Tau Tales | Fall 2020

TAU TALES Commemorative Centennial Edition | Fall 2020

Looking back at the last 100 years and preparing for the next 100.

Archon Report Brothers,

Since our rechartering in 2019, Tau has accomplished extraordinary things. These incredible men have found ways to excel in and out of the classroom. For the past two semesters, we have consistently placed in the top 5 in member GPA. Not to mention, our associates have placed first in GPA the past two semesters as well. Outside class, our focus shifts to philanthropy work. Our chapter was recognized by Miracle League of the Triangle for our consistent attendance and dedication to bettering the lives of the players. Our chapter hosted our very first War of the Roses week and through careful planning and perfect execution Tau raised thousands of dollars! Our social media posts about the event brought over 15,000 people to the NC State Pi Kapp Instagram page. We saw our message being shared and awareness being raised for those with disabilities.

Finishing the year early, our executive council worked tirelessly to submit final documents to NC State for the Standards Program. Every year the university collects chapter reports, action plans, and statistics to assign a grade to each chapter on campus. Through tremendous work, the Tau chapter of Pi Kappa Phi scored a 95%. This standard score placed Pi Kappa Phi at the top of IFC chapters. This fall, we expecting numerous awards and is hopeful for the fraternity of the year award. In just one school year, this chapter proved to NC State the value that it brings.

In the future, my brothers and I see continued success. Despite the challenges that COVID-19 has brought, Tau is ready to adapt and adjust. The chapter has planned virtual Brotherhood events and Philanthropy events in effort to continue usual operations. The chapter also introduced a Peer-Education program where Brothers can educate chapter members on topics that are important to them. These topics range from personal finance, health and wellness, and even proper study habits. The driving force behind this program is this idea of continued member education.

Brothers, I leave you with great hope for the future. With exceptional leaders entering NC State’s campus each year, it’s safe to say this chapter is on the path to consistent success. I am beyond excited to graduate next year and leave the fraternity in the hands of eager Brothers will the same goals for growth, engagement and excellence. Thank you for your continued support of our chapter and the love you all have displayed from afar. We look forward to meeting you all at a Centennial celebration once we are able to gather.

ODH and God Bless our Fraternity!

An Ode to Tau by Ed Thomas, Tau 393 Well tonight finally got here and here we all are. You have by this time had time to visit and circulate. Anticipation and maybe an adult beverage of two have heightened the excitement and expectations of this evening. By now you have greeted each other and struggled in some cases to match the names from long ago with the faces before you now.

By now the little fibs of how “you haven’t changed at all” to “did you find the fountain of youth “have given way to” who the hell are these old folks” and “now I remember why I was glad that college was only, for most of us, four years long.” By now you are once again comfortable with one another and the glow and aura of good times and the never ending trips down memory lane will cause laughter to ripple across the room, will cause pictures of children, grandchildren and even some great grandchildren to be shared and by now the phrases of “whatever happened to” and “do you remember” will have been voiced numerous times. Most will not care where you worked or what you did or what cars you drove or homes you lived in. Most are not here tonight for those shallow and inconsequential answers. So why are you here tonight? It took some effort, some planning and some expense to be in Raleigh this weekend so I ask you again why are you here?

Of course, I cannot answer that question for you and would not try to do so. I can only guess that many of you are here for the same reasons I am. I know not what brings you back to NCSU and to this gathering but I do want to take a little time and share with you what brings me back. But first allow me to tell you what does not bring me back. It is not some feeble attempt to relive the misdeeds and adventures of my youth and there were plenty of those albeit considered innocent by today’s standards. It is not some vain and hopeless quest to be 18 or 20 again and in the bloom of adulthood. No, my travels back here are wrapped around a yearning and an almost physical hunger to reconnect with the places and faces that had and have such a profound influence on who I was and who I became and now in my later years, who I am today.

I have said before to many of you that I consider myself so blessed to have been raised when and where we were. College, I guess, has always carried with it the worries and pressures of moving from the freedom of childhood to the burdens of adulthood. Those years could be filled with hope, fear, joy, love and sometimes every day had all those emotions wrapped into one. It could be a time of the highest of highs and the deepest of darkness.

It could be happy for some and a seemingly never ending trial for others. I loved being in college when and where I was. But the times and locale do not tell the full story of my love for NCSU and Pi Kapp. The other element that deepened and made me then and now more appreciative of NCSU and Pi Kapp was the folks that inhabited my then world.

