Where was the only Conclave from 1930-1935 held?

Name the only US pres that was a TKE.

Bump sombody needs to start answering these question again. lol

I think i can answer this one--the only US president was Ronald Regan--now can you answer this who is the only Teke to become the Premier (Governor) of a Canadian Province????

The Premier of Manitoba

you do good work
 

to my good frater of ZN
You do such good work and I can assure you that Tex Flint,
Pete Leland, Jim Logan, Bill Quallich, Wilson Heller (Pike),
Dick Hall, Jim Kane, all now in the Chapter Eternal, would
be as proud of you as I am.....YITB, Erik Conard -- Denver

I am not a frater of ZN...
 

I am a Frater of Tau Omgea (Canada Epsilon chapter) the premier of Manitoba is Gary Doer a Teke of ZN chapter. I am however always Yours in the Bond---it trancends international bounderies!!!

Re: I am not a frater of ZN...
 

The Manitoba chapter is Zeta-Iota. Zeta Nu chapter is my Chapter in Valdosta, Ga. Erik was talking to me when he said to my good frater of ZN .

Wouldn't it be great if we could get Canadian Alpha back?
We had a fielder, Barrie Booth, from there. And there were a
goodly number of active alums like Dr. Malcolm Seagrave,
Brian McPherson...gosh...
There were exciting times...Bruce colonizing, Bob Hutchens
visiting, and how Dick Hall loved ZI!
With the Manitoba Premier aboard, we gotta get Alpha back!
Please take heed, dear Canadian fraters...please.
YITB, Erik P Conard, KoA, CFC, Denver Alumni chapter

My Mistake
 

I apoligize Zeke and Erik i got confused (damn beer)

as for Canada Alpha i understand that there has been some movement by the alumni out there to try and find a interest group. The priemier and what is essentially the deputy priemier are both Tekes so there is a strong public presence in Winnipeg

Which chapter did Les Paul join?

the Delta-Xi chapter at Miami University in Oxford

Ok how about Ed Droste?

The Epsilon Chapter and Iowa State University in a side note they dont have walls in their bathrooms between toilet stalls isnt that a little crazy!

Which chapter did the horseshoe go missing?

The home of my big brother chapter and the best damn basketball team in the nation.....University of Louisville home of the Alpha Chi chapter.....holla

Can anyone guess zntke's or tkeos' bond numbers? lol

Man thats like asking my nationalty....

711 and 443 respectivly.

Off topic, but Canadianteke do you get pissed off about south park's interpertaion of Canadians? lol

I can believe this thread is still going even though I started it back on Sept 15 2001.

Not at all. If i got pissed off everytime an American show made fun of Canadians, i would constantly be pissed off. You should see some of the stuff we say about Americans. (First of all no matter what part of the states you are from you are a 'yankee')

The national governemnt sponsored network (the CBC) aired an 45 minute long show called 'talking to Americans'. Basically it just exploits how little Americans know about Canada. as well Molson sells their beer under the "I AM CANADIAN" slogan. If you have a chance download the Molson Joe Rant (PM me and i'll send it to you) Basically it is 60 seconds of America Bashing.

in my 'Canadian studies' class last year we came to the consensus that the Canadian culture was defined as "NOT AMERICAN" and thats it. So there is alot of stuff that flys both ways, you just don't get to experience the Canadian retorts.

Lol I would like to hear more about it. I like to here other countries opinions. I prefer to make fun of France. The country that surrenders when somebody points a gun at them. It's funny how they always try to act so important. Don't get me wrong I don't think the US should go to war but I just can't take France's objections seriously. Germany maybe. Russia and China of course but France?? Lol . I laugh every time I think about it. They used to be great. Helped the US get their freedom from Great Britian. Isn't it funny that the US and Great Britian are best buds now? France hasn't be a powerhouse since Nepoleon. They got run down in WW1 and only held the Germans back with Great Britians help and finally got there land back with the help of the US. In WW2 France surendered after 2 weeks. Sorry for the history lesson but History is my degree. lol

Indeed--(Don't forget the Canucks who fought in WW1--we took Yypres and Vimy Ridge and mnay say it is then we gained our independence and WWII we stormed Juno Beach (one of the 5 Normandie Landings) on D-day). I find it funny that the french King helped the Americans revolt against the king of England, and then 10 Years later the King of France lost his head in a revolution. Personally i see Irony in that.

