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...

Erik, thanks very much for the information and your assistance. I have an interest in all fraternities in general and in Teke in particular since my nephew, who's now 36, is a Teke.

It seems that there was indeed a deal with Burr-Patt at one time as this badge bears the "dB" maker's mark. It is engraved Z.11 and 5-13-16. It was found in a house right down the road from the Coe campus.

The 1915 Baird's lists the total membership as 332. Using a slightly later edition, we can estimate an average number of additional members for each year, 43. But that would be for all of 1916, not just up to May, making one wonder if fraternities at that time held fall initiations in addition to spring? If so, the number would be less.

There always seems to be another aspect of fraternity history to look into. What was the usual number of initiations per year back then?

Jono

Coe--Zeta chapter
 

I recall visiting Zeta chapter at Coe around Thanksgiving time
in 1957, having just been at the great chapter at Parsons. The
Coe chapter was super jock heavy and not particularly a friendly
one...certainly toward the fielders. They had just moved into a
floor in the dorm, the school had forced a sale of the TKE house,
the only fraternity (of four) to ever have a house there. This is
the chapter Marv Levy came from. He was an all around jock, a
Phi Beta Kappa and very popular. Beside that, he was Jewish and
not eligible to join most fraternities. He has been pretty loyal to
TKE over the years and made his career athletics.
Initiations were generally small in number in the fall, as a rule, and were mostly hold overs. The badge was engraved as I said,
and he was #11 from Zeta chapter to be initiated
My favorite chapters in Iowa were Morningside and Parsons; the
Epsilon chapter at Iowa State was a top-top chapter but was very
snooty. Rich farmers. Drake, so-so, Cedar Rapids I never visited.

okay, more...
 

Who was TKE's first 'legacy' on the Grand Council?
A Don Kaser
B Chuck Bishop
C Arthur Foster Connard
D John Fisher
What was William Wilson's middle name?
A Salter
B Frederick
C Fitch
D Chester
Got lots more if interested...
Uncle Erik

:HighJack:

Erik as You and I talked, the History Of The TKE Badge is or may be lost , it is because of The Few Who did not Beleive History is important.

That is so sad when there is someone Like Yourself who has been doing this for so long and still cannot find actual History of TKE.:(

As I told You, LXA has long well since 1909, attempted to keep thje History up. Okay and I will buy You a Cheese Sadwich.

The Sad Part is that History Has Been Lost to many of us of Greeks no matter what Group it belongs to.!:(

I have seen many times where things of History were lost and I know You know what I am so talking about!:eek:

But to pass on to Each of You, I was a LXA Active for One Year and Graduated. Because of GC, I have learned a ton of History and reading The Items about LXA that I have purchased.

If You are Interested, Pick Minds Like Erik, try to find History of TKE.

We as Groups had to work to get where We are for a period of time.

Intefraternally Yours,

Well, as long as a couple Lambda Chis are visiting the TKE House (I promise we won't stay long - or eat much), I might as well try to answer Erik's questions. Let's see how I do on my Teke history.

I believe the first "legacy" was Grand Prytanis John Fisher (ref. Don A. Fisher, Grand Prytanis from 1935 to 1937?)

and Wilson's middle name - although usually listed as "L" - was Salter, his mother's maiden name.

Tau Kappa Epsilon and Lambda Chi Alpha are roughly the same age and so our history problems are similar. Too much has been taken from memory, which can be faulty. I prefer letters that were written within a day (or a week) of the event in question. There's just no substitute for old letters!

Jono