CHARTER 30 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SEPTEMBER 27, 1980 - THE DAY LAMBDA CHI ALPHA FRATERNITY BECAME THE PHI PI ZETA CHAPTER @ CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SACRAMENTO..........

A three and a half year college odyssey, that was three months longer  for me, as the only respondent to a recruitment mailing, came to fruition thirty years ago today, with the attainment of our first and foremost goal at the time.  That was a Charter for the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity colony at California State University Sacramento in 1977, of which I was the first recruit and the second initiate, as I transferred to Sacramento State.  In the beginning there were only only a half dozen of us, the "Original Six", Thomas MacKenzie, Jon Salinger, Kevin Jones, Robin Blair, Robert Butcher, and myself.  We got off to a slow, but steady, start as fraternities and sororities were only coming out of the doldrums the late '60's and early '70's had brought to the Greek system on the campus.  And we were not only new, but different.  Pledgedship was replaced by Associate Membership and Fraternity Education; and Hazing was forbidden.  Five of the six were graduating seniors, leaving me as the only junior assured of being around beyond May 1978.  And yet we persevered.  In the Fall of 1978, we were able to recruit 7 more AM's, and then a third group of 9 new members in the Summer of 1979.  Our goal to attain the Charter was 30 initiated brothers, chief among other requirements.  With two more successful recruitments in Fall 1979 and Spring 1980, we met the colony's membership initiation requirement and were informed a Charter would be granted making us a Chapter, in the early Fall of 1980.  After a week long celebration that began on Sunday September 21, with a  Champagne Reception in the Old Governor's Mansion, downtown, it was on the night of Saturday September 27, 1980, that the Charter of the Phi Pi Zeta (our chapter's formal Greek name) was bestowed upon us by luminary brothers from the General Fraternity Headquarters in Indianapolis; at the Delta Queen Restaurant in Old Sacramento, where 350 invited guests, joined us for the, "CHARTER '80" celebration as we proudly proclaimed it.  One of the memorable highlights of the evening in addition to the Charter being presented to us, was that University President Dr. W. Lloyd Johns, graciously agreed to play his trumpet and sat in with our featured dance jazz band.  Chartering sent the Phi Pi Zeta into the fraternity world of Sac State in phenomenally awesome ways for almost all of the next three decades.  The Original Six Founding Fathers, who became the Charter Thirty Seven, grew into more than 500 Initiates, from our Sacramento State Chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha.  Sadly, sixteen months ago, just as the International Fraternity in the United States and Canada was celebrating its Centennial, the Sacramento State Chapter closed, due to a declining enrollment.  But alas, we are still Good Brothers, sharing Honest Friendships, and savoring, as well as making new memories in Zera Alpha Chi.  During the past year and a half, Facebook has become my reunion and taking it forward meeting place with brothers of the bond.  And so on this, "Charter 30 !!!" Day, I salute them and thank you all - living and dead, who have been such a meaningful, brotherly part, of my life.  God Bless My Lambda Chi Alpha Brothers Everywhere,..........Brother Father Troy.....Colony / Phi Pi 2.  "Two Beer Troy"  "Future Father"  "Father Forever"