Now being one of the “Old Men”, and considering that I was at Kean from 1965 to 1969, some of the memories have faded just a bit, but others are as fresh as yesterday. Yes I am SO, SO old that John Hutchinson was one of my professors and Dorothy Hennings and her husband were both teachers and friends, too. Most of the building that are on campus now were just fields or muddy parking lots in my days.

All fraternities and sororities have periods of growth and periods of relative stagnation. In my years at Kean (then Newark State College – it did not assume the Kean name until the month of my graduation in 1969) Nu Sigma Phi was in a stage of re-growth, renewal, and expansion. Yes there had been some lean years in the period about 4 or 5 years before I came on board, but due to a few staunch friends who were the true definition of Leadership and “Brotherhood”, Carl Fuhri and Charlie Demskis, the frat was doing just fine when I came on board in 1967. A “brotherhood award” was instituted in their name the year I graduated and I am very proud to have been the first recipient of that award, although there were many other men in that year who were certainly as deserving as I was.

Phi at that time was one of the three larger fraternities on campus, but they were very different. Maybe it was because of their heritage, being the fraternity born out of diversity, but they did not seem to be able to be fit into a mold. Sure there was the “intellectual” fraternity, and the “jock/stud” fraternity (or at least they thought they were), and others who seemed to be “cookie cutter” frats with all the same type of guys in them (nerds, pretenders, etc), but Phi was different. We had leaders, jocks, intellectuals, average guys, and guys from all different backgrounds and races. The only common denominator was that they were good people (very good people) who like to have fun and learned what true brotherhood meant.

Phi was the fraternity that got things done on campus, usually quietly and without arrogance. They always had a key say in both Student Government add the Greek Government (then the Inter Fraternity Sorority Counsel). I have remained friends with some of these men for well over 40 years now. I was best man to at least 4 of them at their weddings, (even substantially arranged one wedding for a brother who was overseas when he got engaged), and unfortunately, have been to too many of their funerals for those who passed on much too soon. One of these men who unfortunately passed on much too soon was Peter D. Wikander. Peter was the pledge master for two years and took his job very seriously. I can say that he was one of the first pledge masters who took the approach that pledging should be more than a harassing rite of passage, but rather an educational experience when new brothers really got to know one another and the older brothers, as well getting to know the history of the fraternity. The meaning of brotherhood, mutual friendship and assistance was driven home.

Friendships made then and strengthened thereafter have stood the test of time. 1965 to 1969 were very tumultuous times. Newark and Plainfield riots, Vietnam War, first major power blackout on the east coast (the lights went out while I was coming back from an English Department field trip to McCarter Theater), sit ins and strikes regarding the Vietnam War (Kent State shootings) and much more. Certainly it was a time when fraternity and brotherhood were needed. I vividly remember the night that they held the first lottery draft. The order in which you would be drafted into the military was determined by a televised lottery involving your birthday. At times like those, the true meaning of brotherhood really made a difference.

One of the first birthdays picked was that of a great brother who in his despair, and with the aid of a blood alcohol level a bit above the legal limit, decided to climb to the very top of one of the tall oak trees by the powerhouse and it took hours to get him down! Vernon Javes and ‘Clancy” will certainly remember that night. We lost some good brothers in Vietam but it was friendship and brotherhood that got others through. Rereading what I have written so far it sounds like it was all serious and no fun. NOT THE CASE AT ALL! Ski trips to Chittendon, Vermont. – (it is a wonder that they can find that town till today considering that we took every sign within at least 20 miles) and I still remember the looks of amazement when the locals awoke to see a confederate flag draped over and frozen in place on the stature of the town father in the town square! Carl Fuhri’s 3 (or maybe it was 4) bachelor parties, with people tiring to swim across the floor of a certain bar in Elizabeth on the beer that was on the floor!

The party at Vernon Javes house near the Delaware River (Frenchtown) when we had to push my Triumph Herald up all the hills on the way back because the valves were fried and engine power was at a minimum! Gathering at the Donut Truck parked on Morris Ave just east of North Avenue at 2 am for those so greasy but so, so good donuts. Greek sing- yes we did well one year, remembered the words and sang somewhat it tune! Somewhere I think I may still have the record (yes – vinyl record) that was made from the performance.

The Hell Night (that really wasn’t hell) when we buried a sealed container with a lot of the history of Phi written out in the field near the corner of Morris Avenue and North Avenue, only to find out months later (when they were a lot of divergent opinions, no doubt due to alcohol and exhaustion, about the exact location where it was buried) that the area was to be paved and made into a parking lot. Somewhere under that lot to this day is a box with a lot of Phi history in it. Some archeologist in the future will make a great find! Names like Charlie Demskis, Carl Fuhri, Bill Burke, Bill Russell, Pete Wikander and many, many others bring back many great memories. I apologize in advance for those good friends whose names I have left out. (Although some might be relieved I have not recounted ALL of the memories and stories of Phi!)

