11 miles.
That’s it.
11 miles.
That’s the distance between my alma mater (the University of Tampa) and the university I would pledge Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (the University of South Florida).
On its face, eleven miles is not that far. However, for a 19 year old country kid on college work study, student loans, grants and scholarship with no spare change and no car, it felt like a million miles away.
I still marvel at how I managed to pull it off.
I always knew I wanted to pledge Alpha. My uncles were Alphas. One of my church mentors was an Alpha. One of my teachers and mentors was an AKA and she spoke highly of Alphas. Did I mention that my mother told me “You can pledge any fraternity you want but I will only let Alphas come in this house.”?
So I knew Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated was in my future. What I didn’t know was if Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was at the University of Tampa.
As a matter of fact, when I decided to go to the University of Tampa, I didn’t take the time to research if there was an Alpha chapter at the school. I didn’t take the time to research to see if there were any Black Fraternities or sororities at the school.
Well, I found out as soon as I arrived. The answer was ‘There were NO black Greeks at the University of Tampa”. I knew I wanted to be an Alpha. I just didn’t know how I was going to be an Alpha and attend the University of Tampa at the same time.
Interestingly enough, one of my classmates had a cousin who was an Alpha at the University of South Florida. So, in the Spring of 1988, my classmate found out there was going to be an interest session for Alpha Phi Alpha at USF. One of the brothers, Mike Hicks, would come to our campus to pick up any interested guys. As fate would have it, I was the only one. It was at this session I found out that the chapter, Theta Gamma, was a ‘Metro’ chapter. In other words, as long as you were a college student in the Tampa Bay Area, you could pledge at the USF. So, you can imagine how pumped I was to hear this piece of information.
In the Spring of 1989, my classmate found out Theta Gamma was going to host another interest session at USF. The same brother, Mike Hicks, would come to our campus to pick up any interested guys. As fate would have it, again, I was the only one.
The Spring 1989 session was different from the 1988 session. At the end of this session, we were given applications to join.
I was pumped up. I had the application and I was motivated to join. The reality though was that I had NO clue what I was getting into because I had no idea of what it took to become a member. All I know is that I wanted to be an Alpha and this was my opportunity.
What I didn’t know was the powers behind the selection process. I was motivated to become a member but I didn’t know what my chances were. Unfortunately, I had a strike against me. Another young man from campus tried to pledge to another black fraternity at USF and dropped out during the process. And this was fairly well known by the Black Student population at USF. As such, there was a negative stigma attached to students from UT.
From my understanding, there was a considerable debate about selecting me. However (and I file this under ‘a sign from god’), one particularly influential brother lobbied on my behalf in part due to the fact I was the only guy from UT to attend both interest sessions. And this guy was the ‘Dean of Pledges’ for the Pledge Class (i.e. Sphinxmen) for the chapter. Yep, you guessed, Brother Mike Hicks, who picked me up for both interest sessions.
So, after submitting my application (and having to correct it twice), a few days later, I received a call telling me my application had been accepted and that I would be initiated into the “Sphinxmen’s club” (whatever the hell THAT meant. Lol).
At this point, I have to truly say, as a person of faith, there was a higher power that looked out over me. Everyone on campus who was close to me KNEW that I wanted to pledge Alpha and somehow, someway, they made it possible for me to get initiated.
First, I had to get outfits. I still remember. Here’s what I was required to own:
3 white dress shirts
3 black ties
2 black belts
1 brown belt
2 pairs of black socks
1 pair of beige socks
2 pairs of black slacks
1 pair of khaki slacks
Black sweat bottom
Black sweat top
Black combat boots
1 black folder
1 brick
A ream of gold paper
Again, let’s start off with the fact that I had NO money. I didn’t know how I was going to pay for it. Here, enters a crazy Italian from New York named Caesar. He was one of my UT classmates. I met him when one of Best friends and he were a member of a band. I still don’t remember why he did it but he knew how badly I wanted to be a member so he took his credit card and took me to a store in downtown Tampa and bought everything for me. Again, I don’t remember why he did it but he did it.
Second, I lucked out because of my line brothers (there were 4 of us), I was the only one without a car. I had already decided I would take a bus to USF every day. However, since they all owned cars, they rotated back and forth picking me up. I literally never took the bus to USF (which was about an 1 hour ride one way and I never thought about HOW I would get back to UT).
Third, my friends at UT threw a fund raising party for me. Wrap your mind around that concept. I had mentioned to a couple of my classmates that I was running out of money to finance pledging. One of the persons I told was my mentor, Jennifer. So, Jennifer, who was President of the Association of Minority Collegians, lobbied our organization to throw a party with the proceeds being given directly to me to finance my pledging. And she encouraged me to invite my big brothers (who came and who brought 40 Alpha Sweethearts with them). The party was the most financially lucrative party the Association of Minority Collegians had ever thrown. And I had enough money to make it through my pledge sessions.
Finally, I have to bring it back to Caesar. My Spring Break was different from the students at the University of South Florida. So, during that week, Caesar decided to go back to New York. He asked me to take him to the airport in his car. And as a favor to me, he left me the keys and told me that I could drive his car to my pledge sessions. So for my entire Spring Break, I drove back and forth to USF (and I picked up my line brothers so they could get a break from having to pick me up).
On April 12, 1989, my journey to Alpha was complete. I had crossed the burning sands. However, the real success story was the countless people who made it possible. My line brothers who drove every day for 6 weeks to pick me up. Caesar paid for my pledge gear and lent me his car. My classmates threw a party for me.
I’m not sure if my situation was special but I have always been thankful that I had special people in my life to make this a reality.
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