"Highest in Brotherhood, Greatest Ever Known"
Phi Kappa National Fraternity
The Early Years
In the summer of 1917, Hain visited Nelson's home in
Troy, Alabama and found that
Nelson had established the Upsilon Chapter there. Upsilon was very popular
and had a chapter room and social room on the Troy town square above what is
now Lorch's Jewelry Store. The Upsilon's often competed with another social
organization in Troy, the Jaguar Club. Hain was both
pledged and initiated into Phi Kappa during his summer visit.
Nelson remained in Troy the following fall (living with his aunt at 239
South Three Notch
Street, below), but four of the Upsilon
members
went to Gulf
Coast Military Academy on Highway 90 in Gulfport,
Mississippi. They were Hain,
Clarence Heath Cowart, William
F. Palmer, and F. Joseph
Hendley. Though they were
invited to join the membership rolls of the three established
fraternities at
G.C.M.A., the four refused,
knowing that they had the nucleus of a Phi Kappa Chapter. Collaborating with
Nelson, their
chapter was chartered as Mu Theta (early members differ in opinion as to
whether Mu was
designated to mean "Mother" or "Mississippi"). Almost immediately after Mu
Theta's birth, the four
brothers initiated Clarence Q. Graham and Cecil Shruptrine into their ranks.
The first officers were Cowart, Grand Master; Palmer, Worthy Master; Hain,
Scribe; and Graham,
Treasurer.
About this same time, a chapter was installed at Emory
University Academy in Oxford,
Georgia with the name Gamma Beta (probably for Georgia Beta). There is some
speculation
about who brought the seed of Phi Kappa to Emory. Some fraternity historians
think it was Nelson, while others hypothesize that it must have been someone
else from either Alpha or
Upsilon. Because the chapter operated subrosa as did Alpha, the founder is
unknown. Even one of
Gamma Beta's Grand Masters, Chris B. Heinz (later Mayor of Selma, Alabama),
never knew the founder's identification. Records show that the chapter grew
and prospered until 1922, when Dr.
Reese assumed authority of the school and expelled all fraternities from
campus. Somehow
the chapter managed to survive for another two years.
In 1920, Phi Kappa lost the man who had carried her through
the establishment of
four
chapters. Circumstances surrounding Nelson's death are as mysterious as
those around the birth
of Phi Kappa. One historian reports that Nelson died of TB in Colorado, but
the Bureau of
Statistics in Colorado has no record of this. In fact, no one has come
across records of Nelson's
death anywhere. Some rumors claim that Nelson simply moved to Texas, but
this also is
unverified. Regardless of whether Nelson died or disappeared, we do know of
no one in Troy or in
any Phi Kappa Chapter who remembers seeing Nelson after 1920. We also know
that his
absence brought a hard blow to the Phi Kappa he knew so well.
Troy Upsilon disintegrated after Nelson's disappearance. If it were not for Mu Theta's strength at this time in our history, Phi Kappa probably would not have survived. While the other chapters were dying or being forced to die, Mu Theta was building and growing to take the leadership position in the Fraternity and at Gulf Coast Military Academy.
The Founding
(1900-1916)
The Early Years
(1916-1922)
Vital Expansion
(1922-1941)
The War Years
(1942-1946)
More Battles
(1947-1957)
The Golden Era
(1957-1960)
The Sixties
(1961-1969)
The Prosperous
Years
(1970-1974)
The Diamond
Anniversary
(1975-1979)
The Decade of
Determination
(1980-1989)
The Nineties
(1990-1997)
Covington and After
(1998-2002)
A New Attitude
(2003-the future)
The History
of Phi Kappa National Fraternity
By: Robert L. Pugh &
Frank Liddell (1900-1970)
Patrick D. Thrash (1970-1985)
William Kyle Ingle (1985-1993)
Gerald Everett and Brent McCarty (1993-2004)