Heritage of Sigma Tau Gamma

Sigma Tau Gamma’s Founders’ grandparents were veterans of the Civil War, a domestic conflict that shaped their generation. When they bravely went to fight in World War I, our Founders embarked on a path that took them beyond domestic soil back to the old country, facing a battle unlike any their generation could have imagined. General John J. ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, a native of Missouri, was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to command the American Expeditionary Force. As volunteers, our Founding Fathers left their Midwestern school to follow him into the War to End All Wars. They were far from ordinary men.

In an era when fewer than half of the nation’s young people advanced beyond the eighth grade and even fewer graduated from high school, these children of farmers, craftsmen, and shopkeepers from the sparsely populated rural counties of western Missouri were pursuing educational degrees. These two-year, post-high-school programs qualified them to teach and administer public schools. Almost uniformly, they were as well prepared academically as students at private and land-grant colleges but lacked the financial resources to enroll there. Together, they joined what was then called an Ambulance Company.

Today, we might call them corpsmen or emergency medical technicians. Near the end of 1918, after 18 months of battle, the armistice was declared. The war ended, and after serving with the occupational force, they returned home by steamship. While they were overseas, their school had become a four-year college. In the summer of 1920, Emmett Ellis, their leader at age 29, guided them forward. This was far from a group of starry-eyed children.

These were veterans who had faced death firsthand and deeply understood the value of a life well lived, expressed through caring for their fellow man. They were determined to continue the bonds of brotherhood forged in the trenches of World War I, this time through the pursuit of a liberal arts education. The Founders of Sigma Tau Gamma were hopeful, and so the Fraternity began on a warm summer morning in a rooming house at 101 Ming Street, just a few blocks from a school as dedicated as they were to the pursuit of the American dream.

Founders of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity (In the order each gentleman signed the original petition to charter on June 28, 1920)

Emmett Ellis
Leland Hoback
Edward G. Grannert
Edward H. McCune
William G. Parsons
B. W. McDaniel
A. B. Cott
Allen R. Nieman
W. E. Billings
Frank H. Gorman
Carl N. Chapman
C. Willard Salter
Edward Hoffman
Rodney E. Herndon
G. E. Hartrick
Dan Fisher
A. O. Fisher

Famous Sig Taus

John (Jack) Link, UW – Stout – Founder of Jack Link’s Jerky
O. Glen Hocker, Truman State – Founder of Dairy Queen International
William H. Byler, Central Missouri – Inventor of Black Light
Robert A. Libby, Truman State – Inventor of Pringle Potato Chips
Captain James A. Graham, Frostburg State – United States Navy Presidential Medal of Honor and Purple Heart recipient
Robert “Red” Miller, Western Illinois – Super Bowl Winning NFL Head Coach
Wayne DeSutter, Western Illinois – Buffalo Bills #71 in 1966-67
Dick Hantak, Southeast Missouri – Super Bowl NFL Official
Donald J. Ratkowski, Alliance – Inventor of Modern Day Contact Lenses
1st Lieutenant Carlos C. Ogden, Eastern Illinois – US Army Medal of Honor recipient
Gil Morgan, East Central – Professional Golf Hall of Fame
M. A. Wright, Northwestern Oklahoma – Chairman of the Board for Exxon Oil & Refining Co., Past Chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce
Mel Hancock, Missouri State – US Congressman for the State of Missouri
Brad Ellsworth, Southern Indiana – US Congressman for the State of Indiana
Truman Virgil “Pinky” Tomlin, Southeastern Oklahoma – Musician and Actor
Dennis Miller, Point Park – Comedian/Actor/TV Personality
Dee Brown, Central Arkansas – Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Author
James Kirkpatrick, Central Missouri – Missouri Secretary of State
Stan Musial, Cal U – Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient