In the fall of 1957, a group of male students at SUNY Plattsburgh, disillusioned by the fact there was only a single fraternity on campus at that time, decided to remedy that situation by organizing a new fraternity.

 

            At first they considered calling themselves Alpha Phi Omega, a name that had a nice ring to it. Upon doing a bit of checking, they discovered that the Boy Scouts of America had a national fraternity of that name. Going back to the drawing boards, they decided that first of all they needed a motto and from that would determine a name.

 

            Checking books of quotations in the library, they decided upon a quote by Diogenes that reflected their philosophy as well as that of the college at that time: “The Foundation of Every State lies in the Education of its Youth.” In Greek this was written: “Η ίδρυση κάθε κράτους είναι η εκπαίδευση της νεολαίας του”

 

            While carefully checking against lists of known Greek fraternal organizations, various combinations of three Greek letters were considered using letters from the quotation. Finally, the combination Pi, Alpha, and Nu was chosen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Next, the group set out to construct a suitable coat of arms to represent the new fraternity. Books on heraldry were pored over to find the symbols needed. In the lower right quadrant of the shield, a castle positioned over a sturdy foundation represents the “Foundation”, in the upper left quadrant, a torch represents the living “State”, the upper right quadrant, the open book stands for “Education” and in the lower left quadrant, the horizontal black bar with down facing teeth, the symbol for the eldest son of the family, represents “Youth”. Thus the motto is incorporated into the shield. In the lower left quadrant are a pair of clasped hands which represents the friendship between the brothers. The crossed swords behind the shield represent the brothers’ willingness to defend the principles of the organization. A helmet with visor placed above the weave represents the “Knights” of Pi Alpha Nu. The scroll above the helmet is inscribed with the name of the fraternity written in English while the scroll below the shield has the same name but written in phonetic Greek.

           

During this process, one Ted Schaeffer, a Korean War veteran amputee,

was chosen to preside over the organization. Incidentally, Ted was the owner of the

Canata Lodge, a popular “watering hole” located next to the ferry dock at Port Kent on

Lake Champlain. In these days, most campus organizations elected officers on a

semester basis to give seniors doing student teaching an opportunity to serve.

During the second semester of our existence, Richard Baker, from Mooers, NY was

elected to serve as our chief officer. While Dick was a great guy, his religious

convictions precluded him from attending functions where alcohol was served. We

decided during this time to change our elective time frame so that officers would serve

for a full year. While this would prevent a senior from holding a major office, we thought that a junior could do a sufficient job in a major office. Our first full year president was Ron Turbide, a Plattsburgh native. Subsequent presidents included Ed Lavigne, another local, followed by John Curry of Long Island.

                                                                      

            The members at the beginning were: Jerry Abraham, Dick Baker, Bob Bergevin, Bruce Collins, Barry Hampton, Alan Harper, Doug Johnson, Ed Lavigne, Garry McGivney, Joe Prenoveau, Bill Provost, Ron Reynolds, Bill Santamore, Bob Smith, Ron Turbide and Paul Wight. Ted Schaeffer appears to have dropped out after the first semester. Our faculty advisor during those early years was Dr. J. Stuart McNair, a professor of mathematics who was very respected by the students.

 

            In the beginning, a problem began to assert itself. In order to function as a valid campus organization, the fraternity had to be recognized by the House of Delegates, the student body political arm. The existing fraternity, Delta Kappa Delta, consistently voted against us, along with their allies. Brother Turbide came up with the following plan. Since most campus organizations elected officers on a semester by semester basis, we would join as many of these organizations as possible with the goal of having our members elected as that organization’s delegate to the House of Delegates. (The political climate with respect to the women’s movement was vastly different in the late 50s from what it is today.) Females were in the majority then but had the habit of deferring to the men in matters political. We used that to our advantage and were successful in packing the House of Delegates with our members so that when the next student body electorate voted, Pi Alpha Nu was admitted by a huge majority vote. Brother McGivney, who was already the parliamentarian for the H of D, used every nuance of Robert’s Rules of Order to speed up the process. Subsequently, TTAN became a political force to be reckoned with on campus.

 

 

            The first pledge class included:

 

Dave Bresee, Don Catalfimo, John Chestnut, John Curry, Carl Flood, Ted Meade, Frank Morisco, and Bruce Reynolds.

 

            Pledge                                                            Big Brother

 

            Ted Meade                                                            Ron Turbide

 

            John Curry                                                            Joe Prenoveau

 

            Dave Bresee                                                            Ed Lavigne

 

Note: These are the only connections that I could come up with. 55 years is a long time.

 

 

            In those early times, various fraternity paraphernalia were devised and purchased. Among these was the pledge pin, the full member fraternity pin, the beer steins with the Coat of Arms on it, and the grey sport jackets with the crest on the pocket. Some of the founders still have these items while others have been lost over the years.

                                                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Our first venture into the snow sculpture business was almost a bust. We researched how other large universities (Dartmouth for example) built their sculptures. These required a wooden frame to hold everything together. (This had never been done before on the Plattsburgh campus). We went to a lumber yard in Peru, NY and requested a donation of a few scraps of 2x4’s. We were told that they had some but were covered in snow at the back of the yard. We interpreted that to mean that if we could get to them, that would be fine. We drove to the back of the lot (in Brother Turbide’s car), waded through three feet of snow and made the grab. We tied these to the ski rack and made our way back to Plattsburgh. We sketched our design and commenced to build “Davy Crockett”. Two days later, Brother Turbide had a visit from the New York State Police who accused him of stealing the goods from the lumber yard. (Some old lady had observed the action and wrote down the license number). After explaining our side of the story, the BCI guys said that if we could explain it to the owner of the lumber yard, the charges would be dropped. This was done to everyone’s satisfaction. (The fact the Ron’s Dad was the Business Agent for the local carpenter’s union and knew that owner personally may have helped, too.) As for “Davy Crockett”, who stood at least 15 ft tall on the median in front of Hawkins Hall, he was denied any awards because of the wooden framework. We were very proud of him however. Interestingly, in subsequent years, wooden frameworks for snow sculptures became permitted.

 

            The next spring, we held our first picnic which we dubbed the “Luau”. Thus the annual TTAN Luau was born. A great time was had by all who attended these events. One of the first of these was held on an old abandoned estate on Pointe au Roche, north of the city. This piece of land has since been acquired by the State and is designated “Point au Roche State Park”. There is a fine nature trail there now dedicated to the memory of Dr. Phil Walker, a biology professor who taught most of the founders.

 

            Over the years, TTAN has clearly prospered. Our original rivals, Delta Kappa Delta, were forced to disband because of misbehaviors leaving TTAN as the longest tenured fraternity on campus.

 

            In 2007, the fraternity celebrated it’s 50th Anniversary and a great time was had by all attendees. Three of the founders, Ron Turbide, Ed Lavigne and Bob Bergevin were in attendance.

 

            In July, 2012, at the College’s Alumni Reunion, college president Dr. Ettling recognized our existence of 55 years on campus and pointed out that the first three presidents were in attendance. Ron Turbide, Ed Lavigne and Dr. John Curry all rose to be recognized. A cool moment to be sure.