I feel sorry for the Candians and the Aussies in both WW's because they were still part of the British Empire and were givin the suicide missions and basically were the human shields. By proprtion of allies that fought those groups were hit hardest.

We are as much of the British empire now as we were then--Canada was granted her independence in 1867, when we fought in WW1 and WW2 it was under the flag of Canada (not the Maple Leaf but the Red Ensign) As for the suicide missions, look up "dieppe". More than 2/3 of the soldiers didn't return.

True but Britian still acted like the boss. It's too bad you don't here much about the Candian Military these days. Least not in the States. The first time in a long time I have heard about them is the friendly fire thing. It was hardly mentioned here. Just updates on the case. I here it was voted the news topic of the year up there. Perosnally I think the US gov't should pay the familys a butt load of money and the pilots should be given the boot out of the military. I would have a hard time of covicting a person for murder especially when the miltary is pumping those guys with drugs to keep them awake. The side affect of those drugs and bad decissions resulted in this tragic result.

The friendly fire incident got alot of hype, basically the feeling up here was "We are fighting "your war" and you bomb our men?!?" Whether it was news story of the year or not i'm not really sure, regardless, the Canadian Military is still fighting in Afghanistan (world recod is held by a Canadian for longest kill shot), we have agreed to help in Iraq assuming there is a UN resolution, and things like NORAD had ben beefed up. I personally hear every little detail about the American Military, becasue i get CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC and the rest of the major networks. You won't hear anything casue Newsworld, and CBC and CTV don't get broadcast in the US without special sattelite capacity.

It is funny I even get the British channel BBC with digital cable but no Candian channels. You would figure since we are neighbors we would have at least 1.

How many chapters active and non that are or were not in the continetal US.

I want some canadian TV I bet it would rule

Name the newest chapter.

Well, when you posted, I have no idea....but now....

It's us! Epsilon Kappa! (although, we are a re-charter!)

First Badge?
 

Sorry for crashing your forum, but as someone who studies many fraternities, I have a question that I can't seem to find a definitive answer to. When was the first Teke badge made?

I have gone to dozens of chapter websites, all of which repeat that the badge has remained unchanged since first adopted. They stop short, however, of saying when that was.

Although the 1935 edition of Baird's manual sets the year at 1900, that seems unlikely since the name Knights of Classic Lore was not changed to Tau Kappa Epsilon until 1902.

Baird's also states, "The fraternity soon adopted the equilateral triangle as its chief geometric symbol. It is significant that the first three chapters are so located geographically as to form the apices of such a triangle." The Teke Guide states, "The significance of the location of these first three chapters, closely approximating an equilateral triangle on the map, was at once realized and has been symbolized ever since by the traditional position and shape of the badge."

Does this mean that the shape of the badge could not pre-date the installation of the third (Gamma) chapter on February 3, 1912?

What years are the earliest examples displayed at TKE headquarters? This seems like a fairly easy question, but I'm having a hard time finding anyone who knows when the first prototype or first production badge was made.