Even after graduation I was very much involved with Kean. I was President of the Kean Alumni Association for 8 years in the late 80’s -90s and was the attorney for the Kean University Student Organization for over 30 years up until it was “taken over” by the current President of the College in 2007, essentially because he was embarrassed by the fact that they had so much money in their reserve budget. Along with that there have been many pleasurable reunions of Nu Sigma Phi over the years also. Leadership and contribution to the college/university have always been a Phi tradition. Phi has been a part of my life, and a very good part of my life, for 40 years. GOD, I AM OLD! But still functioning! And I value very greatly the friendships and great times that Phi has given to me.

Mike Lunga
Alpha Omnicron 1967

I took the year off after High School to make enough cash to pay for some of my education, so when I enrolled at Kean College (as it was known by back in the day) in the fall of ‘88, I was placed in Bartlett Hall instead of the freshmen dorms, missing that experience of bonding w/ my own aged peers. Midway thru that year it also sank in that I was not maximizing my college experience when, once a week, I would approach the entrance to Rodgers and I would hear and watch this rip-roaring time literally flowing out of every window and doorway of this particular first floor dorm room. Wow! ‘Who are these guys in blue?’ ‘Oh, That’s a Frat!?’ Instant jealousy and envy set in. But I was dead-set against joining a frat at the time.

My second year rolls around and I had the same dorm room, but I had a new roommate, Rob Hinkson. Those first couple of weeks, Rob’s friend, Tim Wall, would come by to hang and drink some brews, and he would always wear that same frickin blue frat shirt I saw from the year before. I grilled Tim w/ a million questions. I liked what he had to say, yet I was still skeptical. Rob was already mandated to pledge (the Manalapan connection), and I reluctantly tagged along for his first meeting with Tim’s fraternity brothers.

We sat in a meeting room for about a half hour and nobody showed up. I was ready to bail the scene. Then a couple of guys showed up, Dean Smith and Beast. They did their best to keep us there, but another half hour goes by and I’m again ready to bail. I go to the door to leave and I see this ocean of blue about a hundred yards away approaching the meeting room, led by Russ O’Neill. I was shocked and amazed that these party animals were so organized, and they displayed a quiet confidence about them, a tight-knit camaraderie, etc… and the opportunity these guys were presenting me to party like a rock star (and of course be a part of something bigger) was very appealing.

The day before my pledge class was to kick off our rush/pledge week(s), I attended the Rutgers Homecoming game. It was a cold and rainy weekend. Couple that with Phi’s pledging rituals…(confidential info)…that following Monday morning, I raced back from the football field to the cafeteria, got the breakfast for my big bro’, John “Psyco” Swykowski, and proceeded to spend the next two weeks at the Galloping Hill Hospital w/ Pneumonia. These guys didn’t quit on me. I was afforded my own weekend of “hell”…and the rest is phistory.

You are going to hear this from just about every brother that shares their phistory, but I met some of my life-long best friends by joining Nu Sigma Phi. The word Brotherhood can’t even begin to sum up what these friends mean to me. That alone is irreplaceable in this game of life and exemplifies all the values one seeks when maturing from our teens to our adulthoodness. A quick snippet of just some of my Phi experiences: Spending over two months of life running the Phi Bookstore. We helped our fellow Kean students save tens of thousands of dollars. Without a doubt, the best service any Greek Org. has offered Kean since it’s inception. The campus carnivals: Our hotdog stand, the gaming booth (Mike Connel displaying his Keansburg wares), the year we made our own Hi-Striker, and Omega’s pie-throwing cut-out. The Beefsteak Charlie runs to the city (and not leaving until everyone made at least one trip to the bathroom to empty their stomach). The late-night hockey games on the basketball courts, the Queensryche concert, the Phi 50th Anniversary, the hell weekends.

From the hood to the woods! The roadtrips, the video recorded Pittsburg trip w/ Rez and Rectangle, winning the Greek Olympics. J.T. and the band performing Phi Generation, the dropping of the baton, back to back years, waterpolo, basketball, ultimate Frisbee…we ruled! The off campus “frat” house, The Halloween parties, (All the parties), All the mixers, A shout out to our “sister” sorority Omega Sigma Psi, Phi holding down the highest GPA average for a Greek Organization.

