WHY I PLEDGED PHI BETA SIGMA WHY I PLEDGED PHI BETA SIGMA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

When I started college at Central Michigan University in 1984, I knew nothing about Black Greek organizations. I was assigned a minority mentor, Jeffrey Malloy, a Phi Beta Sigma member He did an excellent job mentoring me as a young African-American male at a school with only 300 Blacks out of 16,000 students. He never asked me to pledge, but he led by example The Sigmas were the most active in the community and the biggest Black Greek Letter Organization (BGLO). I was always impressed when I would hang around him and his friends (who were also Sigmas) The chapter had brothers in the business, engineering, education, and math departments. The president of the Black Student Organization, Black Panhell, and Campus Choir was Sigmas The star athletes on the football, basketball, and track teams were Sigmas. The campus leaders were Sigma men. The “best” steppers were Sigmas When I would go to campus events, the entire chapter, with their little sisters and Zetas, would enter these events together in suits, which was impressive. There were 17 brothers on the yard, 30+ sweethearts and loves, and 10 Zetas Lambda Gamma chapter was only five years old.

As a result, I asked Jeff to invite me to all the Sigma events, including the smoker At the smoker, I learned about the rich history of Sigma in the community and the trailblazers of the organization It did not take me long to decide that I wanted to pledge Sigma I pledged during the second semester of my freshman year (I had a 3 0 GPA) I was on line with four other guys At the time, freshman students could pledge at CMU and Sigma I wanted to serve my community by being a Phi Beta Sigma International Fraternity, Inc member

While on line, I went home during winter break and told my mother I was pledging Sigma She said that my father was a Sigma! When I told him I was pledging, he was excited He pledged at Lambda Chapter at Virginia Union in 1963 - 1964 So, I looked at his 1963 yearbook and saw a picture of his pledge line! He never told me he was a Sigma or encouraged me to pledge Then, word got around my family that I was pledging Sigma, and I found out my god brother and his two brothers pledged Sigma at the University of Michigan I also discovered that my two cousins pledged Sigma a year before I pledged; and that one of my high school mentors was a Sigma from the University of Michigan

No doubt, I was born to be a Sigma, whether I knew it or not! (Blue Phi!) I also learned 20 years later that Jeff is my wife’s cousin