yeah all right welcome Brothers um my name is Jackson Farrar uh spring 74 Upsilon Zeta chapter we are here with uh the spring 1981 line gangsters of the groove and um we want to thank you for being here with the um u50 history committee um I first of all I'd like to let of the history committee introduce themselves so I'll turn it over to them um my name is Maron Murphy fall 89 UPS Salon Z East Carolina member of the history committee my name is Ron quet summer 93 Upson Zeta chapter member of the history comme all right thank you um now we'll give you guys an opportunity to introduce yourselves and if you would start from one up to uh 12 or whatever okay did Mike swan ever come on go ahead D line my name is Danny Austin my line name was Diller okay did um did everybody hear that it was kind of breaking up on my end okay hey D Dan if you repeat that again brother you you were breaking up a little bit okay try it again it's better uh my name is Danny Austin the groove I'm from Whitakers North Carolina okay okay who's next guess that would be number six that would be Tony Hester from Mo City Line gangers of the groove number six Little Caesar glad to be here one the brothers all right my name is Tyron vinon from won Salem North Carolina spring 81 number nine my line name was Valentino they call me Tino for short my name is Reginal mcneel uh my line name was bang bang gangsters of the groove spring 881 and I am from Lumberton North Carolina uh good evening Brothers uh my name is Vincent Peele I was number 11 I'm from Baltimore Maryland uh number 11 on the gangsters of the Groove uh my line name was devious Dion my name is Sheridan Barnes uh number 12 line name baby face dog Nam Scooby-Doo uh Micron Carolina gangsters of the groove got a contract out on you okay so if anybody else joins us we'll have them introduce themselves so we're gonna kick this off and turn it over to you all um we'll jump in every now and then to give you all some directions or some guidance as we move from section to section um once again you all have your question you all completed and you can refer to it uh but let's start off before we go into the line and into the chapter the history committee wants you all to set the tone to kind of give us a overview of what was going on in East Carolina what was life like in East Carolina um when you all got to school and during your pledge process what was life like in in pit County what was going on culturally across the country um so kind of kind of frame out what was the size of University number of black students that type of thing number of students overall so kind of uh give us overview East Carolina um Sheridan C do you have Mike Swan's email can you can you email him the zoom deal I I can take care of that okay thank you Marlon meanwhile if you one of you guys will go ahead and um get get this started what was the atmosphere guys online at the time because it was actually [Music] my but of course PL I still had two more years but came it was probably uh sort of a new experience for me got down to East Carolina I mean there was very few minorities when you got there and it was almost like a culture shop that now you [Music] he what few black guys that I met daddy you going in and out bad I'm still breaking up you start out good in thenner break sir yeah I I'll join in can you hear me yeah go ahead okay yeah I I came in I was a sophomore when I pledged I came in in 1979 I have been coming to East Carolina since 1976 when ruffing was uh playing so I would come on the weekends and stay Greenville was a typical Southern small town college town I think the I try to look at some stats on the computer regarding the student population but if I can recollect uh East Carolina was close to about 10,000 students at that point um maybe we had about a thousand minority students maybe less than that um most of the minority students came from the Eastern uh part of the state probably more West to Raleigh so it was more of you know the Greenville Farmville going up you know to aosi all the way down to goboro that was the population of the black student body mostly fville I was from lton which was at that time about three hours away so I was like uh out of you know I was like a foreigner um but you know no air conditioning in the dorms um the only of course the only facility that we had on campus was the only wooden building which which was the uh right Student Center I'm tell all and you know you think about that you know all those brick buildings on campus but the only wooden building was the one dedicated to black students um Tony Hester and I started rooming together our freshman year maybe the spring that's right and prior to that I think one of the things other than you know coming from the south from you know a rural North Carolina C was not that much of a shock you know you knew the racial tensions it was there you know what I mean we my brother we integrated Lumberton high school we came to an allh School you knew where you were you know we didn't C toown we didn't let nobody call us names we fought you know so we we we you know we made sure that we make sure people respect us you know and so it wasn't like we were on campus and we were you know a small group and we were intimidated by anybody there um and it was interesting my parents went to HBCU we went to the pwi you know we thought there was an opportunity you know that you know that going to a pwi you're going to have a a better future in life um and that was that was that was the thought process at that time during the 70s uh but um yeah it it was an interesting interesting type of of situation in Greenville at that time and one of the things that I do remember uh that was kind of set the whole tone of those years that was in 19 was it 1980 that's when Ronald Reagan was elected PR president rean nomics reom rean nomics yeah it was a shock you know Jimmy was and it it was almost like a trump deal that that that that Reagan this this Governor this actor is a politician yeah and you saw that kind of change the the the campus kind of Chang because if y'all remember we also had a professor who was one of the most conservative senators in the United States uh Dr East John East right John East Dr John East so you know not only were we in this southern town no not only we in this college southern town we were surrounded by conservatives and and that and that was in a Democrat and I'm I'm G shut up and let everybody else talk but this is in a democratic region where tobacco tobacco ran things and that was a democratic region but you started to see that turn from a democratic to more of that Republican conservative thinking yeah so I'll just leave that there and let y'all continue well Tino let let me ask you this now you came from the other end of the state what were the Dynamics as far as um when you came to Greenville uh I arrived in Greenville in uh 78 Paul 78 uh didn't really I knew some people that uh went to high school with me a couple of uh people that went to high school with me that was attending ECU as well so that kind of help me get acclimated to the uh being in the eastern part of the State uh first time I ever said buing Greenville was during orientation and then as a freshman in Jones dorm uh didn't know really what to expect so I I immediately click with uh a few people from the western part of the state not only the ones I went to high school but I met uh a friend from Greensburg so we kind of hung out together and I met them doing orientation uh spent my first first year in Jones dorm um my first roommate was white and of course he moved out I spent my whole first year uh with a room to myself so and the reason I chose you seeu was I I really just wanted to get away from home to to experience something different and something new and I wasn't allowed to go out of state so ECU was my first chce and I also applied to John C Smith but I decided to attend ECU well before before we um continue um Mike you just joined us want you to introduce yourself uh name number where you online and Where You Hell from and right now what your line what your lbs are doing is setting an overview giving a a cultural description of Greenville at the time ECU at the time and that type of thing uh good evening my apologies for being late uh I'm on a different time zone uh my name is Michael Swan from Bermuda and I came to East Carolina as a transfer student from Jackson State un University in Jackson Mississippi so I transferred from Jackson State to uh East Carolina on a track scholarship and um I had no idea where I was going from Jackson State no idea I had never heard of East Carolina before eventually I I came to East Carolina by default when I transferred from Jackson State I was transferred to the University of Virginia and what happened my all my document ation got there late and the coach told me about East Carolina were you willing to go there a transfer so I just said okay no clue where I was going landed in in Raleigh and going down 264 wow it remind me of being in in Mississippi again so it was a it was a rude awakening for me um you know coming from from Jackson State and then to East Carolina was was a for me it was a culture shop you know coming from a promly black high school and then a promly black college and and step on East Carolina's campus I was just I was blown away uh plus it it was a division one school and still I never had never heard of the school but that's pretty much it in a nutshell um most the guys on the track team you know some of them with alphas and I had you know I had made up my mind at Jackson State that I was going to pledge uh that was Epsilon Upsilon at um JSU but when I TR I transferred to uh East Carolina so I was I was going to pledge at uh Jackson State but they didn't let freshman and plus uh track athletes or any athletes the pledge in a freshman yet so um I waited to okay wherever I ended up I was going to pledge I already had in my mind while I was going to play I had an uncle he was a he was an Omega he was from New York a police officer and I saw his brand about and I was about eight he said when you get older you're going to plge this you're going to pled this fraternity so that's where I ended up and I didn't know anybody on campus and met the brothers at the smoker pretty much um hold that we won't get there yeah hold that get there um Vinnie um I'm following Jackson footsteps um you one of the first ones that were from out of state so kind of fill us in a little bit that um what was it like for you to trans transition into East Carolina um can you guys hear me okay all okay um I came to East Carolina I was accepted to North Carolina Central and Virginia Union and uh in my mind I thought I would you know continue to play football so I had an uncle in a hosy North Carolina most of my family is from my high schol North Carolina and he told me that uh eth Carolina has a pretty good football program uh and my parents were comfortable with me coming to North Carolina because I was close to all of my family I knew absolutely nothing about East Carolina never been on East Carolina's campus until I came for orientation um and so the climate in E Carolina when I got there for me was a right new world because I was away from home um and so I was able to do some of the things that I wanted to do away from home so my focus was kind of just you know being away from home and and and enjoying myself quite honestly and so several of the guys that I met my first day of e Carolina ended up pledging with me uh the first person I met was Willie Johnson uh I also met Sheldon mcarter on the steps of uh acock dorm as we were doing uh orientation and Ken Coleman who plays in ' 82 we were we met immediately um from a cultural standpoint you know coming from very Democratic state of Maryland uh I kind of had an idea what what I was in for at East Carolina um you know with Jesse Helms and and and Senator John East uh and and you know just experiencing you know whenever we come down south you I will still see remnants of signs that says you know colored entrance and so I knew it it wasn't the panace of gold I knew there would be some challenges um but the campus uh the piggyback on what I think Danny stated this earlier was very few minorities on the campus um and we were competitive uh but at the end of the day I I kind of think we all knew each other and we were kind of cohesive because we knew that um it was quite a struggle on campus you know the racism was real uh with some of the white fraternities some of the things they did um but it was um I I won't necessarily say it was a cultural shock but it was certainly an Awakening for me uh on on this side of the country but um no regrets about coming to Greenville or coming to to to East Carolina um it was uh overall you know it was a great experience some of the best friends I've ever met uh I met my freshman year um and we'll talk about why I decided to pledge um but I was in Jones dormatory uh Willie Johnson and and lived two doors down from me uh and um and so uh that's how we ended up going to the smoker but we'll talk about that later how about you Tony okay um culturally as a high school student and they're preparing you for college the high school I went to they were um trying to direct you to places like St Augustine uh I understand that Elizabeth City State uh was supposed to be the E Carina teachers school and I think that was the beginning of jured Mandarin as as was saying they moveed from H Democratic type deal to Republican deal knowing that they can change things around but uh also about regie I think we all ended up at Jame uh Jones Hall which was horrible uh um the the cafeteria was there and the garbage people were there and me and Reggie we was on the top and after Saturday night you couldn't use the bathroom because it was horrible but culturally I knew what it was and um and I tell you Reggie has been modest because he was Grand he was grandfather into the to the accuses uh his father's one of our brothers and he he referred to omega as aiga um and Reggie loved his father and they loved each other and I was very impressed but the thing they got me was that sophomore semester Reggie was working and me and his brother a ruffen got a chance to go to DC Lord have mercy we double parked we slept on top of each others but the brothers embraced us just the way we were I was done at that point I was done so um it was the best of times and it was the worst of times in many cases but um as far as us sticking together we attracted White young men that just wanted to bre our air re do you remember Jeff Jones the tennis player and he just he just wanted to be in our MX redheaded guy and I look at the um boo coming from Mississippi Jackson that's that's that's the highest black population in the country basically so as far as cultural shock for him to say it's kind of reminiscent of Mississippi in the fact that it was country but in the fact that it was mostly white there gramman was pretty evident um but we did okay um I think East Carolina football they were ranked in defense at second in the nation so we we were black and we were small but we didn't cower we you know we were they recognize us so I think all of our lbs are proud of that because people gravitated to us I really believe that and I I'll leave it at that because I can rant on but I'll leave it at that SB we haven't heard from you anything to add that oh man my path to East Carolina wasn't my original path to be honest with you my path was really athletic SC ship I thought I was going to get UNC my junior year in high school man I was I was I was pretty strong then when I got hurt my senior year man when my KN just tore my dreams apart and I and I coach shot down the pat D excuse me yeah Pat di they sent me some stuff about playing down there but at that point I was so injured and didn't know how to come back and my mind was gone I had two brothers in East Carolina right and so I didn't really want to follow him so I thought I was going to the Bri Institute of Technology in Georgia and then man I started thinking man I'm I'm from the small Jus County how am I going to go to Georgia they were killing people kids in Atlanta and I said man I'm gonna follow my brothers so I went eth Carolina and another part of that was went e Carolina I had a vendetta because I remember my brother played I remember seeing my brother man change up I said man what the hell the boys done to my brother I wanted to kill them I mean I'm just telling you off the rip I had some I had something else in my mind crazy because I didn't understand understand man but man I saw my brother who I looked up to kind of shrunk and seen some stuff on him I said no I'm I got them boys I'mma get them so when I went to East Carolina Man U school one on my mind when I went to e Carolina I already knew the ropes a little bit I knew a lot of people so what I knew was black people so I didn't so coming from Johnson County if you can think about it you got all that racism stuff going on we used to have a sign about KKK country so for me it won't like shock it like okay this about like home and so I grabed to the black population and I thought there were more blacks there than it actually was because we were close and man going on the hill and doing all these kind of things Tony and everybody else is right we didn't take no [ __ ] and so if I don't want to go all deep into the pledge process and when we got to the smoker and I got with these little men you know was easy to identify with these 12 Guys these 11 other guys you know boo from a foreign country trying to understand his little accent young boys that's that Vinnie Shelton Casey well Benny Shelton really and Pooky the young guys and then bang banging them guys Tyrone I can relate to them so it was kind of like just know what's next and man one of the probably most prolific things for me is when we picked our line name gangster of the groove it's because we had a air we like man we the damn gangsters ain't nobody now G you know gangster of Goo got a contract out on you that's was our mentality man all right so let me ask you this because I think you taking us to a natural point of transition okay tell us about about the chapter not y'all pledge PR yet because y'all looking from the outside in what are you seeing describe the chapter how many brothers on the yard you know prominent you know what was going on with the chapter to make y'all want to get into it and then at the end day then we gonna roll into y'all pledge process yeah well I remember at that point in 81 the chapter kind of membership went down on the yard right you had Newton in 80 and then you think about 73 to up to 80 I mean the brothers that were around w't U Brothers now not just brothers there were some brothers around but U Brothers we can Willie ever Stringer the com in and out but not necessarily on the yard so so really the the brothers on the yard from U was low so they wanted to go of get some membership in right and so what I remember is is is US them us not so much recruiting them but they wanted to line and they want to you know get some good members in and it just fell in that those 12 guys that came to that smoker more guys went to Smoker but us 12 was critical for U going forward not because we were so great or anything but because for U to continue a path and grow they needed to get some brothers on the yard and and that was what I remember being so strong and and then smoker man I you know we looking around you don't know what to expect I kind of felt by you know my brother being a member I might got a better end than anybody else I got on them but it won't like that at all it won't like that at all but I kind of in my head but uh that was the so that's my memory and I and I know that my lb's got other memories as well well if I can uh CH in y'all hear I wonder if you need to be in room still breaking up Danny they were a small number but still at that same time Danny we can't make it out I don't know if it's best if you maybe change locations or come out and come back in but we got Mike swan in the middle of Atlantic signal better yeah try that someone else um what was the chapter like what what did it look like to you all or did SB describe accurately I think he described it accurately uh yeah the brothers usually Brothers on the yard was kind of small uh I do know that I had um uh homeboys or Brothers now uh James Fel uh Randy Duan they were from my hometown also my home girl Kim Cloud her father was a so I knew him uh and so and so that's one of the reasons I wanted to pledge and of course I knew Danny I knew Sheridan I knew Mike Floyd we all used to hang together I met them I Sor year and we we kind of built a bond between us cuz we basically did everything together a lot of different things together I won't go into details on this call but yeah hey that's what we here for yeah yeah CU look we heard about chba ganja different things brothers getting tricks played on them hi a kite drunk you he a lot of things now well I was talking more so before we pledge but then there are some things after we pledge uh and so we we all hung together we went places together drank you name name it the whole gamut all right what else you guys G to tell us I mean what I know you said you guys were hanging out together quite a bit before you even uh got to the point of pledging but um what what was it that Drew you guys together I mean what was that common bind that uh seemed to appeal that make you guys come to where you you seem to have that appeal well I I I'll add in I can't answer the question regarding a chapter just right out as Tony said my dad's frat 51 R yeah um and I tell you you know when growing up you know I used to help him in the CH you know the little chap down there when they put up parties and do the decorations but I didn't know I didn't know about Omega the the kids that I that went to college oh you oh Mr maxic Mr Master Q yeah I didn't know what Q was you know I'm in the country we didn't have any schools around where I saw omegas on campuses and stuff so I didn't know what Q meant until I went to Howard my freshman year my my then uh girlfriend wife and I saw the cues at Howard I said damn I said damn that's what my daddy is man okay and I think me and Tony man went there and I said damn I I didn't I didn't I didn't connect the two together and um uh and then I got back to Greenville my wife pledged Alpha chapter uh Delta in Spring 80 so we were on the phone and she said what do you think are you GNA think about Omega I said oh no I was I was on the football team I said no I'm not yeah I you know she said and she said one thing that really piqu my interest in looking further into it she said well if you pledge a fraternity and particularly Omega it will accentuate your positives wow I never forgot that quote and I didn't know any of the guys that played the only guy I knew on there was my roommate Tony so me and Tony got together I think and said well let's look into Omega I didn't see any brothers around the yard but it's like a car you know if you going to buy a Nissan Frontier you know you said I'm I'm going buy me a new truck and you never seen it before but then when you want to buy it you see it everywhere you know I mean now you see you see it all over everywhere so then we saw us it was like God we saw a a poster about a smoker and and then that's when you know the whole process started after that and um and we can get in that however you want to Marlon after that but but I'm I'm I'm I'm I'mma take it to another point for me and I'mma shut up and we can kind of fill in the the other stuff so you know the smoker interviewed the black light in the in the in the uh uh culture center and again I didn't know nothing about Q I didn't know nothing I didn't know about the pledging I thought it was like joining a club in high school you know what I mean like I'm just G to sign up y'all gonna bring me in and I didn't know about the pledging I didn't know I don't know if Tony knew but I didn't I didn't know the other guys probably did but I didn't know you never asked pops I'm getting to that okay all right my bad so we went through the interview we started gathering together as a line and I the other question is who came up with gang gangsters of the groes they got a ass kicked a lot because they Brothers talking oh y'all want to be groes but anyway that's another thing so Jeff Parker was the boss list at that time and you know after the interview you got your letter you got your your notification that you're you've been picked to go online we went we went online Valentine's Day February 4 14 1981 me and Tony somehow scrs up enough money to go down to Church's Chicken to get us a Sunday dinner and we supposed to meet in Jones dorm again I'm thinking it's like high school you know I mean they're gonna sign you up and yeah throw some balloons on you and [ __ ] so on Sundays back then you always made a call home right you made one call that was Sunday so I said oh Tony I need to call home so I'mma tell my dad dad a no [ __ ] so you call home you know five o'clock I think we had to be there 6 you like call in evening call home 919 739 6692 call home first person answer phone always mama hey baby how you doing hey how you doing okay good good to hear how's everything going okay dad never was a big talker you know on the phone you know so on this particular call home usually you gonna talk to your mom 95% of the conversation hey baby how you doing good hey Mom good uh let me speak to Daddy huh uh ruing Reggie's on the phone and she and he go to the kitchen and pick up the other phone and you know Mom still on the other on the other line hey hey what's up B what's up how you doing good you know quick you conversation with de hey hey good you doing doing okay yeah okay good all right all right hang in there see you later he got on the phone hey how you doing I say Hey Dad how you doing hey everything's good everything good up there yeah good good okay I talk to I said Dad Dad I need to talk to you he said what he said that I said Dad I'm great pledge Omega it was Qui he said what I said Dad I'm great pledge Omega I'm going online tonight he said Reggie Reggie you don't know nothing about it I ain't never talked to you about it I said Dad it's okay I I said we I went through the interview I met my line Brothers we going online tonight he said Reggie you have no idea what you doing I said Daddy it's gonna be fine it's gonna be fine he said no you don't you have no idea he said how about how about the uh how about the the fee you ain't got the money to pay I said Daddy the brother said that we don't have to pay you know it was like $110 we don't need the money now we can pay it later because you know back then they waiting for [ __ ] to drop they won't send no money down to the 6 until about two weeks after they dropping [ __ ] he said I said they said I can send the money later he said Reggie I never heard him I never heard him talk to me like this before he said Reggie you don't know you don't know you don't know anything about Omega I said Daddy I'mma be fine and he hung up and then Mom got on the phone are you gonna be okay are you going so two hours later we up on the fifth floor Jan [ __ ] brothers and see then I didn't I didn't I didn't see a lot of brothers on campus after the interview I started seeing a few letters Rock and Jeff we got that [ __ ] room and seemed like the whole floor half the damn floor was [ __ ] theas I ain't never seen in my [ __ ] life and the Brother start talking nasty to me like ah [ __ ] get the [ __ ] line sh us up front pushing around I'm on the football team like wait a minute [ __ ] wait a minut wait a minute wait a a minute now now that's that part of pledging that starts to switch that beginning part that it ain't it ain't it ain't about this it's about that look the [ __ ] getting in your face get in [ __ ] line get in [ __ ] line get get together and I don't even know most of my line Brothers we met him twice maybe three times or four times me and Tony and it went I mean it seemed like it was 60 [ __ ] in that it might have been left I know it had to be crazy it was crazy as [ __ ] it was crazy [ __ ] and then I'm I'mma end on this um and I really didn't know what I was getting into so on that night you know you get in and other the pushing blah blah blah everybody I want everybody to introduce them name where you from major and anything that was it Michael Humphrey Kamar Swan Hamilton Bermuda industrial Tech whatever the [ __ ] he was doing Danny Danny Austin I'm industrial something something well that leads me to my to my next question um boo you you mentioned that you came from Jackson State at what point and of course you you said you already knew you were going to play as Q yeah I knew I was going to play at what point did you begin to bond with the rest of these guys to be honest it seemed like it was instantly you know I didn't know anybody I didn't know right nobody you know and it just seemed like I don't know it was just instant you know they made fun of my accent and um it was just instant you know I can't even explain think Reggie sort of you know summed it up in a nutshell you know we got online and didn't have a clue and I was like whoa and I'm you know I'm on the track team and stuff you know and I was small then you know I just remember I can't remember his name I think it was from I he from Elizabeth City he said I'm not GNA touch you I might break you in half so I was like so I don't remember I don't remember that that night regie but um all I remember is just instantly we just became you know was just tight Bond instantly really was tight because like with boo he he had a little had a little stutter and it was a little accent and we were all were different but it seemed like we for what we was needed for that tapestry every Everybody Tyrone SB bridgie with that dog in it it's just we all had the the ingredients I don't think that we thought that we were prepared I mean Gerald was esp's our brother who was there we we were not prepared for the the uh for for the rocks and Sylvester graay just just for the Grim but the more they came at us it's like it was like a cinch we just got tighter we just got more dogged and we just was committed to all 12 making it through we didn't get damn what they did and me and reg many nights would just look at the ceiling like Lord God is it going to in you know what I mean it was just something about all of us we didn't know each other and it was all different and was all okay it was just it was Unreal as I recall was Unreal so Brothers uh as we talking and you all are talking about Jones Hall how many brothers started with how many started with you all I believe it started out with 13 R because I know there was a dude that was you know shorter than I was I think he must have been online for about two days or a day that night after that night he dropped I believe unremarkable unremarkable cuz I don't remember you remember un remark I mean I just remember the 12 yeah that's all I remember that's all I remember and if they they if they thought about it they must have dropped before we went online so I I remember that one guy as well he was uh I remember the smoker he I think he had tried to pledge before but he had a a boatload of information and I was thinking this guy is probably going to end up being you know the kind of leader he was telling us all these things were going to happen uh when we pledged and and the night that we ended up um starting line he was nowhere to be found but I I I vaguely remember the guy he was a small guy and I remember he was he's quite the talker but he never showed up for uh any of the activity yeah yeah and if I could back if I could backtrack for a second I I want to get back to a question that Jackson Jackson asked about um you know Brothers on the yard and their presence and so I don't want to say the brothers are absolutely dormant and the reason why I want to say that and this is when I first met Mike swan the brothers in the fall I think it was fall 80 had a party a masquerade ball at right Auditorium you remember that Mike Swan I can tell you how I remember I met Mike Swan that night because he got so inebriated he threw up and I just remember like man who is this guy this is long before we knew we were gonna play or anything the thing threw me away the thing that blew me away it was probably maybe five or six AAS on the yard at the time but but the party was absolutely packed and so you know we had been going to the cultural center you know every time the kappers have something half of the party is kappus half of the party is cap of sweetheart but but the cues it was only four or five brothers you know was there was run the yard I remember meet seeing a meeting Rock but the party was just absolutely packed and I just remember they had this presence about them this commanding presence like yeah we get respect and we get the parties packed and there only you know it's like members versus men it was only a handful of brothers that were running at MCH raid party but that was my first first time I interacted with with Mike Swan and it was you know was course it was like a it was like a trifactor with me uh Willie Johnson and and Sheldon we would always show up at something together but um but yeah the brothers you know they were smaller numbers but I remember they they did have somewhat of an impact because that party was was was somewhat packed and and the last statement I just remember going to the the smoker and and um and Dwayne Jefferson Rock saying that you know we we don't need y'all m and you know and I was like man there's only like four you know the smoke was packed with a bunch of guys that won the pledge and maybe six or seven you know Omega men you know and he talked to us like you know we don't we don't really need y'all y'all need us and I was like wow you know I I just remember leaving the smoke and think man these guys are crazy but uh that's my memory so um tell us a little about how long was your process and one of the things that we all o want to know is tell us about some of the funny moments even some of the things that bonded you all and and and kind of kind of um cement your soul together well but tell us about some of the ups and downs on line some of the bonding moments some of the moments are just hilarious you know man I'm gonna start off on this if you don't mind um thank you Reggie because I wrote down that date February I didn't know when we started exactly I knew it seemed like our players was like damn a year it just seemed like was so long it was really tough guys I'm gonna be honest with you and I think I think if I now I think about this listen everybody talk I think because the chap membership kind of went down I think the brothers kind of wanted to not only bring a line on but kind of make a line hard and and and they brought the damn wrath they brought the wrath from damn Wily T Wily T I thought it was like a damn giant man will he might be he might be 5'9 I thought it was they had us so damn mixed up man in my head man it was all magnified but man one of the funniest thing for me man online you guys gonna remember this Miles Kelly Miles Kelly was a d fool talk like that we were going we were going to the the the the house one day on Harding Street and he was out there he start asking everybody name and that guy look at Tyrone yes asked that D on Mike Floy name what your name he said pretty boy Big Sir Mike said [ __ ] and somehow he made him turn his head and do his lips like this man and all dumb ass started laughing what y'all laughing at we pay for that laugh that's for sure we paid for it and uh those moments man me man my lb Ricardo he's not here man every time we you know we have all those sessions Ricardo you want to go get something to eat man me and him like we going up the hill like man [ __ ] that we going to get something eat man we just kind of broke protocol in this deal whatever but man if you guys talking you think about what we went through man those lines we we bonded and Tony Tony hit it we we were like the more you throw we refuse to damn let it damn affect us impact us because we're gonna be we unified and all 12 of us and boo I don't even know if you knew this but I always felt Buu was the smallest so we had to protect him and when it came to the honcho who gonna be the Honcho know I'm number 12 in the big like hell no I I see what happen to my brother I don't want no parts of that that's really the truth of it but I felt like in my head you know you come wrong you you gonna get some gangster damn love but uh we bonded man and it was just beautiful and what now who was the honcho Joe Ward rest in peace okay Joe