So why do I come back to NCSU? I come back to satisfy, even if only for a few hours, a yearning that lives on in the very depths of my being to reconnect, to reconnect with you, to reconnect with NCSU and Pi Kapp and with what once was but is no more and never shall be again. I come back to refresh my soul for a large part of it shall always reside with you, this university, this fraternity and our time together here.

Please forgive the ramblings of a now older and hopefully some what wiser Ed Thomas who does and always will hold you in my thoughts, and my prayers and my love.

Fraternity is Forever!

Tau Houses through the years

407 Horne Street

A Tau Tale Langdon Bennett and I worked out with the NC State Track Team our Freshmen year in 1982-83.

We were red-shirt walk-ons. Langdon met John Lee through the Track team in early Fall 1983 when John was a Freshman. I left the team in the beginning of the Fall 1983 semester then Langdon and John left shortly afterward. I knew Jeff Timblin from the high school track team and we sometimes lifted weights together. He pledged Pi Kappa Phi in the Fall of 1983. He convinced the three of us to check out the fraternity the following Spring. We all became brothers. Each Fall there was a two mile interfraternal cross country race. The first three runners of each team’s score counted. There were roughly 100 of the best runners in the fraternity system running. We dominated and won three years in a row. The three of us finished in the top eight for the three years.

Langdon finished first each year.

Sid Deck, Tau 749

7 Enterprise Street

2401 West Fraternity Court

Let us hear from you!

Please provide your input to make Tau amazing for the next 100 years! Update your address and let us know who we missed.

Tell us what you’re up to currently or who you still gather with from Tau. Send us your stories or just provide some advice from “older and wiser” brothers.

We need assistance with communications and coordination across all our Alumni, to provide leadership to the active Chapter, and for organizing events (even virtually!)

Contact Tau Chapter Historian at ncstatepikapp@gmail.com or Bob Lamphier, Tau 710 at blamphier710@gmail.com

Current House

Chapter Eternal 2015-2020

Thomas Anthony Saieed

Clayton Ridings Emerick

initiated 1956, Tau 316

initiated 1970, Tau 536

Jere Pearsall

William Dudley Robbins, Jr.

initiated 1957, Tau 329

initiated 1976, Tau 619

John Craven Broughton

Donald Bryan Christian

initiated 1959, Tau 345

initiated 1989, Tau 870

Donald Eugene Rink

John Joseph Dupree Jr.

initiated 1959, Tau 356

initiated 1991, Tau 920

Edward Russell Thomas, II

Williams Carr Hagan, III

initiated 1962, Tau 393

initiated 1992, Tau 953

David Jackson Ivey, Sr.

Niels Hansen Norman

initiated 1963, Tau 414

initiated 1992, Tau 969

Can You Identify These Brothers?

Benjamin Thomas Cobb initiated 2006, Tau 1266

Follow us online for more Tau News Instagram @pikappncstate NCStatePiKapp.org

A Tau Tale Too good to be true? Not in 1991 when a group of Tau Pi Kapps started a tradition that was worth much more than the $99 (and the free breakfasts). Our group of recent graduates and a few actives (plus a rushee) spent a long weekend in January at the Grand Strand. Tales of the trip quickly made it back to Raleigh and the recent alumni network, thankfully not aided by Facebook or Instagram. The trip was officially an “event” when the group doubled in size in January, 1992 and there was no turning back.

Every year since, we have planned a 4 day excursion to various locations for golf, reveling, and brotherhood – not necessarily in that order. Though primarily in Myrtle Beach and Pinehurst, the annual trip has taken us south to Jacksonville, west to Scottsdale, even “north” to Williamsburg. We even had a “return home” trip to Raleigh, highlighted by a suite at PNC arena for a Wolfpack basketball game (where we were joined by our bus driver, Lorenzo Charles).

We have a group of over 40 Tau brothers (ranging from T-727 to T-954) and some carefully selected friends that have been on at least one trip, but a group of about 25 that have been to almost all of them (only one has been lucky enough to attend every year, several missing only once). It is an annual event that we all look forward to and has been the cornerstone of maintaining a close network of such a large group of college friends.

Unfortunately, the virus interrupted our streak at 29 consecutive years, but number 30 is re-planned with the largest group ever for 2021. We no longer brave the January weather and it costs much more than $99, but the memories, fun, and friendship that we experience every spring is invaluable.

John Kovach, Tau 808

Return to: Pi Kappa Phi ATTN: Alumni Engagement 2015 Arysley Town Blvd.

Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28273

We hope to gather in 2021 to celebrate our Centennial.

Keep your Pi Kappa Phi profile up-todate for the latest information on the Tau celebration next year. pikapp.org/updateyourinfo