Category Archives: Amherst College

On the 4th – Calvin Coolidge, Charles Dawes, and Lou Gehrig – Fraternity Men All!

Last week, while I was at the Pi Beta Phi Convention, one of the first things past Grand President Sarah Ruth “Sis” Mullis said to me, after she gave me one of her patented Sis hugs, was “Frances (and she’s one … Continue reading

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Chi Psi, the Lodge in Ann Arbor, and the Two Clarence Birdseyes

On May 20, 1841, Chi Psi was founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York. It was the fifth fraternity founded at Union College. Its founders are Philip Spencer, Robert Heyward McFaddin, Jacob Henry Farrell, John Brush Jr., Samuel Titus Taber, … Continue reading

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Phi Gamma Delta + Calvin and John Coolidge = Fiji Sires and Sons

Phi Gamma Delta was founded on May 1, 1848. John Templeton McCarty, Samuel Beatty Wilson, James Elliott, Daniel Webster Crofts, Ellis Bailey Gregg and Naaman Fletcher – the Immortal Six – were students at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, when they founded … Continue reading

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8/3/1923 – A ΦΓΔ and a ΠBΦ Become President and First Lady

On Friday of last week, I was in Northampton, Massachusetts, the city in which a young University of Vermont Pi Beta Phi member met a young Phi Gamma Delta, an Amherst College grad. She was working at the Clarke School … Continue reading

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On the 4th of July – Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse, ΦΔΘ, and Silent Cal, ΦΓΔ

July 4, 1939 was “Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day” at Yankee Stadium. On that day, baseball great Lou Gehrig, Phi Delta Theta, became the first major league baseball player to have his number retired. There are still people who were at Yankee … Continue reading

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“ΦΓΔ Grieves. ΣΧ Sympathizes, as Former President Calvin Coolidge Enters the Chapter Eternal.”

Two days after her 54th birthday, Grace Goodhue Coolidge became a widow. The 30th President died suddenly on the morning of January 5, 1933. “Calvin Coolidge, Greatest of Fraternity Presidents, Mourned by Greeks” is the headline of an article in … Continue reading

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Rah, Rah, Sis Boom Bah! The Birth of College Sports and the NCAA

A two-mile, eight-oared barge race between two teams in 1852 was the first recorded American intercollegiate competition. Harvard defeated Yale on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire and their athletic rivalry began. The College Rowing Association was founded six years later by Brown, … Continue reading

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8/3/1923 Calvin Coolidge, ΦΓΔ, and Grace Coolidge, ΠBΦ, Their First Full Day as President and First Lady

Ninety years have passed since Grace Goodhue Coolidge went to bed the evening of August 2, 1923, as the wife of the Vice President. She was awakened in the middle of the night, dressed and went downstairs to join her … Continue reading

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“When He (Calvin Coolidge, Jr.) Died, the Power and the Glory of the Presidency Went With Him,”

On June 30, 1924, the day that the above photograph was taken, Calvin Coolidge, Jr. and his older brother John played tennis on the White House court. Calvin Jr. wore tennis shoes, but not socks. Afterwards, he developed a blister … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday Calvin Coolidge, a President (and FIJI) Born on the 4th of July!

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., the 30th President of the United States, was born on July 4, 1872 in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. He attended Amherst College in Massachusetts where he became a member of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI). After graduation, while … Continue reading

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