Pi Kappa Alpha, ‘Pike,’ celebrates 100 years at USU
This semester, the Gamma Epsilon chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity celebrates 100 years at Utah State University. Since their establishment on campus in 1925, Pike has committed to a century of supporting their members in living by their motto of “scholars, leaders, athletes, and gentlemen.”
“Our mission is to be upstanders on campus,” said the current chapter president, Gavin Bly in an interview with The Utah Statesman. “We can make you a scholar, we can make you a leader, we can make you an athlete, but we can’t make you a gentleman, and that is kind of how we weed out guys that want to join our chapter.”
According to Bly, the GE chapter was the first nationally-recognized fraternity established on campus, existing previously as a small local fraternity called Pi Zeta Pi.
“Pi Zeta Pi was here from 1905 to 1925,” Bly said. “The David B. Haight Center was actually our first fraternity house on campus.”
David B. Haight, who would go on to serve as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was one of the founding members of Pike’s GE chapter as well as one of its first initiates. Other notable USU Pikes include the inventor of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese Nolan Bushnell and NBA coach Dick Motta.
“We’ve had that house across from Morty’s since about 1960,” Bly said. “When they purchased this house, it was a pretty big deal on campus.”
According to Herbert Van Switzer, last year’s Pike president, the current house was built from the ground up by then-active members and alumni.
“In the ‘60s, we also won a [Robert Adger] Smythe Award for our national fraternity, and that is like winning the Super Bowl for us,” Switzer said.
The chapter house was remodeled as a part of this year’s centennial celebration, which earned GE the Pike Improvement Project of the Year award.
Along with a tour of the newly remodeled house, Pike hosted a weekend of events from Aug. 29–31 including a golf tournament, tailgate and reception dinner for current members and alumni. The celebration also included a special initiation of a professor and alumni F. Ross Peterson.
“We even got to have the CEO and the international president for the fraternity out here for it,” Switzer said. “I helped organize it a little bit, but the main organizers of the event were Jeremy Selley, Chris Silva and Greg Stevens.”
According to Bly, roughly 200 members were in attendance over the weekend, including Switzer.
“The funniest realization that I had while talking to these alumni was ‘Oh my god, they were the exact same back 30, 40 years ago that I am now,’” Switzer said. “They all still kind of live with that bond of ‘I’m your brother, and if you need help, I’m in a position to help,’ and that part feels really cool.”
During the centennial weekend, members came together to celebrate their history and the importance of their philanthropic accomplishments.
“Wherever we can donate we usually like to, and we try to come up with the best ways to make money for our charities,” Bly said. “We want to make those charity events foundational so that they can happen for even more years to come and so we can raise a good amount of money for even more years to come.”
Bly and Switzer said one of their proudest chapter achievements occurred last year when they were able to raise $12,000 for the Firefighter Support Foundation.
To make 100 years even more special, Bly said Pike is working toward a goal of an average 3.6 GPA.
“We pride ourselves on trying to be competitive every single day, not only with each other but with ourselves,” Bly said. “Any event that we do on campus, we’re going to have it with the spirit of doing it for the 100th year.”
Aside from their accomplishments, Pike members also focus on the support and the familial-like bond they are able to create with their brothers across generations.
“It’s like a football team, where you have a network of people that are going to be by your side, and they’re going to be your family, and they’re going to help you be better as well as make sure you’re doing okay,” Bly said. “I think mental health is really important, and having that type of family unit when you go off to college is also a very important aspect too.”
Switzer said he initially joined Pike in search of the feeling of being a part of something and later decided to stay involved as an alum for the same reason.
“Theres’s something fun about still being able to be involved and still being able to help with something that gave me all of my friends — pretty much like my second family,” Switzer said. “It’s such a great connection to have for the rest of your life, all because you joined the same fraternity.”