book of records - Kansas State University

7.24 Book of Records
In addition to building back up the Tau tradition of good grades, they once again had men in campus leadership
positions and honoraries. ΑΤΩs were presidents of the YMCA, the K Fraternity, Sigma Tau and the Business Club.
Two members, Clarence Heath and Larry King, were on the football team. Clarence Heath was captain of the K-State
team in 1946 and was named to play in the MO-KAN game in Kansas City. He was also named by the ΑΤΩ Palm to the
All-ΑΤΩ team.
The membership was built back up, the ΑΤΩ leadership and grade traditions were back and there was only one
thing left--a Chapter House. In this project, Brother Delladio once again took command. As treasurer of the Alumni
Association, he organized a drive to raise money for the purchase of a house for the chapter. With generous donations
and hard work, the drive was successful and the alumni were able to purchase a house. It was a native limestone house
on the northwest corner of the campus and was once the country home of a prominent Manhattan resident. This location
earned the members the title of ACountry Gentlemen@.
The college also wanted to buy the land, but reluctantly let Delta Theta have it. The purchase was made two
weeks before school started in the fall of 1947, with Steve Delladio and J. B. Wohlberg handling the arrangements. The
members pitched in and remodeled it for Rush Week. The address of the house was 1730 Claflin, later changed to 1408
Denison when the city rerouted Claflin.
The alumni had hoped to build a completely new house in a couple of years, but the rising costs of materials
after the war prohibited it. The dedication of the converted country home was thus held on Homecoming, October 25,
1947, after the Kansas State-Nebraska football game. This concludes one of the most critical chapters in Delta Theta=s
history and much of the credit goes to Brother Steve Delladio, who brought life back to the chapter.
The chapter had survived World War II and many of the chapter members who returned were men who had left
the house in the early 1940s to help defend the country. However, four of those brothers who had defended the country
were not to return to the chapter or business life. These brothers, in giving up their lives, gave the last full measure of
devotion for the preservation of freedom while serving their country. The four brothers and the dates of their deaths are:
Brother William Lloyd Muir II October 20, 1943
Brother Ralph Thornton Rankin January 26, 1944
Brother John Bruce Nixon December 15, 1944
Brother Wilfred Eugene Burnham March 15, 1945
Before this chapter covering Delta Theta through World War II can come to an end, it must be noted that one of
the chapter=s alumnus was helping Province XVIII through the troubled times. In 1946, Fred Klemp, with a warm
friendly personality and a driving spirit, was appointed as Chief of Province XVIII by Worthy Grand Chief John
MacGregor after the war and worked with the chapters of the province to get them moving again. He had to resign the
post in 1950 because of his business schedule.