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WELCOME / SIGMA KAPPA EPSILON ALUMNI

In 1959 – 1960, Ken Stephenson, a senior from Gastonia, NC, contacted Larry Wright and Dick Hill, also from Gastonia, with an idea to start a fraternity.  Clemson administration had strongly considered the fraternity concept (positioned as social and service) with the possibility of originating with a seven fraternity IFC.

Determination prevailed, and with a great deal of ingenuity, Sigma Kappa Epsilon was formed with the following Charter Members:  Ken Stephenson, Dick Hill, Larry Wright, Lamar Young, John Cone, David O’Neal, Russell Lawrimore, Howard Ward, Larry Timbes, Melville Padgett, Andy Strickland, Duke Hicks, Robert Whistnut and Doug Reeves.  The Executive Committee consisted of Ken (President), Howard (Vice President), and Dick (Treasurer).  The Greek letters SKE originated from the national fraternity TKE and many of the fraternity’s grass-roots platforms and fundamentals were lifted from TKE.  In year two, the fraternity crest was designed by architecture students Lamar Young and Larry Timbes.  The old campus barracks soon became known as the fraternity houses and the area was soon called the fraternity quad.  Sigma Kappa Epsilon occupied the first building on the left coming down the hill from the dinning hall.  It was during this time that the SKE’s lost a pledge due to a near campus accident – Joe Henry Durham.  The chapter was dedicated to him as the Joe Henry Durham chapter.

Soon SKE traditions began.  No pledge class ever escaped Hell Week, and especially Hell Night.  Even though these events took on rather unpleasant titles, they were fun spirited and brotherhood builders that were enjoyed by all.  The hall phone rang constantly and had to be answered on the first ring with – “SKE House, home of happy heroes.  Who in our midst is the joyous recipient of your wishes for conversation?”

“Rally SKE’s – you bet your sweet ass we will” was born as a party mantra in the early 1960’s and will never die.  Party sites like the Greenville Squires Club, Tommy Tucker’s Fish Hatchery, the Clemson Armory, and backstreet buildings in Anderson became Dance Weekend party haunts.  Dates came in for the weekend by the carloads from Winthrop, Columbia College, Converse, Brenau, University of Georgia, and USC.  Motel rooms were booked with four or more dates to the room. Bands were brought in that fit right in with the “Rally SKE” cry.  And when the budget didn’t support a live booked band, we had the SKE House Band with the likes of Allison Brown, Snake Wolter, Kruppa Garner, and Chuck Mims.  However, the other quad fraternities could never live up to the magical sounds of the SKE Juke Box – always used for spontaneous weekend parties and always blasting the best collection of beach music in South Carolina for all to hear across the quad.  In the mid 1960’s the SKE’s planned and conducted the first on-campus Greek Games for the Clemson sororities.  Known as Dixie Days, with a Magnolia Ball formal finale, the event grew to become a fraternity/sorority tradition.

To be a SKE is to be a brother forever.  But some had to endure the classic tradition of being stuck for a lifetime with a nick name that almost always was earned by the recipient.  Most notorious were:  BoBo, Rock, Naked Man, Chicken Man, Wild Man, Hose, Pigeon, Buddha, Cakes, Stump, Rosebud,, The Red Barron, Kruppa, Putty Butt, Fulla, Mole, Snake, Drone, Radar, Tizzy, Buzzard, Bid Daddy, and Horse Head.

For years Clemson’s local fraternities and the collective IFC worked to bring national fraternities to campus.  By way of a glorified Rush process, SKE was approached by Beta Theta Pi, founded in 1839 by John Reilly Knox at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  A formal application for the chartering process took place in August of 1969.  The SKE’s were represented by Jim Hanahan, Mike Cornwell, Calvert Huffines, Mark Mayer, and Harry Moore.  On April 19, 1970, thirty-one SKE members were officially initiated into the Gamma Eta chapter of Beta Theta Pi at Georgia Tech, the sponsoring Beta chapter for the process.  On November 7, 1970, the SKE’s were officially initiated into the Clemson Delta Nu chapter.

Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Kappa Epsilon Alumni

In January 2005, SKE brother Wayne Heath was formally initiated into the Delta Nu chapter and became the faculty advisor.  During this time various alumni outreach meetings were conducted by Beta students and SKE alumni.  The result was the initiation of a Beta/SKE Alumni organization committee.  Soon to follow was the first Beta/SKE Alumni Dinner (“The Gathering”) that took place on September 16, 2005.  The Beta/SKE Alumni relationship continues to prosper and grow – bridging the past with the present and significantly solidifying the importance of the Sigma Kappa Epsilon legacy.