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BACK TO THE 50s
Brother Howard Grossman, pc '52, (contact Howard) has supplied us with a treasure trove of photos and documents from Pilam's first "golden" period of the post WWII era. For those of us who were active in the 70s and 80s, we always heard about how great Pilam was in the 50s. That was when we retired our first President's Cup, then known as the President Miller Athletic Trophy. We were the top fraternity in service and academics, and were famous for our wild parties. Pilam in the 50s was a lot like Pilam in the mid to late 70s. Even many of the names are the same. Swichkow, Kaufman, Masington, Rossin, Vandroff, Salzman, Futernick, Sheldon, Hammersmith, Storch and Miller are some of the names that would reappear about 20 to 25 years later, either as brothers or little sisters. The very first Pearl, published during the Spring of 1956, is pretty much copied in its entirety on the following web pages. There were some photographs that I was not able to reproduce, but 95% of it is exactly as is seen in the original. This Pearl would become the trailblazer for a tradition that would last through 1987. As far as I know, only one year did not have a Pearl during that time period, which was 1983-1984. Editor Chuck Ruffner (contact Chuck), technical advisor Mike Segal, photographer Marty Hoffman and Rex Stuart Lubitz did a remarkable job with Volume 1. Rex Stuart Lubitz, wrote that this first issue of The Pearl "is in many respects an experiment." It would turn out to be a very successful one. The annual Pearl would record a solid 30 years of Pilam history in text and photographs, weaving a colorful story of great moments and people. The first Pearl also coincided with the first year of our new house. According to the Pearl, "the interior design and color scheme are a masterpiece of creative genius." Now I never heard 15 Frat Row described in those terms before! We cannot thank Howard Grossman enough for sending us this great stuff. Not only did he keep it in superb condition, but he had complete trust in us to safely return everything to him in California (which we did). If anyone has any other pictures, stories or commentary, from this time period or any other, please pass it along. BMF, Bruce Konners |
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The Pearl - Volume 1 |