I was introduced to Phi through a High school friend. I had seen the movie Animal House and thought that this was for me. The brothers actually reminded me of the individual animal house characters. There was even a “Pinto” and a “Flounder.” My friend had quit during pledging, but I stuck it through. I did not grow up with any brothers but felt that suddenly I was part of this “brotherhood”.

My college years were filled with a lot of good times and memories of what people tell me actually happened the night before. (this is sometimes called time travel) ??Fraternity life consisted of weekly meetings in the cellar of some local bars. We had a good presence on campus, in basketball leagues, the Greek Olympics and other events like all-college parties, the yearly carnival, etc. I took great pride in being on the beer chugging team that won every year and would beat our previous year’s record.??

What most impressed me about Phi was the diversity. It didn’t matter what ethnicity or background you had, you would be accepted and made fun of regardless. Self-humility was a trait I learned early on from the brotherhood. We had brothers that were handicapped and we treated them no different than anybody else. But we took care of our own! When I graduated from Kean, I still kept in touch with a lot of brothers and would still check in with the active brothers on campus. When I got married years later I had 5 brothers in my wedding party. Now with a family and a full time career, I count my brothers as those that are closest to me. Even with the passage of time, I feel I can call anyone of the brothers anytime and shoot the breeze with them.

John Albrecht “NSB”
Alpha Ata 1983