Ward number three rest in peace he was a honcho and uh Joe took some stuff y'all you know y'all know what Joe had to deal with as as the hono man and he took weights that we didn't want to so we tried to kind of solidify that and hold every everybody's weight boo bless his heart when I remember boo man every time we get ready to slap that damn hand them hand be shaking you know boo had to get his nerves together for a minute yeah we all did but but but you talking about 12 men the more I think about it it were were just kind of determined to kind of see it through things we learned and we went through and those pors man I can recite so many right now off the rip not I made my son learn it and we didn't know I thought the pledge period as we were going through it man the boys just want to beat our damn ass but what it strengthened you with was kind of like an undertone of unity and that eight men versus 80 you kind of understand that that two ARA you understand the things that I I started learning the things that we could took for granted were beautiful thing and then the things of appreciation and coming from Old Country toown micro and family unions the Brotherhood man that solidified it for me man that you know once I once I fell in love with u man that was it and and then that's that's my piece of it we'll talk about a funny moment um I remember one time I don't know if your brothers recall but we had to clean uh around noris funeral home which is located on Dickerson Avenue and uh and of course you know no one likes a funeral home and so it's kind of a cob setting and and sharid and God bless his hard but Shar wasn't too comfortable around a funeral home so we had to go outside and I think we had to rake the yard and there was there was a house next door and there was a dog and this dog was just looking at us and while sherid you know you could just tell sherid was somewhat unnerved and I remember the dog walking up to the fence while Sheridan was raking didn't say anything then all of a sudden He barked and Sheridan screamed and I just know Sharon scream because he was so a nerve from cleaning that funeral home and I I just remember uh Willie and I just laughing at that because uh it startled sharing and you know clean that funeral home I don't know if you guys remember us cleaning it that why were y'all cleaning the funeral home I think Norris may have been somehow related to not the funeral home but the yard I think he I don't know if he was in the M but somehow or another we we got contracted out by the Big Brothers to rake that yard I don't know the connection I think M that was uh on Dickerson Avenue Dickerson Avenue yeah yeah I just I think I think Rock was staying at you know on Dickerson Avenue and yeah yeah I just hated Dickerson Avenue and Harden Street those nights I just hated I didn't go inside yeah Dickerson and Paris Avenue right that's right God bless Dan it's still bad hey Danny Danny we can't hear you can you get another string and tired of the end of that can he might need to try to move to yeah he may need to call in Brothers instead of trying to do video just call on his phone yeah yeah I I don't remember a lot of fun times online uh Joe was the honcho and I was the vice honcho I don't know how that happened but um you know to me it was just you know and and that's about pledging pledging the metamorphosis of pledging is where physical doesn't matter anymore you know I mean you get used to physical it's the mental that [ __ ] you you know I mean uh you know you you get used to Wood you get used to getting slammed and all that okay yeah they Brothers going to get drunken up you know this ain't going to last for a few hours but the pledging good pledging is mental and you know knowing that you know I was I don't know I was about 190 somebody like rock 130 with my ass and me not being aggressive to go after him one reason I'm they gonna kick my ass one thing but there's always to me there there was a point in pledging that said they ain't gonna drop me I'm not g to drop I'm not going to drop at all and I tell you to me this is what I learned through that whole process and it happened the day afterwards of all the I mean even when we went through the test and everything I didn't believe that we were brothers we got through at 4:00 in the morning I think Sheridan kind of knew but I still didn't think it was over but Randy uh Randy duelan he was practice te practice teaching and you know he had that little widow's peak oh pretty boy and we used to have to go to his room at Atkins about 5:00 in the morning to to you know do poems or whatever but he just want us to be there while he's dressing and [ __ ] and Randy never laid a hand on you that I can remember but I hated him so damn much how he talked to you just seemed like when he talked to you just like when Ro I mean not like rock you know when he talked to you he just it just to me just it just showed that he just did not he didn't like you he didn't want you here in his in his fraternity I don't give I mean and he did was no hollering or nothing like that it was just the look that he gave you that just you know ju I just hated him and and one of the things that kept me going was I said okay I'm gonna I'm gonna finish this task I'm become Omega Man and the first time I get my pen on I'mma knock the [ __ ] out of Randy D that Friday when they took us to men Hall we still in the line and they gave us our little shirts and gave us our pin CU we done we done went through the test we before I didn't believe it the first brother that came to me with a smile was Randy dou welcome brother welcome you know yeah it just like I just got mind [ __ ] for six weeks seven weeks it was all mental it was all mental and he [ __ ] me and from then he's see in Winston Salem we we SE I mean we best of friends but that you know you know that's the essence of Omega you know of bringing in all kinds and you know you don't have to be the biggest you don't have to be the strongest but you just got to get through through with it and and um and get through the physical if you get through the physical that's you GNA get used to that but it's the mental that works with you well said brother you and you're right I mean that's the essence of it all anybody else I can mention as far as funny moments I know I mean we had nicknames for the brothers amongst ourselves I can say Nutty Buddy when I say nty buddy who who would uh always go go get me a another buy they sit up sit up in the U Stringer always got a nerdy buddy and and then uh there was times I guess Danny Mike Flo and Shar had to do a skit I I don't remember it but I know it was it was funny I remember that yeah it was funny yeah and and we had name for the brothers that we you know exchang amongst ourselves I rather not say any so what about uh what about step shows and that sort of thing yeah that's what I was gonna ask and what was it like being on the yard going to class what type of um eyes stairs comments did you get from professors other people in the class white students standing out front of the bookstore different things like that tell us a little about that well we used I'm g go ahead we used to step every day at noon in front of the bookstore and these white girls would come and say are y'all gonna dance today and they would love to come and see us do that and then you know I'll let somebody else [ __ ] in let me speak on that yes as work study I work in the register's office and I had my my lampas uh or Hood hoodie and they were ready for Omega Man they was ready for some more Omega men the girls will slipp me notes I know you can't speak Little Caesar but such such such and such you know what I mean and don't worry about it you know we we was kidnapped we was hi I've been in the truck of cars and the brothers right there where is it where is it I ain't seen him I ain't seen him so they was ready and we delivered didn't we guys we delivered they was ready for us and it's like a golf game any of you guys golf you know 41 up front four on the back a three Pawn 15 that three P 15 I bring you back every time and that's how we looked at the step shows we got one more chance you know to put it out there so uh they they they loved us they embraced us they loved us and I would dare anybody else to say differently but just the that was the reward for all the work uh for the for the INR toenails we slept with the boots on because we didn't know when they was coming me and regie threaten our our uh sweetmates if you open the door after 11 o'clock it's gonna be some damn trouble it's gonna be a trouble for us first but we're going to have trouble all night long when our trouble's in it you know that type deal so they knew it was kind of like a group effort the folks that were not racist they they were kind of applauding you and helping you helping you get through and it was just amazing how that worked out Tony Tony if I could if I could jump in for a second to talk about you know step shows and whatnot I you know during the pledge period uh I think it was either a second or third night on or maybe even our first night on but we had to March around the high-rise dorms white green Clement and uh and so we were marching and we were stepping and what I'm really proud of with my line you know with with the 81 line is that we were kind of a a throwback to old school because you know we will sing a lot I mean you know we were step but I I just remember our going over show you know we were sing and and I still hear from people's like man I just remember you going over show you know how emotional some of the people got when we were singing zoom and and darling Omega and some of those things um additionally one time we were in the step Shi competition at the starbu star Starburst Club in Kinston North Carolina yeah we were lamps we stepped against the alphas and I think I don't I can't remember if the Capal was anyone else stuff but I remember we won that step show at the starburst if you guys can recall um but but Tino's right we would step all the time I mean I think because we're such we were the largest line ever seen at East Carolina for for black fraternity and I think you know the big brother was just so excited with some of the things that we could do so we were stepping we were singing We were we were just constantly on the move and um and you know and we just left a I think we left a legacy uh particularly you know with the 82 line U when when 81 and 82 came together on the yard that I mean you know from a step show perspective and from singing uh fraternity songs um it was pretty impactful and and some of my greatest memories but but you know stepping in front of the student store and stepping at the starburst club and and uh you know and marching around on the yard it were great times man Tony oh go ahead Tony and Vinnie hit it man and as soon as you said steeping Benny I remember y'all remember this yep man when we did those things guys and we did those dances listen earlier we talked about the racial tensions but I don't remember one thing ever from any Caucasian that did anything negative toward us because they were in awe and I also kind of wondered wait were they afraid or whatever because we were in a Unison man and then and and and as the process continued we started dropping P pounds and looking kind of just kind of at mean and when you talk about that tongue out your D on thing and that little that stirs man we had it boy and we had particular after you get the mains oh my God intimidated we had that Jack we intimida people and then and then dog week y'all wearing that car and all that stuff man them people said we not [ __ ] with these guys that's just the truth of it we look tough and hard man 12 African-American men ready to kick it real bad real we won't gonna take no [ __ ] and the people you can see in some of our pictures man just in all from going down to church to going to Corners it didn't make no difference man we wor them NE on things oh man as spe now you know I did some little crazy stuff on the sideline but when it come down far as just my and I remember I remember Mike Kelly that same M excuse me baby who you love more your lb is your girlfriend but at the time I didn't understand damn question so my dumb ass