Theta Xi

Did you know that I was a "founding father" of a fraternity? In the fall of 1990, about a dozen of us guys at Mizzou got together and formed our own fraternity. Our house was a combination of what you would get if you combined the houses in "Animal House", "Revenge of the Nerds", and "Old School." I was fond of saying, "Travis Naughton- rush chair. Damn glad to meet you." In 1991, we actually rented our first 'Fraternity House" and it was glorious. Before we could move in we filled two flatbed trailers full of trash that we cleaned out from the previous tenants. A putrid bag of potatoes in the pantry actually moved on its own right before our eyes. You couldn't count the number of maggots in it. We cleaned the bathrooms with oven cleaner to remove years of unmentionable filth build up on every surface. Somehow we made the place livable and 13 of us moved in. While we lived there, many unforgettable events took place that can only be retold over a few beers and a lot of laughs.

At its peak, Theta Xi had nearly 40 members. We had official "Colony" status from the national organization while we awaited our permanent "charter." We even had a colonization ceremony. (Recall the scene in Revenge of the Nerds when the big, black president of the national "Tri-Lam" fraternity came to give the nerds their charter.) That was us! We went on road trips to Ames, Iowa; Rolla (for St. Patrick's Day); Cape Girardo (to be at the epicenter of the New Madrid earthquake that never happened); and Carbondale, Illinois (where we partied at Fred's Dance Barn, a combination of Bob's Country Bunker from "The Blues Brothers" and "Porky's" bar.) Long story short: we had a lot of fun as members of the fraternity.

After a few years, Theta Xi lost members to graduation, flunking out, prison, and sobriety. Today, Theta Xi Fraternity, MU Colony is no more than a blurry collection of memories. I had the good fortune to recall those good times and visit with two of my "brothers" yesterday at a park in Columbia. Tom Hancock and Rich Gleba lived in the notorious house at 1611 University with me and 10 other brothers. It has been 18 years since we first met and nearly that long since we last saw each other. On Sunday, we spent over two hours getting caught up and learning about each other all over again. We shared stories and laughed a lot. That's what I remember most about the time we all lived together- we laughed a lot. When you are an 18 year old freshman in college you have no idea that the life you are living will be so fondly remembered and so sorely missed after another 18 years have passed. I hope that we can get the old gang together for a 20 year reunion so that all of us can re-live those glory days. In the meantime, if you are a former Theta Xi brother and have contact info for others, please send me an email so we can start to coordinate a get together. Of course we'll have a keg for the party, Bill. Only this time, we won't have to build a false wall in our house to conceal it.