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126 Years of Tradition
Originally located on West 19th Street,
currently MLK, the Kappa Sig house at UT was the first fraternity house
built on the westside of the Mississippi River. Built in 1901, the
old red brick house lasted for nearly 70 years on the same location.
Since the original house, the Tau Chapter has occupied two houses.
One on San Gabriel, and in the fall of 1996, the chapter moved into its
current location at 1002 W. 26th St.
The Tau chapter at the University
of Texas was chartered on September 18, 1884 as one of the first three
fraternities on campus. The National fraternity began in December
of 1869 at the University of Virginia. Today there are over 200,000
initiated members spread over the United States and Canada. Kappa
Sigma boasts nearly 200 chapters both at major universities and small colleges.
The national fraternity continues to value honor and scholastic achievement
by awarding various scholarships on an annual basis.
Over the past 120 years, members
of the Tau Chapter have succeeded both scholastically and athletically.
For the fall 1998-1999 academic year, the Tau chapter had the 3rd highest
GPA among all of the fraternities on campus. Members of the Tau chapter
are eager to participate in a wide selection of intramural sports each
year, and Dr. Denton A. Cooley (1938) and Robert Whilden (1952) are inductees
of the Longhorn Sports Hall of Fame, honoring outstanding intercollegiate
athletes.
On campus, members of the Tau
chapter can be seen participating in a wide variety of student organizations.
Annually, members of the Tau chapter are chosen to participate in the Silver
Spurs, and one of the members was chosen to be in the initial group of
Texas Cowboys, when they return to campus in the Fall.
There are many prominent Kappa
Sigma alumni in national spotlight today. On a national level, Kappa
Sigma has initiated Bob Dole, former United States Senator; Robert Redford,
actor; Jimmy Buffett, singer/songwriter; Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas
Cowboys; and Sam Donaldson, ABC correspondent.
Tau chapter has produced many
prominent alumni that have made impact on our modern society. Some
prominent alumni of the Tau chapter, both past and present, include Dan
Burck, Interim Chancellor of the UT System, Dr. Denton Cooley, surgeon;
Richard Rainwater, businessman; Beauford Jester, former Governor of Texas;
Cyrus R. Smith, former President of American Airlines; Harry Ransom, former
Chancellor of the UT system; Gardiner Symonds, former president of Tennessee
Gas Transmission Co. and Frank Erwin, former Chairman of the UT Board of
Regents.
In addition to these fine alumni,
several alumni have their names on various building on campus such as V.F.
“Doc” Neuhaus and Charles “Tex” Moncrief, the Moncrief/Neuhaus Athletic
facility, next to the football stadium; The Harry Ransom Humanities Center;
The Frank Erwin Center; Beauford Jester dormitories; and the V.F. “Doc”
Neuahaus Alumni Center.
Many of the efforts of these
fine alumni account for the wide success of Kappa Sigma both on a National
level and at the University of Texas.