said girlfriend Big Brother sir why the hell did I that the dumbest thing ever I learned to change that Paradigm because there's really no comparison the love you gonna have for these men you gonna have for the rest of your life and getting going through all that and seeing that emotional toll and the toughest thing is the Mega Man the toughest thing for me as a Mega Man is seeing my lb h hono on that date and U it is Earth that's I just pay homage to all yeah I love I love these guys like no ever like nothing and um you know once you become a member of the fraternity man and and I think uz had that err too and if you think the err that U has if we have one it's come from 73 forward you know each but each line is put something in that to that air and so when you say air of isocracy and we think we're the mighty U there's a reason why we say the might you it's not because of the process it's because of what we went through in our unity and that's what we we own we don't reclaim it we simply own it so that's my that's my two sents I want to speak one one more one more again on honcho we were stepping so hard that our ears were flapping like dogs I would look at Joe I said Tony you ain't stepping hard enough his ears were flapping like a damn dog when he was stepping that's just how hard we were we will not let one other be slack you I mean it wouldn't happen that man ears was bouncing just like a damn pit bull dog and you just he just pulled it out of you you know and I think we we all finally miss him we all finally enjoyed him but it's just like we we we we we got a countenance on the face you know we it just something we just lose confidence it was just it was Unreal and and I'm 60 and I never experienced anything like fallen in love with the Brotherhood of Omega like like I did in those those years it was just truly truly remarkable what we did and what we accomplished I thought boo was gonna leave us y'all y'all remember boo was hooked up with that had a obligation military obligation stuff and I could I thought man after we went over boo I have to leave because I have to go get drafted or something boo what was all that about man oh they had they had a they had like a draft in Bermuda you know for it wasn't a military it was like a regiment so okay every 18 year old had to uh had to register for this draft but um just talking about our line I mean we all like movie stars man or or celebrities because everybody was looking forward to us to Stepping um appearing in front of the bookstore uh just marching on campus uh I know Sharon and I we we always we always linked up I don't know why me and Sharon are always linked I think that you were the first person I had to pick up coming on to the yard but um we got in so much trouble I man we w't s across campus yeah I sharing tell the story man I don't know what we were up to but uh miles came from nowhere and he had to stand in front of the book store for about two hours just just me and Sharon the front yeah man but um no we we we we I don't know we just Blended like brothers like we were born at the same time you know it's funny cuz I didn't know anybody I didn't know Sheridan me and Shar became best of friends Reggie pester Joe Joe Ward I mean we all had our had our togetherness but also we had our little groups of separateness and you know when we came together was like it was crazy it was crazy I mean Reggie was my roommate you know became Reggie's roommate uh Willie ever over at Harding Street but uh we we had he had some really good times I mean we was some Brave young men at the time I believe very brave and uh just to see all these uh I forgot Tyrone us to take me to Greensboro every time um I had a break because I had a cousin at atie so you know getting to Tyrone's uh uh van and we ride to he's dropped me off in Greensboro and pick me up Greensville we had we had some we had some great times was a DJ now now you mentioned uh your your honcho and how um you all were affected by his passing were there any other moments where the resolve of your line as a whole was tested where you really felt that um you know um maybe you know maybe I'm not going to be able to deal with this no more well I'll I'll just add before then um Jackson that uh the question was from Marlon online I never understood I didn't have any money none of us had money but I don't understand where I got my fatigue jacket from I don't know how I got my boots I don't know how I paid for the shirts or the over I don't know it just kind of the money just came and I guess we shared or whatever I don't remember any of that huh I don't remember how where do we get them from and all that remember the car washes car washes car washes that's true yeah had a penny can drive of newy walking in dorm collecting pennies that's true there you go there you go that's a fill in that's a fill in now on campus um I I remember going to uh class particularly online um particularly hell week and and at at that time at East Carolina I don't remember guys and maybe y'all do I only remember one black professor on campus and he was in sociology he went to morous he was a alpha and I had him I was uh I was a sociology minor and a urban planning major and he was the only full Professor that I can remember on campus and I remember on Hell Week where you know everything started you know with the CA and then you got the m and all that and you know and I kind of kept up my my study but I remember him pulling me to the side one day doing that hell week and said you know why are you doing this why are you why are you degrading yourself in front of these white folk like this and he was an older guy you know what I mean and uh I remember that conversation he had with me at that time and I didn't give a [ __ ] cuz I ain't slept in like 72 hours like yeah whatever I I just wanted to get out that class he he he got me out the class and at that time your mentality is just trying to get from one place to another place without seeing a brother a big brother but um you know look Jack you asked about a moment I'm gonna tell you a moment all my lbs understand this when we went to select our bricks we didn't have no guidance right we we didn't know what we supposed to go do so we went up there we said you know what we ain't gonna get them more big ass damn bricks getting them the slabs and those slabs were solid but we didn't we didn't have no guidance yeah so we came back with them bricks and the brothers went off man y'all and so you know what man those bricks made us do an extended Death March our death march guys to correct me if I'm not wrong I think it was three hours and some change it was a long time man we started over so many times man that that thing was painful Man Two Steps went back it seemed like it took forever man but uh and and we finished our show remember it was dark we it was dark and uh what a hellified show man and that but but a Unity so we didn't drop no bricks and all that kind of stuff but them brothers man we brought back them thing Jackson and they were like this thick man went off so tell us all right um and thank y'all for all that tell us about y'all going over you know how' you feel what what you know what what changed for you and then you know also talk about that first year neo fights now y'all brothers um the any you know the one thing I didn't hear before we leave your pledge process didn't hear anything about any visiting chapters any visiting chapters come see you all pay you any visit show you any love and stuff like that but then you know roll into you know y'all going over and where your first road trip was what was um your first Year's Neil fights like oh man was our first road trip was at uh North Carolina Central R you can correct me at Duke Duke University oh man like I said we were like celebrities you know everybody wanted to uh we had a softball game at the cus once we went we had this big softball game the cap was over a k and I remember Jeff Parker saying that oh man we don't have money to buy a k but we won the game you know the cap won US play players in softball and our first road trip was to North Carolina Central and at Duke that that was that was Wo that was off the chain that was that was wild yeah we stepped at Central also so yeah yeah so you know I think you know yeah go ahead Mike I'm sorry no no I I'll go ahead and let you speak because I know we we had a really good time um at Central but I remember traveling to with Stringer to uh faed Bill State University and as far as visiting Brothers it seemed like uh Elizabeth City East Carolina was El Elizabeth City part two because those Brothers stay on our yard stayed on our yard uh they used to come down constantly CJ um uh I forget the other Bill uh Bill CJ but those Brothers used to come down quite often from Elizabeth City I also St Paul College used to come to our brother St Paul used come and uh and so um uh but you know road tripping has changed so much I mean you used to road trip before and you get on the campus it was under that interrogation stuff Brothers read Brothers wanted to impress you by setting you out and so you know we would travel places and brothers would just you know roll out the red carpet and and Mike is is is correct I mean we were like celebrities from East Carolina we had a pretty good reputation um and so it's great times great memories traveling to these other universities yeah man I'm glad you missed that Marlon LG Lama gamma Lumber coming that's what we know yeah so you can go so so hey when they got that still today that's what hey LG is LG but trust me we know about that Lumber Company also during the weekends uh at at Rock's house you know usually on the weekends we will be at that house serving the visiting brothers and we will be over the house mostly all day on Saturdays till early Sunday mornings until we went to church so a lot of the guys that I remember who came from Pope Air Force Base and Camp June they would come to Rock's house and stay for the weekend and they were brothers old brothers in in the military you know I mean and we would serve them up and you know make sure they were taken care of or whatever whatever Rock told us to do and I always remember the brothers from pop older brothers talking about hey man go find me a girl on campus and I like I'm big I want a big old girl you know that kind of stuff but uh yeah I think our first trip was Central and I remember going there Mike and the brothers at Central was picking at us because that was one of our first trips after line and we were still standing in the line you know we W standing like this but somehow where we on campus we all it was always a line you know I mean but you know it might be curvy but we all standing like you know right near each other we're so used to you know that pledging and you know make sure you you hooked up but we wasn't close together but we were always in the line I want I want to test y'all's memory for a minute the first time I ever met you guys and you probably don't remember this was in goldboro at mil miles Kelly's house he had a cook out do you guys remember that oh yeah I remember we played basketball in the backyard that's right we sure did we sure did had a had a great time that was the first time I'd ever met you guys okay I don't remember exactly who was there but I know y'all had just crossed and Miles had all of y'all come up the go bro and obviously Vinny was there he he remembers he remembers yeah and you know he hey Jackson and and Tony and I might have been there but Tony and I was also minoring in herbology at that time so we don't our memory we might have been there we might not have been there but that was our that was our second uh minor at East Carolina at that time right man I I remember when we went to Central man didn't we get mixed up and kind of separated a little bit Yeah Yeah me Danny Danny you remember me you and Flor again somehow we got we got all our signals off I don't know how the hell what happened man but somehow we got got together but we got mixed up at first think you get straight now yeah so I I know some of were F was it fville Street yeah we down there fville State yeah that was the remember we went to go see Derek Johnson pledge at the Musa oh yeah we went to y I remember that