Thanks,
Jono

the early badge, history
 

Little interest until recently has come as regards the early days of TKE. When I came on the scene as a fielder in the fall of '57
we still had living Founders Mayer, McNutt, + Tex, Bill Wilson,
Joe Pierson, Art Connard, and Wilbur Tuesburg. Not all were imbued with TKE history. I interviewed all these men between
the years '57 and '61, and corresponded with Tex 'til his death.
Logan and later leaders were not at all interested in history, in fact a certain amount of disdain emerged. After the move to Indy
lots of things disappeared or were "purged." No one seems to
know where the local badge collection that Hall, Hougan and I
started. Kane was interested but finally gave up due to the total
disinterest of the long reign in Indy.
It is horrifying to realize how LITTLE history the present folks know about TKE's early days. Things haven't changed one iota.
Lambda Chi friend, Duke, Lawson, et al would shit razor blades if
they thought the history of LXA and TKN were in as bad a shape.
TKE as a name was chosen in 1901, I think, and the first house
was in 1902...the first fraternity house at IWU. During the fall of
'02 Joe Pierson and Wallace McCauley were chosen to select a
badge (sororities had 'pins' and fraternities, 'badges' said Tex)
Prior to that we were simply known as Tekes, which pleased a good many as it was rhymed with Dekes, a prominent fraternity
of an eastern bent plus easier to say....an aside, early members
would complain that folks would say "Deke?" and we would say,
"No, Teke." Funny today...my Deke friends gripe as when they
say "Deke" and the response is "Oh, Teke?" LOL
I was asked if I'd write the 100th anniversary history of TKE,
but declined as I knew how hard it would be to do and I was in
the early stages of bad health. Then Kane and Dave Edmunds, the PhD historian were asked, but Dave was moving on to the U
of AZ and Kane was in the dying throes of diabetes. Mark Fite rose to the occasion but had little understanding of the times
til the 60s. He was starting a new business and now is Grand Prytanis. He sent me his manuscript on the era of the fifties, I read it and didn't even recognize it had much to do with TKE, so
bad was the input. I spent 70 CONSECUTIVE hours re-writing it
as this was MY era. I returned it immediately to Mark in FL, and
that was about ten years ago. Nothing heard of since. I do know
the monies collected for the 100th Edition were spent elsewhere,
and like the Founders' Room, the Knights of Apollo Room, etc....the
funds were simply not there when needed. I do not think it will ever be written, at least it'll pale compared to Pete's. The episode of the "sacred soil" was COMPLETELY misunderstood.
What an embarrassmen that would have been...don't get me started. I am not a stranger to writing, have published a few books and have an earned PhD dissertation on history.
Back to the badge...Joe and Wallace selected a generic badge from a fraternity jeweler's catalog, and it was an equilateral triangle supported by the same TKE scroll we still have. But the
badge was larger. Guys, I never saw one. Tom Hougan and I
looked, virtually tore the KC office apart, asked Hall (who did not
much care). We found the TKE colony pins and most of the locals,
which we DID complete, tho some chapters had no previous
badges. I named some of our colonies myself, and had over a dozen with no badges at all, simply a TKE pledge pin.
The geographical location of Bloomington-Decatur-Champaign was PURE COINCIDENCE and you savvies will note, though, we
wear our badge somewhat at a tilt. This was a concession to the
geographical configuration, no more...yep, pure coincidence. I
was told this by Joe Pierson himself and by Clarence Mayer. Tex
did not come into the fraternity 'til '08. The Golden Book, pp. 48-
49 briefly discusses this, written by McCauley---a rather disagree-
able frater..I never met him--this was Dick Hall's assessment.
I might digress a bit here...Other greeks reading this, STUDY the
history of your outfit, some are GLORIOUS. Kind moderator, let
me rave on, if you will, for I am totally enamored of the histories
of a good many others, like SAE, Sig, Chi Psi, Kappa Sigma Kappa,
ATO, Sig Ep (Sigma Phi + E) so many, even Kappa Sig's baloney....
LOL Read it all with pride and keep it alive. REMEMBER, though, we knew nothing of it prior to pledging, so don't get too puffed up, though I read the Phoenix (SAE) from cover to cover while I
was still in high school. I had planned to go SAE if I went to KS State, Kappa Sig if KU, and had not thought much beyond that.
Lester Henry Martin was a driving force in TKE 'til his death and
had not A J Barr "Jack" been killed, the badge history'd have been
moot. Jack was returning home from a date and was crossing the camel back when his Pierce Arrow Great Eight stalled on the
Illinois Central tracks between Bloomington and Normal and the train hit him. He was a dedicated Phi Delt and
a prominent young attorney in Bloomington. Don't know if he got
lucky in love that night....Kane and I would joke about this when we were drinking with Pete Leland at Conclaves. Tex Flint did not
find this at all funny....
At the installation of Gamma chapter, Feb 3, 1912, it was noted that the location of the three chapters formed a near-perfect equilateral triangle.
So, dear readers, I do not know anything further other than the TKE badge remained virtually unchanged, a bit smaller and a few jewellers later we went to Balfour and today we have a plastic
piece of crap with no engraving...a shame.
Leland Frederick Leland, ne Peterson, had a white gold badge with three diamonds in place of pearls. This is the only deviation
I know of other than some jewels between the pearls...Frank Licher made it for him and so far as I know, it is still in the Leland
family. Pete had no sons; wife Wilma and daughters were AOPis
and Wilma became Nat'l Pres. I have a custom one, emeralds and rubies. And the housemother/sweetheart
badge (every housemother I ever met absolutely loved theirs.
TKE did not, and I am not sure they even know, that Bill Wilson's
middle name was SALTER, not "L" and that Rodney Williams had no middle name. Middle names are missing on several, but it'd
not be too tough to get 'em. Don't get me started.
Ask questions about TKE history anytime, and LXA friend, I hope I
have answered your question.

