[Erik P Conard]

As TKE was a very young fraternity and only two of the chapters had remained active during WWII, and the newly instituted expansion program was in its infancy, the Fraternity had few alumni. The Field Secretary program, instituted by Dr. Ralph Chester Williams, the Grand Council, et al., was designed to provide the chapters with expertise in the form of regular visitations and to aid in the guidance of the many fledglings. And
these Knights of Apollo, upon leaving the employ of TKE, would go out and serve the fraternity with the expertise gained whilst on the road.
Over two hundred fraters have served in this capacity, and a goodly number of non-field men have been elected to membership into the Knights including Clarence A Mayer, Dr R C
Williams, Lawrence W Tuesburg, William S Wilson, James C Logan,
Linwood S Cochran, Harrold P Flint, et al., thereby affording these
Teke leaders membership in the Order otherwise impossible to obtain. Later conferrals of membership have been made to a few
deserving fraters.
Unfortunately, the Fraternity entered a lengthy period of ignoring
alumni, and the Knights became a luncheon group at Conclaves,
and many of the intentions of this Order were ignored. A rather
large number of KoAs were "orphaned."
The "Squires of Apollo", those given a silver sash, was created much later, and they served a period of observation, and were given the traditional gold sash upon acceptance into the KoA.
With a change in TKE administration, realization that the KoA did have a place and value, it is hoped that it will be revived to serve
the original purposes. And though TKE has grown to become the
largest college social fraternity in number of chapters and has hit
the quarter million in membership, the Fraternity has suffered a tremendous loss of chapters due to the failure to utilize the talents of the many Knights who are now throughout America and Canada.