FEATURE ARTICLES

Life-long Brotherhood

MICHAEL E. LARGO msu67

It was a time of The Beatles and Motown. The Cold War raged on and a proxy war in Southeast Asia escalated. We were striving for the moon and civil rights. The city of East Lansing was still honoring Prohibition and women had to be in the dorm by midnight. And yet brotherhood prevailed at our house at 242 North Harrison. On Monday nights we would set aside our slide rules and attend a house meeting where chapter matters were discussed at length. We were near capacity at 31 actives. None of us worried about unemployment lines as we neared graduation. After graduation, in the decades that followed, the Berlin Wall came down as well as the Twin Towers. One president resigned and another was impeached. We got married, had careers, raised families, and retired. Meanwhile several attempts were made by the alumni of Triangle Fraternity at MSU to become involved with the fraternity and their alumni brothers. And then one day, the phone rang. It was brother James. I hadn’t seen him for 40 years. He brought pictures of our fraternity brothers and their wives from a reunion they recently had. This was the beginning of a series of annual reunions that continues today. Thanks to the advent of emails, a group of MSU Triangle alumni from the late 60s can easily be informed of upcoming reunions.

Hyde Park NY in 2018

Reunions have been held in Scottsville, VA; Williamsburg, VA; Plymouth, MA; East Lansing, MI, Orlanda, FL; Cameron, MO; Bowling Green, KY; the Finger Lakes region of New York, and other places. We visited attractions like the Plymouth Plantation, wineries in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Mammoth Cave National Park, the Corvette Museum, the Sandwich Glass Museum, the Culinary Institute of America, and the homes of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. On August 17, 2017 we went out to Cameron, Missouri for the total solar eclipse, only to get rained on. Once we gathered in East Lansing for a homecoming game but we were rained on there as well; although we did get to see the fraternity house again. At each reunion, we usually select one of the brothers and his wife to plan the next reunion. This year we plan on meeting in St. Louis. It’s great when someone we haven’t seen in a long time shows up at one of our reunions. We spend a lot of time gathering in the lobby of hotels just talking about recent and past events. This effort has been a great success and we hope that Triangle Brothers from other eras do the same. s

The Impact of Triangle Brotherhood

JOHN GARGANI pitt82

As I approach 40 years as a Triangle Brother, I wanted to share my thoughts on what brotherhood has meant and means to me. Being a Triangle Brother has very significantly impacted my life. I was initiated in the Pitt Chapter in my first term freshman year in 1982. At the time, I had no idea how this would affect the rest of my life. All I knew at the time was that the Pitt Brothers were a great group of guys who I enjoyed being around, had fun with, and who shared a lot of the same interests that I had. I got to know my wife through the Chapter’s Little Sister program (when those still existed) during my sophomore year. We married a few years later. My best man, Albert Balluch pitt83, and one of my groomsman, Mike “M 3 ” Udavchak pitt81, are brothers that were in our wedding party. After thirty-two years and four children, Melissa and I are both still very active and supportive of Triangle Fraternity. In my sophomore year, Jeff Tatarzyn pitt81, a senior fellow Chemical Engineering Brother, suggested that I interview with Conoco Inc. for a summer engineering position. This led to a successful 30+ year career in oil and gas. I doubt that I would have entered the energy field without Jeff’s influence. In my days as an active, there were a number of alumni that greatly influenced me. Just to name a few, Casey Quayle csu71, Dale Lieb pitt71, Dan Bertoni pitt73, Ed Schwartz ar62, and Omar Hernandez nu75 instilled in me a desire to give back, whether it is to Triangle or to other worthwhile causes. When you meet a Triangle Brother, he is automatically your friend and your brother. Because of my continued involvement in Triangle after I graduated (which we used to call being “alumniated”), I have the privilege of having brothers from California to Connecticut, and from Texas to Minnesota. Many of the people I consider my best friends are Triangle Brothers (even if one has an odd obsession with the metric system). I find it interesting that I have stayed in touch with many of my brothers from college. On the other hand, I have lost track of most of my other, non-Triangle, friends from college. I think this is due to the special connection you have with your brothers that you do not necessarily have with folks that are just friends. I have brothers that range from my Father’s age to ones that are younger than my children. I also have the pleasure of having a son, Matthew Gargani pitt10, that is a Triangle. It was a very special moment for me to be able to attend his initiation while I was serving as National President of Triangle. I have met very accomplished men especially through my involvement with the Triangle Education Foundation, that I can only hope to emulate. I have also met young men that I immediately knew were full of potential and would excel at whatever they decided to pursue. Having moved back to Pittsburgh in 2018, I have particularly enjoyed getting to know the actives and younger alumni from the Pitt Chapter. I think a great example of the connection that you have with a brother that you really don’t have with other people occurred at a recent Tour de Triangle event in Pittsburgh. Kevin Bortz pitt84, who was also an active when I was, was able to attend with his wife. I literally had not seen Kevin since my and Melissa’s wedding in 1987, and we immediately reconnected as if we'd only been apart a short amount of time. I don’t think you can experience that with someone that is just a friend. This is what brotherhood means to me. s

John Gargani pitt82 at the Denver meeting, summer 2019

Comfort in Brotherhood

KEVIN KOHMESCHER cin17

Kevin Kohmescher cin17 (center) enjoys the 2019 Indianapolis Convention.

Feeling comfortable. It is an underrated, and often overlooked perk of brotherhood. It can be, and often is, simple. Such as when a new intramural season of soccer starts, and brothers who haven’t played soccer since 5th grade step out of their comfort zone to tackle the season head on with their fellow Triangles. Many of whom never expected to jump in like that, but knowing the results of the season do not matter. Knowing that what does matter is the personal growth, as brothers graduate from 5th grade amateur soccer star to active learner and leader. This is Triangle Brotherhood. To be taught, to want to grow; that is what makes it such an amazing thing. We have no fear of failure, whether personal or for the organization. For us as a team, being comfortable with our brothers creates a sense of freedom. We accept that we are in it together before taking any measures to win, and it feels even greater when we do. It also creates laughter. First, as friends. Brothers always seem to laugh harder when you have another across the room to look at. Sometimes it’s because of moments, where they look at each other like “did that just happen?” But other times it’s because of jokes, bantering, and other related comments. Which brings up the second, as boundary testers. When comfortable, brothers push the limits of acceptable commentary. After seeing comedians on Netflix do it, it seems pretty easy. Yet, as performance is not one of the accepted majors, likely Triangles are not professionals, and are also likely to screw up more often. Netflix comedians are subject to, but not limited to: angry tweets, hate mail, lost careers, slander articles, and the list goes on. Conversely, the chapters are safe training grounds for those attempting a sense of humor. Brothers can laugh about coronavirus till it begins to personally affect them, and some will still after. Yet, when needed, brothers are there to teach each other about crossing the line, rarely if ever punishing for doing so in the first place. Boundaries in humor are not the only place brothers are around