Cross & Crescent

A few weeks back my son Richard set the date and time for our annual fantasy football draft. Although the temperature was in the high 80s, it felt as though autumn was in the air and I could already picture the frenzy of crowds cheering endlessly for their favorite teams.

And it doesn’t matter whether we are talking college or professional, American or Canadian, passions run deep. Discussions always gravitate to arguing who is the better team, and of course, who is the single best player now and back in the day?

I can only imagine the excitement that must have rippled through the Lambda Chi and Theta Kappa Nu chapters in our early years as we “rushed” varsity men, especially those who played football. Football unites schools into believing that they are invincible, at least until they lose that first game.

I still marvel at why a gifted athlete and top academic student would have joined our two fraternities in our formative years. But join they did! That is what makes an article about prominent brothers so challenging and it doesn’t matter what occupation we focus on because so many have gone on to achieve considerable success in their chosen field; the question becomes, “How do we boil it down to a handful?” And I’m speaking of all career occupations, not just sports.

This fall we will have many brothers playing varsity football and perhaps one or two will join our more than 145 brothers who have played professionally. Electronically, we can now pull up statistics for every athlete, so I’ll leave that to you. I will concentrate on what brother Paul Harvey (Culver-Stockton 1939) references as “…the rest of the story.”

Arthur Poe, Coe College

The history of our great Fraternity is so very rich that periodically it allows us to uncover a diamond, not in the rough, but one that is already brilliant. Our chapter at Coe College was installed on March 2, 1946, and was featured in the early spring 1946 issue of the Cross & Crescent.

The article includes a picture of the president of the Coe College Board of Trustees and identifies him as Arthur Poe (Coe HON), Princeton class of 1900, who was initiated on that date. Lambda Chi Alpha has never had a chapter at Princeton University so I probed a little more deeply to find that Arthur Poe did indeed graduate from Princeton, class of 1900, and was a member of the Ivy Club, one of the preeminent eating clubs.

Arthur Poe was one of six Poe brothers to graduate from Princeton and they all played football. His father was the attorney general of Maryland and he was the grandnephew of Edgar Allan Poe, the poet and author.

After Princeton he moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he would become the assistant plant manager and then the plant manager for the Quaker Oats Co. He was known as the “most useful citizen” of that city.

At one time or another he served as director of the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids; chairman of all Liberty Loan drives; president of the Princeton alumni class of 1900; president of the Cedar Rapids’ Chamber of Commerce; president of the Coe College Board of Trustees for 18 years; vice president of St. Luke’s Hospital; member of the International Board of Directors of the Y.M.C.A.; trustee of the School of Religion at the University of Iowa; chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the Diocese of Iowa and also trustee of Iowa Episcopate Funds; and vice president of the Morris Plan Bank.

He was honored after his death in 1951 by the Quaker Oats Co., who erected a non-denominational chapel on the Coe College campus, the Poe Chapel, in his memory. If we stopped here we’d have a great story of a brother who dedicated his life to the greater good of his community and who helped so many people. But this article is about football!

In 1898, Arthur Poe, a junior at Princeton, was 5’7” and weighed 145 pounds. Although not a large man, he must have been quick and fast. In 1898 and 1899 the Princeton Tigers won 23 games, lost 1 and tied 1. To say the least they were a powerhouse.

The Ivy League was filled with rivalries, but none bigger than Princeton vs. Yale. In the 1898 game, Poe recovered a fumble and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown to defeat Yale 6–0. In 1899, I’m confident that the Yale faithful were supremely confident as the clock wound down to under a minute to play. Princeton held the ball at the Yale 20, but Yale held the lead 10 to 6.

Today, Mark Brunell (Washington-WA 1992) would try to hit a tight end over the middle, but back then grind it out football would eat up the remaining precious few seconds. After a quick huddle, it was decided to let Poe try a field goal. Now there are a couple of things you need to understand: Poe had never attempted a field goal before, and a field goal was worth 5 points in 1899.

Well, you guessed it, the kick was good and Princeton won the game 11 to 10.