they went in the swimming pool swimming pool yes sir oh man yeah that yeah but I remember we went to Fairville state with Stringer and I remember it was it was like right after we pledged and it was two guys I think it was two guys who were pledging and uh I remember the brothers from Fairville State said you can't touch them because they're your lbs so they were spring spring 81 uh guys still online in fville state man remember they had this one brother Little Pork and Beans he throw that little fat on the floor they make him eat it off the floor bear remember boy name bear I remember JM yeah fville State we used to travel down there too because I always thought that campera smelt bad like what in the hell up with this place thought it like stunk had these trees that was just terrible yeah my grandparents lived across from F state so whenever I went home I hung out with the DG boys brothers and also I spent a lot of time up in Howard you know back in the 80s driving my Pinto up there my little homemade place and I used to park out front of my my my wife's girlfriend's dorm and the brothers used to come up to the dorm like who's who's driving them North Carolina plates with the pinto with the with the Omega tag up so a lot of the 81 Brothers rern Baker all those Brothers up there Howard uh I'm really tight with 81's 82s up there yeah he's my he's my state senator now bro that's awesome hey brothers have we forgot uh James Fel yes I mean he I think he was instrumental yes definitely tell me who James pel is he was committed man he just yeah he did it me he's uh I'm connected to him on Facebook he he plays to Winston State he's a doctor out in Utah but he was kind of like our he wasn't our ADP because that was Newton but he was pretty much our our third ADP um but he was very instrumental during our pledge process um very good brother um matter of fact he he's the guy that designed our first shirts if you remember those yellow shirts with with the dog on it oh nasty dog yeah with got a pinky ring yeah and he was the one that showed us and and he showed us the steps yeah he showed us a lot of steps we came forget marrick now Mar marrick showed us that sir and and we had um uh uh Wayne Smith from M and Mike Mike Washington mik all aand yeah me me Danny and Shar we got it that summer yeah got swag you know that swag this is hey look lb I I have my no everybody know our best stepper with hand down Pookie good gracious Willie Johnson Willie Johnson that boy could do it y I want to ask a I want to ask a question um you know I don't understand who came up with our name gangers of the grooves uh and we used to got our ass with because my brothers thought we talking about Groove but who spelled Lalo wrong on our shirts yeah that Joe that was a honcho he's dead but it was him but gang gangsters of the groove came from that song that was up at that time oh yeah that song was gang we wanty we want be identifi with some bad asses so that was it l loto yeah still that shirt still spoke wrong and printing [Laughter] them oh my God what question um what was you relationship with um with frager Sanders at the time if he was your chapter advisor then um and and new out for any relationship with any gr graduate chapters there do you know so U has been suspended so many times and I don't even remember Fraser that that much but I know when he used to come on campus he used to be cussing at us yeah frager it was real simple frager Sanders wanted us to be damn Yes Men or just do whatever you know but we know you talking about young men and I and I'm not knocking any graduate chapter at all but you got young kids young young adults and they're gonna just be explosive and wild and Frank want to kind of kind of real Us in and I be gu he won't use this so we just kind of listen lightly that was the deal and we thought I thought new Alpha was Greenville but then I learned it later on new Alpha was really a hosy I think I think it was a husky so now Greenville has the chapter but it wasn't like that at first so yeah I just feel all the gr chat always was want to put handcuffs on us and don't do this don't do that and I don't even know I I don't know if I really have have belief that they really had our backs because I remember sometimes the uni the the the university may say may bark a little bit but frager and those guys were bark harder I kind of remember that storm coming through what was your all's relationship with um did you all have pearls then and what was your relationship with the other Greeks and other sororities and things that or the panhel or you know Administration what was that like we had a pearl a yeah we had pearls uh Q Essence uh yeah Q Essence I'm sorry well we started out with pearls it was pearls when we pledged I think Ence came around in 83 yeah they came later yeah that be right okay and what was your relationship like with the other organizations on campus Because by that time you know what everybody was there except for the sigmas I think right right the sigmas weren't there when when we pledged and the grooves ended up coming along I'm G to tie in and I think was something Reggie St stated earlier you know what our relationship with the other Greeks was good but we were just arrogant as hell no other way to describe it we knew we were the best I mean we had the greatest parties you know everybody I said this years ago in the email I remember one time the cers had a party they were giving out beer was you know door prizes this that and the other we had a door we had a party we charged you for it we not giving you anything and our party would be packed we just we had great our relationships were cool we were competitive but the end of the day we knew we were running the yard we were I mean were everywhere everything we touched was pretty much golden we had a party at the Roxy Theater which you know I get blamed for blow up system that's another story but we had a party at the Roxy Theater no one had ever had a party at the Roxy Theater it was packed I think at that time we made about $4,000 I mean so um our relationships were good I actually think we got along better with the AKA than the Deltas we always had some struggles getting along with the Deltas but uh but you know with the other groups the Caps existed I think the only guys we ever really viewed as perhaps somewhat of a competitor may have been the alpas just because you know they they stepped pretty good but other than that uh our relationships from my perspective yeah were pretty good yeah every time we had every time we had parties they were pack I remember Ty at summer school I think you had taken all your albums home you had one album and we parted off in one album I think it was the bus bus boys remember right right right and we played that over and over and over over over again but you know every time we had parties everybody it was Full House I mean Greenville knew because the radio announcers were announcing accuses of U I see you there there were we you know it was it was just amazing it was amazing had a party at Memorial Gym naum man we made so much money there man I remember steps with Joe counting money said man I was tired of counting money man I just said man I'm done yeah you you keep counting yeah and we make it to give it away but yeah man we were just whoever said the celebrities was that you Mike it just seemed that way man we just brought back another resiliency to the to the fraternity man and we wrote it we wrote it now the Dark Horse in in that era is when the brothers had to go through that legal system yeah yeah that was gonna be my next question that Chang us that Chang yeah we spent the whole summer in pit County Courthouse you know yeah we read the article um Bernard Jolly still has the article that was in the paper and so have it as well that was tough man that was tough and I don't know how how how I escaped but I escaped so that's why we knew it won't it was just frivilous stuff may have been some legitimacy but this guy just out there on a limb man casy transferred po left who else that was a rough time yeah that was a rough time graduate I was graduating uh May of 83 so I was just trying to get through through with the process I wanted to graduate and then I think I went to court after that but um yeah some of the stuff went down in our apartment and at the uh frat house over uh it was just reg regular pledging and um uh again you know it gets down to some of the mainten of of Omega physical mental but physical but also knowing how to vet those that are interested everybody ain't Omega Man we we have to we got to vet those we got to vet brothers who were recommending yeah they blew they blew it out they blew it out and the campus blew it out ofor por you know all the Greeks and I believe they they just hated us for some reason you know yeah yeah and U we we came back strong after that you know we came back strong absolutely Mighty you man um so let me ask you a question before we even go to anything s summon anything up um what any were brothers after y'all went over and then y'all were Pro fights y'all brought in 82 were were any brothers in any prominent positions you know on the campus any organizations and things like that what was the brothers influence in the campus life for you guys is it anything that y'all said we want to make sure that we were known for make sure we did you know you talk about running the yard how did y'all accomplish it well I just want to speak real quickly I I want to mention this before I forget I remember Sharon we did this U dial teacher program you remember Shar yeah I mean that was really big we supported like uh the middle school students they had a high they had problems in high school with their homework and um we committed to the dollar teacher program and we also used to go to South Greenville one of those schools we did tutoring and all that kind of stuff yeah Mike can you repeat the name of that program it was Dial Dial A teacher okay and they connected to the brothers and we helped them assist them with their homework uh we had the books I can't remember the lady who set us up I know Shar if you remember but I can't to be volunteered several nights a week just you know taking questions and answers and about uh some of the middle schools homework assignments and I and I would what that what I would say is Marlon the 81 kind of gave a life to the fraternity not that he did not have it in Greenville but now a lot of people in Greenville knew us we just kind of exposed this different stuff we went to the wigs we went over here we went over there you heard H say on the radio we would just seem like everywhere and it was just those times were just times for black kind of unity and just uh black experiences and the racism piece we knew where we were at but it just seemed like me for me it was just all Blackness around it was just all Blackness around we just and and the social important and to tag on what you were saying Sheridan you know people were looking for us to put put our name on something to give it a stamp of approval I remember there was a concert at M's Coliseum it was the treasurers 3 somebody else and I can't remember but we were put on the billing in order to lure people to the to men Coliseum for their concert I don't know if you guys remember that and said and Raymond Carney you know he always wanted us to you know sponsor parties at his at his Club because they would always be packed so yeah it it was a it was pretty headyy moments I mean everything we touched turned to goal but I do remember that concert M Coliseum was the treacherous 3 and it was like two other groups um sponsored by Omega sci-fi and blah blah blah blah blah and all we had to do was put our name on it yeah Vinnie that made me think man Vinnie had another skill set y'all Y Vinnie used to do all little Flyers man yosa V y'all remember he used to draw little draw little flowers up and all that kind of stuff I got some of them to this day yes also I just don't want to touch on myself too much uh I was on the soccer team and uh you know they don't touch yourself they had an award for you know whatever fraternity brought the most people into to the game and this was the first time the game was played on in fckin fckin stadium