History of the Chapter
What is your favorite fraternity memory to reminisce about?
Here we share with you a brief history of sorts, where our alumni have shared a trove of treasured memories. These stories were written by Brothers who still yearn for the ideals upon which the Fraternity stands; Not Four Years, But a Lifetime!
Written by
Richard “Skip” Hartmann
Omega Zeta was founded in the fall of 1977 when a brother from East Carolina University, Robert David Keller (aka Killer Keller) transferred to Western Carolina University. Bob rushed many guys in the Albright/Benton dorm where he lived, and 10 of us were interested in starting a chapter vs. joining a well-established fraternity. Through the course of the fall semester we received our pledge pins and our pledge books, and off we went to start our pledge period. Our pledge period was unlike most of the future brother’s pledge periods, as there were no traditions established locally at the time. In the spring semester of 1978, we were all initiated by Bob, Andy Brewer (a fellow brother from ECU), and Ezra Krieg (a member from National) at the Cullowhee Baptist Church. The following evening after initiation the new brothers, Andy, Ezra and Executive Director George Beck, all had a wonderful banquet at the Jarrett House in Dillsboro. We received our crest and diplomas and we were on our way to form the Omega Zeta Chapter. (By the way…the “Omega” came from the UNC chapter “Omega Beta” and “Zeta” came from ECU “Delta Zeta” chapter…I wonder if any of you ever knew this…) Bob and the others continued that spring semester to try to build our 1st pledge class. By the end of the 1978 spring semester, we initiated Gordon Stephenson and Guy Smith…Bob (with the help of all of us) also recruited and inducted a group of founding little sisters.
The year finished up on a very high note! We had a very eclectic group of brothers from all parts of the country enjoying our brotherhood. The founding brothers are Bob Keller, Skip Hartmann, Joe Partain, Tim Pruitt, Greg Pacewic, Rick Young, David Seay, Larry McCorkle, Tim Whitner, Robert Forcum, and Steve Stanley. Due to transfers and other reasons, the following school year was a big challenge as we only had 5 returning brothers. This presented a major challenge to myself, Tim Pruitt, Robert, Gordon and Guy Smith. We were asking ourselves; “Holy shit what do we do now?” With this small tight brotherhood and sheer determination, we recruited as best we could to bring in a few new pledges. My memory of exactly who and when they were pledges may not be perfect, but over the next year we brought in Tim Collins, Mike Blair, Tony Dyer, Ken Winters, Mike Winner, Neal Bowman, Lonnie Pressley, David Cabe, Keith Street, and Dan Weyandt. To this day all of my little brothers have a special place in my heart…Guy Smith, Tim Collins, John Cappa, Keith Street, Edwin Core, yes even Reid Glenn, and Mark Giles. To make money to party, we did many hot dog sales by going from dorm to dorm, as well as doing car washes. With that money we were able to party at Cullowhee Mountain, the dorm, and at Robert and Steve’s house that they rented on Caney Fork. All the newer pledges and brothers that I listed after the founders went on to establishing new guidelines and traditions, some of which are still used today.
The year finished up on a very high note! We had a very eclectic group of brothers from all parts of the country enjoying our brotherhood. The founding brothers are Bob Keller, Skip Hartmann, Joe Partain, Tim Pruitt, Greg Pacewic, Rick Young, David Seay, Larry McCorkle, Tim Whitner, Robert Forcum, and Steve Stanley. Due to transfers and other reasons, the following school year was a big challenge as we only had 5 returning brothers. This presented a major challenge to myself, Tim Pruitt, Robert, Gordon and Guy Smith. We were asking ourselves; “Holy shit what do we do now?” With this small tight brotherhood and sheer determination, we recruited as best we could to bring in a few new pledges. My memory of exactly who and when they were pledges may not be perfect, but over the next year we brought in Tim Collins, Mike Blair, Tony Dyer, Ken Winters, Mike Winner, Neal Bowman, Lonnie Pressley, David Cabe, Keith Street, and Dan Weyandt. To this day all of my little brothers have a special place in my heart…Guy Smith, Tim Collins, John Cappa, Keith Street, Edwin Core, yes even Reid Glenn, and Mark Giles. To make money to party, we did many hot dog sales by going from dorm to dorm, as well as doing car washes. With that money we were able to party at Cullowhee Mountain, the dorm, and at Robert and Steve’s house that they rented on Caney Fork. All the newer pledges and brothers that I listed after the founders went on to establishing new guidelines and traditions, some of which are still used today.
In the fall of 1986, I was a transfer student from a community college in Florida. At the time, I knew nothing of fraternities or the Greek life. I happened to room next to Bruce Millett at Reynolds Hall who talked me into to going out for a rush event at the Pi Lambda Phi house (the fire station). Since Cullowhee was a dry city, and I was pretty thirsty, I reluctantly went along. Once there, I met some guys that I would soon come to know as life-long brothers! My pledge class was John Gore, Bruce Millett, Matt McKee, Mike Parker, Ron Darling, Jeff Cremens, and George Wood. There are so many hysterical memories of pledging. Scavenger hunts, frequent “kidnappings” and well-earned demerits were part of the pledge experience! Looking back, I don’t think the “authorities” cared too much about hazing rituals back then… in fact, truth be known, they probably encouraged it. It “built character!”
I quickly moved to the fraternity house and would not have traded that experience for anything… yeah, it was nasty, run-down, and freezing cold in the winter, but what a blast! There was always something going on at the house. If I remember correctly, the residents during time were Mike Barker, Chris “Fuji” Uggiano, Victor Werr, Neil Dowell, Eric Sowder, Walt Stringer, Bob Freitag, Earl Miller, Richard Graybill, Todd “Gator” Carter, Chad Brooks, John Foster and Bruce Millett (probably missing some). The snowball fights, sliding down the neighbor’s hill, the haunted houses, trips to Bear Lake, road trips, tubing the Tuck, and the Annual Semester-end “Pi Lam Open” will be always be burned in my memory. The house was a real fixer upper and we were constantly fighting with John Moss (landlord). The vast majority of the repairs were done by us… again, character building! Intra-murals and Greek Week were also a blast! The parties were phenomenal and never ending foosball games were the great! Again, all “character builders!”
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my little brothers, Dusty Bradshaw West, Terry Wilson and Joey Blair… Most importantly, I met my future wife there, and who would’a figured some 30 years later we would still be going back and visiting lifelong friends and sharing good times and bad. Brother Neil Dowell always repeated how important the term “not four years, but a lifetime” was to us. I consider myself lucky to have experienced my time at Western Carolina and will always cherish my past, present and future with such a fine band of “characters!”
I quickly moved to the fraternity house and would not have traded that experience for anything… yeah, it was nasty, run-down, and freezing cold in the winter, but what a blast! There was always something going on at the house. If I remember correctly, the residents during time were Mike Barker, Chris “Fuji” Uggiano, Victor Werr, Neil Dowell, Eric Sowder, Walt Stringer, Bob Freitag, Earl Miller, Richard Graybill, Todd “Gator” Carter, Chad Brooks, John Foster and Bruce Millett (probably missing some). The snowball fights, sliding down the neighbor’s hill, the haunted houses, trips to Bear Lake, road trips, tubing the Tuck, and the Annual Semester-end “Pi Lam Open” will be always be burned in my memory. The house was a real fixer upper and we were constantly fighting with John Moss (landlord). The vast majority of the repairs were done by us… again, character building! Intra-murals and Greek Week were also a blast! The parties were phenomenal and never ending foosball games were the great! Again, all “character builders!”
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my little brothers, Dusty Bradshaw West, Terry Wilson and Joey Blair… Most importantly, I met my future wife there, and who would’a figured some 30 years later we would still be going back and visiting lifelong friends and sharing good times and bad. Brother Neil Dowell always repeated how important the term “not four years, but a lifetime” was to us. I consider myself lucky to have experienced my time at Western Carolina and will always cherish my past, present and future with such a fine band of “characters!”
Written by
Chris Castelli
Written by
Joey Franck
I joined the Pi Lam fraternity in the fall of 1983. I enjoyed one year of visiting the old house before the fraternity and myself moved into the “firehouse” on the banks of the Tuckasegee River.
The first mistake we made was believing anything that our landlord, John Moss, told us. The downstairs party room had 30 years of junk stored in it. After patiently waiting for him to clean it out, the brothers decided to take care of it themselves. We threw everything away except for the old homemade wine or beer that had stuff floating in it. Yep, we drank it and lived.. We also kept the acoustical ceiling that ironically enough was sitting on the floor. We installed the tracks and everyone got together to paint the ceiling tiles purple and gold (yellow). We alternated the purple and gold tiles in the ceiling giving us a cool look for the 80’s!
Rob Tarbell began his career as an artist by painting the iconic lamb drinking from the keg logo in the middle of the dance floor. Mark Webster and Scott Harrison built a fantastic bar strong enough to hold the impromptu dance parties that routinely took place on top of it at the end of a night of partying!
In the end, all the work was worth it! We had the largest and best party room at WCU. We continued the Midnight Madness party with crowds overflowing out to the road. Fuji was the master DJ for most of our parties. We held an epic Haunted House each year in the party room that raised a lot of money and was so much fun! From the cow parts that we retrieved at the slaughter house for the mad scientist skit – to the chainsaw room – to the Dean Davis effigy, there was never a lack of creativity.