It goes on and on…. To Prospective Pledges: Our fraternity’s motto talks about Nobility, Strength, and Progress thru the ages. When you are a college student it may sound like a just some gibberish that is being fed to you, but as you do progress thru these ages, you’ll one day reflect back and realize how those words ring so true. Diversity, Leadership, Community, all are a part of something that reaches far beyond self. We are not asking anyone to join our fraternity. We are encouraging you to become a part of our fraternity, our family, our brother. Phi, wanna Rock and Roll all night…and party everyday!

Andrew Cleary
Alpha Nu 1989

I attended Kean College in the fall of 1979, I just transferred from a college in North Carolina to Kean College. I was going to commute from Wayne NJ, to Union, NJ as a full time student. I was your everyday student. I went to class and went home after I was finished. I realized I needed to have more of the college experience. I needed to meet more people in the school. I was never into sports, and I never in my life of thinking of joining a fraternity at school. I was in school for 6 months, before I started look into it.

SO WHY NU SIGMA PHI? I meet a few of the members in some of my classes. I was given a personal invitation to come to meet the Greeks. I liked the history; being one of the oldest fraternities on campus dating back to Newark College and the fact that they were all individuals. Just by looking at the members you could see this. I was surprise that a friend of my father-in law was a Phi member, back at Newark College. Going to college, working, studying has a lot of pressure on you. Being part of Nu Sigma Phi just made going to school a little bit easier. I know after a few hard classes or after taking a test that there was always someone at the our table or the local pub to have a beer with.

I graduated in 1982 and I still keep in touch with my Fraternity, as with life changes, marriage, kids and jobs, now the Internet its much easier to stay in touch. I think that joining a fraternity gets you though the worst of times and the best with great friends and memories from the college days. Joining Nu Sigma Phi was the #1 best thing I did in college. Its not just about the parties, but the friendship you have and the whole experience; then and now. I would do this all over again. Nu Sigma Phi was (and hope soon to be again!) the best at Kean University. This is a new beginning, but never forget the past.

William Kivlon
Alpha Delta 1982

I go to Kean to move into 303 Rogers because I lived far enough and got to bypass the freshman dorm living. My parents are helping me move my shit into the apartment and I meet Eric Tichenor, my roommate. Along with Eric was a dude named Bobby Henkel. I remember humping my crap from car to room while Bobby and my Dad are chatting it up. I happen to catch this one moment when my Dad asks Bobby if they allowed alcohol in the apartments and in no uncertain terms and with the reaction time of an airbag, Bobby responds with “oh yeah.” It was beautiful to see the realization that my Dad was coming to in those few seconds of interaction with Bobby, the first Phi brother I ever met.

Not one to turn down a cocktail himself and knowing his two sons are right at the base of his apple tree, my Dad pretty much knew the score as he and my Mom left me in the apartment and to my own D-vices. So were hang’in out getting things out in the open and finding a lot of common ground already between the 3 of us so the comfort factor was immediate. Time passes and Bobby announces that he’s headed off to work, to a liquor store of all places. Like a good Phi brother, he takes our orders for alcohol hoping to aid in the delinquency of already delinquent minors.

Time seemed to stop from the moment he left us till the time he got back. Needless to say, Eric and I, with plenty of start-up cash for the semester to come, liquidated plenty of assets to get us rocking our first night. Bobby get back and we put it in gear right away.?? Without telling a soul, somehow, these dudes just started showing up at our apartment, jumping right in to the “assets” and low and behold, we had a full-on RAGE in our apartment. There were a group of guys that were TIGHT as hell and cool to us, and lots of strangers that just happened to filter in. The joint was so jumping that it led to mine and Eric’s introduction to the 3rd floor RA, Andy Ford. He was pretty cool after some behavioral guidance but little did he know that it was just foreshadowing what was to come from 303 Rogers for the next 2 semesters. He should have known because unbeknownst to me, he was well acquainted with those COOL guys, the Phi brothers.

We went into the wee hours of the night with a few beer runs on top of what Bobby brought back from the store. Some of the Phi brothers that were there that night were Bobby Henkel, Dennis Hendricks, Ray Fortuna, Rasta man, Bert Barbuty but I’m only kinda guessing because I was walking around unconscious that night and into the morning. I woke up the next day to an apartment that needed dental records for identification. It looked like a recycling dump for green, brown, clear and any other shade of glass bottle you can think of, and this was before the whole recycling movement. There were casualties on the chair, couch floor, all over and I was thinking that I should be checking their pulses and clearing airways ‘cause these people looked dead. After surveying the damage and assessing my first night at college, I knew right then that I found my home. There was no doubt in my mind from that moment on that I was going to pledge and become a Phi Brother.??

Danny Medina
Alpha Ata 1983