Art Poe’s life ended in 1951, and by any measure it was a very full life. He was an All-American end on Walter Camp’s 1899 All-American team; retroactively selected as the “Player of the Year” by the Helms Athletic Foundation; and in 1969, he was posthumously elected into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Leonard Charpier, Illinois

Our first brother to play football professionally was Dr. Leonard Charpier (Illinois 1921). His brother Melvin Charpier (Illinois 1924) was also a Lambda Chi.

Leonard played for one year with the Chicago Cardinals while attending medical school at the University of Chicago. He became a surgeon and in the mid-1930s, prior to the modern system of blood banking, pioneered a process of cadaver-blood transfusions.

Washington

A couple of our chapters have produced a number of outstanding football players. The University of Washington’s Steve Pelluer (Washington-WA 1984) played quarterback for both the Dallas Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs.

What makes him special is that he served his chapter as ritualist. When I asked why he had volunteered for that position, he responded with, “Everything in life begins with values and commitment and that is what the Ritual of Lambda Chi Alpha is all about.”

One of Pelluer’s chapter brothers, John Fiala (Washington-WA 1996), played linebacker with the Pittsburgh Steelers for five years, and has recently become the chapter adviser. Blair Bush (Washington-WA 1978) played center for 17 seasons with the Bengals, Seahawks, Packers, and Rams, and played in Super Bowl XVI.

Georgia

Our chapter at the University of Georgia has a storied history when it comes to football thanks in large measure to Judge White (Georgia) who recruited most of the men.

Of course Georgia football is synonymous with Charlie Trippi (Georgia 1946), a No. 1 pick in the football draft and the winner of the Maxwell Trophy, which is symbolic of the outstanding football player in the country. What you may not know is that he served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and chose to return to college rather than turn pro immediately after his discharge.

In addition to his professional success, highlighted by scoring two touchdowns as the Cardinals defeated the Eagles in the 1947 championship game, in 2007 ESPN chose Trippi as the No. 20 top college player of all time.

John Rauch (Georgia 1949) achieved All-American status as a quarterback and led the Bulldogs to four consecutive bowl games, including an undefeated 1946 season, but he is best known as a coach, leading the Oakland Raiders to Super Bowl II and was named AFL Coach of the Year. Rauch became a member of the Georgia team after the coach spotted him playing an intramural game for Lambda Chi Alpha.

Washington State

John Hurley (Washington State 1931) and George Hurley (Washington State 1932) were biological brothers who played at Washington State University. George Hurley later played in 1932 and 1933 with the Boston Braves who later became the Boston Redskins.

John Hurley joined the Cleveland Indians as a tight end after playing in the 1931 Rose Bowl. John was killed in action during World War II while leading his men to safety through a minefield. For this and other actions he was awarded the Silver Star Medal for bravery.

Canadian Football League

Lambda Chi was not limited to the United States in football success. Greg Kabat (Wisconsin 1933), the captain of the University of Wisconsin team, was the first Lambda Chi to achieve kudos in Canadian Football. He played in the 1930s for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as a player and a coach as his team won two Grey Cups in 1935 and 1939.

Don Sutherin (Ohio State 1958) kicked the winning field goal in the 1958 Rose Bowl and later signed to play with the Giants and Steelers; however, his greatest successes were with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Roughriders from 1960 through 1969 as he played on four winning Grey Cup teams.

A teammate on two of those winning Grey Cup teams was Dave Viti (Boston 1962). Viti was also on the Tiger-Cats winning 1967 team. Kabat and Sutherin have been inducted into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame.

Honoraries

We began this brief glimpse of our brothers in football with the discovery of Arthur Poe. Poe isn’t the only notable athlete to join Lambda Chi as an honorary member after his college career ended.

Vaughn Mancha (Florida State HON) was an All-American center at the University of Alabama who played in three bowl games. Following one year with the Boston Yanks he turned to coaching and teaching at Florida State as the director of athletics and as a teacher in the College of Education and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Frank D’Agostino (Parsons HON) was an All-American at Auburn University before playing for the Eagles and then the New York Titans during their inaugural season in 1960, playing alongside Al Dorow (Michigan State 1954).

Chester Gladchuk (Massachusetts HON), was an All-American center at Boston College before joining the New York Giants and, like several other Lambda Chi players, had his career interrupted by World War II. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

These brothers have stood the test of time in their achievements on the football field. I hope they will be joined this fall by other brothers on the gridiron.