Several times I had questions about TKE history,and I wrote to Leland.

He always replied that he couldn't remember, and that he had shipped all of his historical materials to the TKE office after his term as Grand Histor and GP ended.

Do you suppose Georgeff got some of the historical stuff, and never returned it?

Edward John Georgeff
 

I spent a LOT of time with Georgeff; he did not delve deeply into
TKE history, did not have a lot of stuff, lived with his mother in a
small room full of masonic stuff. He preferred to go to KC in my
time...to get out of town...frittered away thousands of hours of
gov't time thermofaxing materials, scheming, planning. But he was an honest man, treated shabbily, but not GP material either,
as was a very shy, retiring man. Good guy, a NEVER, ever a thief.
The old materials..."disappeared" during the Indianopolis regime.
I will say no more.

Re: the early badge, history
 

Well thanks but no actually.

The reason I ask is that I have a TKE badge that belonged to a founder of the Zeta Chapter at Coe and in the whole scheme of things was somewhere around the 375th - 400th member, cumulatively speaking, and I was just wondering when the badges went into production in earnest.

I can't find this anywhere. Anybody know?

Happy New Year,
Jono

darned if I know--
 

when TKE went to producing badges "in earnest" We did cut a
deal with Lloyd Balfour, long before my time. We had a very good
TKE with Burr-Patt, Frank Licher, who was never able to swing a deal to pull TKE away from Balfour. Lloyd supplied all new Teke fielders with business cards, nice ones. And I recall how nicely
we were all treated at various Balfour locations, they did lots of
favors for us. And Balfour, a Life Loyal Sig if there ever was one,
left them a chunk, a big chunk, of bucks. But he did the entire system of greeks lots of favors. Nothing but praise for this good
businessman. There were many local jewelers of varying sizes in
the 20s and 30s and I would guess each outfit had one before they drifted mostly to Balfour. Sorry, stumped me on this one!

another thing, though
 

TKE engraved their badges with the initials of the member,
the chapter, and the initiate (scroll number) number of THAT
chapter.
You might send a note to Katie at <TKEogc@tke.org >and ask
when this particular member was initiated....then to learn the
number of initiates of the following chapters on that date, add
'em up and you will have an approximation. HOWEVER, it seems
there was a big brouhaha over the numbering of members, so it
might not be precise. The first six chapters were
Alpha...Illinois Wesleyan
Beta.....James Millikin University
Gamma.University of Illinois, C-U
Delta.....Knox College
Epsilon..Iowa State University
Zeta......Coe College
Ames & Coe have been consistently open, and all are active now.
The chapter at Coe was installed 12-13 May 1916, and if your badge was one of the founders, then it would've been on those
dates. None of the five previous chapters were small; they had
and have relatively good histories; the Illinois chapter was a big
jock house and Iowa State was a huge one for that time.
So, if TKE hq. could tell you what the scroll numbers were on that
date for each of the five preceding ones, that'd be real close.
Golly, another filbert for frat'y (Heller's spelling) things. Again, the
door still open, friend...