We had four apartments in the “firehouse”. Unfortunately, the apartment that Ray and I were sharing was not ready at move in. After a few months of cramped living in the front apartment and a lot of broken promises from John Moss, Ray and I set out to finish our apartment. We did the sheetrock work, painted and installed the carpet. Not bad for a couple of country boys from Davie County.
A routine memory that I am sure most have were the Foosball games. Whether we had a party going on or just a group of brothers hanging out, you could always count on hearing the clink of the ball scoring in the metal goal. And yes, we could hear this in our apartments… as we tried to sleep…
Warm weather was a good time at WCU. Some days it was climbing through the hole over our water heater and laying out on the roof. Other days it was tubing down the Tuckasegee. We would drive several cars with tubes up the road to launch. A couple of hours and cases later, we would arrive to the house. Sometimes we were ok to retrieve our cars, other times, not so much.
Some days I cannot remember what I did the previous day, but I can tell you I remember the memories from my time in Pi Lambda Phi like it was yesterday. I cherish these memories and friends, several that I am still in daily contact with! We are a living testament to the phrase “Not four years, but a lifetime.”
The first mistake we made was believing anything that our landlord, John Moss, told us. The downstairs party room had 30 years of junk stored in it. After patiently waiting for him to clean it out, the brothers decided to take care of it themselves. We threw everything away except for the old homemade wine or beer that had stuff floating in it. Yep, we drank it and lived.. We also kept the acoustical ceiling that ironically enough was sitting on the floor. We installed the tracks and everyone got together to paint the ceiling tiles purple and gold (yellow). We alternated the purple and gold tiles in the ceiling giving us a cool look for the 80’s!
Rob Tarbell began his career as an artist by painting the iconic lamb drinking from the keg logo in the middle of the dance floor. Mark Webster and Scott Harrison built a fantastic bar strong enough to hold the impromptu dance parties that routinely took place on top of it at the end of a night of partying!
In the end, all the work was worth it! We had the largest and best party room at WCU. We continued the Midnight Madness party with crowds overflowing out to the road. Fuji was the master DJ for most of our parties. We held an epic Haunted House each year in the party room that raised a lot of money and was so much fun! From the cow parts that we retrieved at the slaughter house for the mad scientist skit – to the chainsaw room – to the Dean Davis effigy, there was never a lack of creativity.
We had four apartments in the “firehouse”. Unfortunately, the apartment that Ray and I were sharing was not ready at move in. After a few months of cramped living in the front apartment and a lot of broken promises from John Moss, Ray and I set out to finish our apartment. We did the sheetrock work, painted and installed the carpet. Not bad for a couple of country boys from Davie County.
A routine memory that I am sure most have were the Foosball games. Whether we had a party going on or just a group of brothers hanging out, you could always count on hearing the clink of the ball scoring in the metal goal. And yes, we could hear this in our apartments… as we tried to sleep…
Warm weather was a good time at WCU. Some days it was climbing through the hole over our water heater and laying out on the roof. Other days it was tubing down the Tuckasegee. We would drive several cars with tubes up the road to launch. A couple of hours and cases later, we would arrive to the house. Sometimes we were ok to retrieve our cars, other times, not so much.
Some days I cannot remember what I did the previous day, but I can tell you I remember the memories from my time in Pi Lambda Phi like it was yesterday. I cherish these memories and friends, several that I am still in daily contact with! We are a living testament to the phrase “Not four years, but a lifetime.”
In 1981, I was the sixteenth brother initiated. We were a young brotherhood and only approximately three to four years old. We held our parties in various apartments and our big step forward was the addition of the Pi Lambda Phi house in 1982. Having our own House gave us a much stronger presence at WCU and in turn helped our “Rush Week” become even more successful by attracting more pledges. We always promoted diversity with both our Brothers and our Pledges, which helped us solidify a strong brotherhood. Our House parties were legendary. I recall Jeff Eddins came up with the idea of a “24 hour party” that started out with ALL sororities for the first four hours! Genius or Guinness! The notoriety assisted us in the growth of our Pledge classes and we averaged 20 Pledges for several semesters.
As we grew, we began competing in intramural sports in the Fraternity League and that also added validity as a strong brotherhood on campus. This began the rival with Lambda Chi (lol) and the association with Delta Sig as our favored sorority.
As we grew, we began competing in intramural sports in the Fraternity League and that also added validity as a strong brotherhood on campus. This began the rival with Lambda Chi (lol) and the association with Delta Sig as our favored sorority.
Written by
Reid Glenn