all the brothers showed up I think we won a keg or something like that but all the brothers came out and supported me uh in that soccer match and we played uh North Carolina State but and with that you know all fraternities came out and everything you know the cap came the alphas came you know it was just a whole lot of us at a soccer game yeah awesome but you know that was a different era back then I mean I think Marlon it was more as the brother said more social um it was part of that campus right before uh Jackson Jackson and was the Pioneers they were the first head knockers on campus you know I mean they were there um in small number but Mighty numbers and I think in the 80s with the social we were making those minority students more comfortable you know not just in the dorm room but we were able to do things on campus we had venues out in the out in the city we had one one Club I forgot down there off of uh near industrial area that we had every Thursday night we took the door they took the bar I mean we were rolling the tou what was the name of it the tou that's that's on Fifth Street okay there another there whz but but the other thing the other thing that was was so dramatic not dramatic but interesting in the 6D it was so small you knew who went over at at at North Carolina State you knew who who was over at North Carolina Central you knew who was good at ENT you know it was a whole bu of Brothers in in the 6D Omega didn't make a lot of brothers at at that time so everybody kind of knew of each other or knew somebody you know what I mean so it was not only on campus but we had a a great interconnection with other universities wherever we traveled and and U preceded us before we got there now you mentioned that you guys did a lot of uh road trips to the area campuses what about uh conclaves district meeting and that sort of thing uh our first district made was in Myrtle Beach 84 that I attended it um I don't know who else attended it was did you go to Myrtle Beach tyone no I remember Charlotte though CU I remember uh the road chapter stepped to uh music of Lakeside so I know we did U um Charlotte what year was that uh I I think that was 82 because I think that they said they went as NEOS and y'all took them or something like that yeah I think it was 82 okay I went to the district 84 in South in Myrtle at Myrtle Beach and I think there was um I know we went to DC uh in I think it was after the 80 that was 84 84 no that was in Miami was it the conclave in now DC was 84 wasn't it 86 75 86 866 86 I know went there that was my first conclave I think DC was our first go ahead no I was just GNA ask um how have y'all stayed connected through the years homecoming you know for the most part homecoming uh we recently connected with some missing folks uh for our um uh anniversary on April 3rd we all had a a zoom call I think everybody was on there said what Mike Floyd yeah Floyd and of course homecoming yeah homecoming and golf um um Joe's passing even before Joe passed that was that was my guy you know he was in my wedding we were roommates um when I would come to North Carina from Connecticut headed to Greenville I always stop in Farmville uh and his decline prior to prior to his his passing uh weighed weighed and continues to weigh heavy on me you know of what we could have what I could have what we could have done to to help um so yeah r r i i comec because Joe out of all my line Brothers he was the only one that came to Bermuda he had oh man he had a great man it was so popular in ber I was like damn Joey and I was hang hanging out with the rosters and stuff like that you know but um I was in Joe's wedding and the same day he got married he had a funeral so we had to do the funeral first and then he got married I was like but Joe was Joe was unbelievable I used call him hot ham and cheese every time he go in Hardies Jo what was Joe's expression I'm the last man you see or something like that yeah yeah the last man like that yeah it was something like the last man that let you down something man Joe came by and got me what you doing nothing man come ride with me man we had go set up for a grave and V done told you know how I feel about all that stuff yeah I said man come on man and uh but Joe was a bad boy Joe become an ey inoculator and all this stuff uh Joe Joe Joe was a Joe was a crafty brother man yeah great director he really was yeah great funeral great funeral director I mean I never seen somebody multi TK in in my life going to Farmville we go oh I got another funeral go let's go you know he always had a hustle going did y'all ever see those packages his mother used to send him he'd have all that food and foil and all that kind man look at this guy man his mother hooked him up man where was Joe from originally now where was Joe I'm sorry outside of Wilson yeah Wilson he play ball we play ball to get high school he to Sarat Saratoga ball to kill him yeah you be that sing you know he doing all that M man Joe Rex them boys man man yeah yeah re Rex never did he ever pledge or no he never pledge man but he was there at this funeral man and some of his old football players is real good see those guys matter of fact man I'm tell you about brotherly love this no lie I was coming back from Greenville one day and I think I was driving that D on 79 Toyota uh the one and uh I broke down I'm like man what I'm do we Ain got no cell phones back in them days right and I'm just kind of thinking about what I'm gonna do guess who comes by today G passing me that's Chicago Joe and man you know of course Joe got me hooked up man but Joe was a unique brother man and and he's not on the call tonight but another unique brother we had was I I named him J Ricardo Le was tough man that yeah yeah he's ride that motorcycle from Greenville to goldboro yeah he said come on we'll take you on my motorcycle to go bro I said no you're not look man right now he Vinnie you I'm surprised Vinnie still on the call I'm still on the call yeah him and Vin will hook up at some point but Ricardo right now is at Oriental and he's got a barbecue junk joint let me tell you right now those white people man you know you know him say yeah man man it is is good it's SP it is really good he got great reviews man so J where where is it matter of fact new yeah it was on one of those shows the other day Oriental North Carolina because I had never heard of until we got yeah near Newburn yeah it's coastal town near New got really good reviews at his spot man so I'm coming down there I've told a lot of them guys I work with yeah man y'all go check out uh Ricardo I think I said did to be honest put the name of his restaurant out there so all the brothers will know oh what's that uh God I got it in here my Rick's North Carolina Rick Rick's Barbecue yeah there you go Rich barbecue in in Oriental North Carolina Oriental North Carolina I'm surprised him and Vinnie ain't hooked up yet no not yet they you know what I may ride my motorcycle there tomorrow morning that be I'm on the website right now Benny do it do it and Haz him because we started at 7:45 for him he sends me a little text he be to make the call and of course you know business is business I understand but Marlon I know we we're about to end but and and this may be another Zoom call at another time but I got X-rated stories regarding Tony Hester that I can tell I got x-rated uh Mike Schwan yes sir I got xrated of course Joe Ward I got booty called and Nick suck I got uh uh who else let me look who else on here don't don't let Danny off the hook C his Wii Danny oh my God Danny's country is I got X-rated stories about I got to whisper come my wife thing D gonna do man is come to the party be 100 women where where the freaks at where the freaks at I said Danny they everywhere they everywhere reie Joe Ward gave you the name Captain Q that's got the name from who Joe Joe Ward he was Captain q no he called you Captain Q hey look Marlon Marlon and everybody knew where the infirmary was so they can go there and get the medicine to get rid of that D that was still around at 89 might have to shut it down I'm go y'all no no no what I'd like to do one more thing before we close though I got another story too now oh okay go ahead SB I gotta tell you this one look man we were known for parties but them boys stayed at w Wilson ACR and they come up with I don't know who the hell come up with it but they said we gonna have a toga party we got toga party black people have a toga party we had a toga party and damn Wilson ACR or whatever it was and let me tell you off the chain is a word to describ and it man it was beautiful good gracious yeah is that the part is that the party where the dzz band showed up yeah yeah everybody was talking about that that they came after the show and hung out with y'all 82 was talking about that I'm about to lose power I need to get another Power Court I'll be right back and that was during the time we were suspended to we still did our thing Man it didn't make we still that just showed you what pool we had it was uh who was in there it was me Tony Joe and then Mike came in when Tony left yeah I came in after T yeah that toga party started with a toga end up butt necked party yes sir re boy I I I I found this Shorty boy I thought she was a 10 boy when when I seen her after my drunkness came boy she might have been a three I met Brothers when when I was in Connecticut I met Brothers I met Omega men that were in the service and they said I I used to come when I was Camp June all the brothers used to know to go to griev and then go to Wilson a because and they would be a party and know they would stay there yes sir yes sir I um I got one ass um and I don't know Vinnie if you know this um do you know warmer Vinnie yes can you sing a little bit of it because a lot of us Brothers never heard it oh yeah yeah and stuff like that and a lot of new brothers never heard it and they and you have been said to be one of the singest brothers so we give back in the day opportunity what What's the title of that song again warmer warmer Dennis that's Dennis yeah that's Dennis Humphrey song yes sir but Vinnie had a voice Vinnie had a great Vinnie let me just say this now in one of the interviews there was uh a mention about you Dennis and several other brothers who were pretty good singers getting together and singing warmer at the 50th yeah okay can we work that out yeah yeah I would love to do it i' like to practice a little bit but yeah absolutely yeah because yeah but uh I'd be honored yeah that's one of the things that we like to put put together so just be thinking about it and maybe you can I don't know maybe some of your lbs here get your lemon juice ready yeah yeah what I'll do is I'll reach out to Dennis because I see he's out on Facebook I'll reach out to him and maybe he and I can coordinate and you know sing a stand of it but yeah he should be pretty recovered now he was down there uh doing the Floyd fight and staying in the same hotel as Floyd down in uh Miami Miami and was getting inundated by anybody who was trying to be something or wanted to be something came through that hotel semios stong swimsuit the whole week yeah wow in fact he enjoyed himself so much he showed up late on our interview wow yeah listen um one thing that I did want to mention um I know we've covered a lot of things during this interview and you guys have uh really uh enlightened us with a lot of good stuff so I I want to give you the opportunity uh to leave us with um um your impressions that you like for you'd like to share with the rest of the uh U Brothers uh before we uh close it down anybody can well I I was I would just I would I would be quick and say that uh pledging Omega and pledging spring 81 has been a a major part of my life a major part it is it is part of that Foundation of early manhood that I have that I that I went through with these guys that I'm looking on the screen right now this is that Foundation of wherever I am right now and those weeks of pledging has grew to a life I mean a true I people say that sometimes you know just a lifetime of love but this is a lifetime of love with these guys and my fraternity amen amen I couldn't have said it any better love you guys love my fraternity and definitely love you Z yeah and and