monday: Raising Cane’s
Tuesday: Griffith Stadium
Wednesday: Kurdistan
Thursday: Kappa Gamma Chi
Friday:

Dianne’s and my son Mr. A is in the percussion section of the James Bowie High School Marching Band down here in Austin. We’re quite proud of him. The Bowie Bulldogs won the Bands-of-America championship at McLane Stadium in Waco last weekend. I was wearing my Bulldogs baseball cap when Bowie was announced as this year’s champs.

There’s one phrase on that Bulldogs baseball cap, however, that makes me chuckle.

“Est. 1988.”

Haha. 1988? I was a college student in Sherman in 1988. As a history buff, I’m not going to struggle to contain myself when I see 1988. This guy likes stories, and stories need history.

I shouldn’t really make fun though. Fraternities and sororities are family, and I had my own family at Austin College. My fellas were solid, and 30 years later I still keep in close contact. One of our founders established the fraternity in the same year he booted a 57-yard field goal to bring home a football national championship for the Kangaroos. Now, that’s a story. There’s only one problem, however, with my AC fraternity:

“Est. 1981.”

Haha. 1981? Most of you reading this were established before 1981. Some of you were maybe even registered to vote in 1981. Pretty lame, Rho Lambs. Priiiiity laaaame.

There are a large number of Greek organizations on campus. Most are young and were established after 1981. A handful of others were created after World War 2. To get to the good stuff, you gotta go back even further. Back to the first half of the 20th century. Only a select few make the cut.

Phi Sigma Alpha and Alpha Delta Chi certainly do. Established during the Great Depression, these two families have a huge number of tales to their names. As a storyteller, I’m a fan of both the Sigs and the Alphas.

Still, they both take a back seat to the queen of AC institutions: Kappa Gamma Chi.

The women of Kappa Gamma Chi celebrate a centennial in 2019. 100 years. NOW we’re talkin’. There’s a lot of history over a century of existence; the Kappas have stories to tell. They’re good stories too. That’s to be expected when an organization’s birth is tied to revolutionary social movements. The Kappas were founded during the suffragette era, a time when strong women under constant harassment FINALLY secured the right to vote in Texas and the right to study in Sherman. I’m a fan of 100-year-old stories, and I’m a fan of revolutionary badasses. With the Kappas, you get two for the price of one.

While writing a different Roo story some time ago, I stumbled upon a 100-year-old Kappa tale. I liked it so much that I wrote it and sent it to Jenny King for her to use as she pleased for the Centennial. Jenny was kind enough to invite me to read it this weekend at the Saturday morning Kappa brunch. Fraternities and sororities are family, and I respect family. I’m not a member of the Kappa family obviously, but I appreciate the guest invite this Homecoming weekend.

Roo Tales are the historic stories of Austin College, and nothing says AC history like Kappa Gamma Chi. See y’all Saturday.