you know and I concare with what Reggie said and and I would just like to add as well I think the older I get the more you know you step back and you look at things I think with spring 81 uh yeah 73 and the brothers from the 70s were phenomenal but I really do believe in my heart the spring 81 was a transition line first of all we were the largest line ever seen of any black fraternity on campus at time there was 12 of us and then if you looked at you know some of the things that we were able to impact uh we were really um Trends Setters This Is Not tooting our own horn but when you step back and look at some of the things that we accomplished and you know the members of our line some of the things that occurred during our our tenure on on the campus of East Carolina um you know when when I step back and look at you know what the groundwork we laid because you know after 81 82 I mean it was it was 20s something guys I think on that line of course only nine went over but I mean the interest really peaked up and then after that 83 we had a great line you know to Norwood so we just started this tradition of guys wanting to get down with us and um and you know hats off to the brothers that pledged us because they really uh instilled some traditional things in in in and what we were doing and and made us do some things to reach beyond what we thought we could ever do but I really do believe that spring 81 was a line and not only resurrected the chapter it wasn't dead it's just you know a we infused some Youth and some some uh Vitality into the chapter but I I truly do believe the spring 81 was a transformational um line that kind of spring forward you know all of the 80s lines of course things change you know everything evolves over time you can't continue to do the same thing over and over again but when I look at the 80s line like Marlon your line and whatnot you guys encaptured some of the things that you know we were doing and 81 so um I love my lbs I'm very proud of what we done and what we accomplished and you know and I look back often at the pictures and and some of the memories and um and uh they're they're important to me I mean they've impacted my life in many ways when I get in struggles I think about you know 81 I I was able to get through this that and the other so uh thanks to my Line brothers and thank you guys for setting this up and let me say we were often imitated but never duplicated I just want to say you know it's so important to go through that that pledging process you know I can't believe it's been what 40 years 40 years and you think about the things that we went through and and how we are still United today and also uh I was instrumental in starting the Chara chapter here in Bermuda yes and um you know you have to be very very very very careful about who you're going to be or who's going to be a part of aega because I believe we you know like you said earlier you know we're we're we're a special bunch and so important to you know our society and even Society here in ber you know everyone oh when because they have Al they have kappers hundreds of them whatever you know but we only have a few we only need a few you know that's true amen amen and I just like to add you got to remember and and Jackson is here but you got to remember the chapter was still young it was only eight years old when we played scho was years old it was just eight years old so that transformation everything was transforming from Jackson to to you know to four years later to us so that's that process well the thing that stood out to me the most talking about your line and the 82 line is the fact that there was so many brothers on campus at the time I mean it was 30 something brother yeah I I can't imagine how that must have been having all the those Brothers online together like that I mean that I'm sure it that was an awesome feeling but I mean that's just something that we never experienced it was it was an awesome feeling but we fought a lot too you know cute pearls boy they they you know sometime the brothers be more with the cute Pearl than the brothers you know so that's a whole another that's a whole another show man when I when I think about U and [Music] 81 you know it touches my heart and in a a long deep way I feel obligated from 73 to 80 right so my M was always like you know identifi with SED SED man what do you think about this what do you think about that so I always thought what anything I ever done forward was always making sure the older brothers would would like that or it was the right move and I know that's the protocol we talk about but I talk about 12 men I bonded with and I bonded closer with some of the ones than not but all but still just a closeness Danny and I because the way we live you know hung out so much man so much knew his mother his father went to his father's funeral man part of my extended family uh friendship is essentially to soul man I live that man I live head head bloody but un bow period and what ready says and what everybody said collectively embodies what we believe to be Mighty in U Tyrone playing the music uh being always being there right Boo doing his thing feeling like we need to protect him just all those kind of things are just the dynamic made up our line and make us still a Mega Man today and so when I think about youing and what it means to me I'm talking about for SB it means a lot and so the 50th as I envisioned it you know I did my little 45 speech and I didn't never I I always feel I couldn't get linked into a grad chapter like I could my undergraduate chapter and so I dedicated you my my time in U I'm getting ready move a little bit differently now but Man U has meant so much to me and it's helped me and so you know you gives back too man ain't what you can you know you've gotten out of it what what have you done for her so I just thank you guys for accepting me my quirkiness sometimes my little craziness my little country ass voice whatever it may be uh but I love each and every one of you in a special way and for all my El Brothers 70 80 backwards uh 82 forward much love as well so that's that's my peace that's good stuff from all of you from all of you can we Danny can you come on man and try to say something I know you connection tough but man I know you go got so much to say I know I feel I feel for dny yeah Dan you gonna try it again man looks like he's Frozen yeah just try it man just try it try the best you can love you bro I don't want him to be ex from this yeah I know but just a quick story about Danny uh Danny used to have the cars all the time the $200 cars and he had one car that we had to put the steering wheel on you can take it off when you're driving but it had you got to kind of lock I mean you don't even know the wheels going to turn but we packed that thing up and went wherever we need to go remember when we got stopped that sh got stopped I I'm sure I'm sure what are you doing man trying his best he hey brothers while uh while Danny trying to get his microphone together I know one thing we discussed last night that we didn't mention today how long was this process how long were you all on eight weeks eight weeks well not quite eight not quite eight was February 14th to April 3rd there there you go went over think about it now I feel like it was like six and a half or something that's about eight weeks eight weeks I know it's eight weeks yeah well now look now ITB counted for me if we went on on the 14th and went on on the third that ain't too mons I'm about to break up a calendar now 1981 I think it's like I like six and a half seven somewhere in there I think I think it's about seven week but we can round it up I know it was hell put it that way that that I was gonna say well if you like everybody else it was too long it was too it was about six weeks I think it was seven Danny can you hear us now I can hear you so February 14th was on a Saturday no you got a wrong calendar then it says February February 1981 the 14th Saturday I believe I believe it was before the 14th because we had to remember that poem 12 so I believe it was before the 14th let me pull up mine because February 14th was on a Sunday I [Music] think okay hold on I mean what kind of computer you got I mean whatever I'm just I'm just I'm just Googling it you got you got that Trump computer fake facts or fake all right I bought another no 71 it was no that's 71 yeah I mean yeah that yeah yeah 89 88 it's a it's a one 1981 right and you got on you got a for hey I'm I'm just telling you what's on the computer I'll pull up another one I Saturday as well oh do you okay it might be 15th is a Sunday might get ready some wood wrong I'm wrong I admit to it if I am all right okay all right what's next that's it for me yeah that I think that pretty much reps it reps it up seven and a half weeks there you go that's about right a half weeks hell pure hell I'm telling you man they took extra [ __ ] out on us man I swear for God because they had a line a't seen nobody they like oh look what we got now and nothing think about now the first tail and the tail you gonna get it all boy I'm tell you I should have been the hono man I said damn can I switch no you ran you ran from the honcho real quick hell because I know I'm my ass kiing whatever and my brother made up for all that you remember I wanted to kill him matter matter of fact I tell you this I went over he said man look now come on now boy SB was Bo I was I was ready to kill him I was ready to kill some people boy I ain't lying well that brings up an interesting question now I've heard several other hotos mentioned that or several other lines where people mentioned they tried to dodge being hono well now I was hunt y for my line and I don't appreciate that because I the hun I was that was I was the glue okay so it was an honor to be the huno man yes sir yeah but see I thought this here's what I thinking my brother's a cute they think because I'm the honu I'm supposed to be the damn most thorough I said Noh we gonna let we gonna let it go down like that I may be thorough but it ain't me because of my brother so when did that mindset coming into play I started I start I started strategically looking at this thing wait a minut already to last now they want me to hunt your too oh no I gonna get a double dip and get crushed I couldn't take it I said no sir I want it w it was not an interest of mind all right well my mindset was just like I told y earlier I thought I was joining a high school club you join one my brother yeah look man you think about this man what about the first time you look what done in my damn body I got some marks up here boy you ready to kill somebody man [ __ ] all blue blue blackish like what the [ __ ] what the hell is this well not not to belabor the point but at least you guys had some some idea what the expectations were in 74 we didn't have a clue you know I I didn't understand I mean we we we would just roll out there and whatever happened happened you know all right hey hey Danny you got you got audio I see you back in Danny got Tor bro he got Toro North Carolina Country there okay well Danny do this for us if you would send your questionnaire to I've got it yeah so that we can make sure that we get his input yeah yeah and if not Danny you know what I might even call call you um this weekend and just you know get you get you to spit some stuff for us so we we work out please do well we can do that too yeah yeah because we would like to get uh let him be a part of this as well absolutely yeah it just hit me guys shs I love to cop me some backa that was my thing sh I love to cop me some back or do something and Danny's thing was something about I love to something screw me a little cam you are stupid just hit me I remember and they got us because we were country oh man yeah yeah okay man that's that sound thank you well I just I just want to say um you know thank y'all for doing this and all also you know thank y'all for through the years for everything that you all have poured into me you know individually and stuff like that just I really appreciate each one of y'all thanks thank yes indeed thank you thanks committee thanks guys8 guys I enjoyed it all right brother I think we need a part two take care Brothers the recording but um