A LOOK BACK: KAPPA HISTORY
membership into the Zeta Chap- ter of Kappa Alpha Psi through the chapter’s pledge club. To efficiently manage the surge of aspirants, the Zeta Chapter cre- ated a standardized orientation process. At the first meeting, William J. Madison (Zeta 1918) suggested the appropriate name for the pledge club, the “Scroller Club” after the vertical scroll that appears on the fraternity’s Coat of Arms and membership badge. At the second meeting, aspirant Elias Tuggle proposed the name “Scroller” as a formal name of the pledges. Tuggle became the first president of the Scroller Club and J. Maynard Dickerson (Zeta 1920) became its first secretary-treasurer. Tuggle’s pledgeship with the new Scroller Club was inter- rupted when he left school, presumably due to financial hardship. Contrary to popular belief, Tuggle was not an “Eter- nal Scroller”; i.e., one who was selected to become a Scroller, but never completed the pledge period. Tuggle returned to school and was initiated into the Zeta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi on November 1, 1924. He entered the Chapter Invisible in 1928 due to complications of tuberculosis. Zeta Chapter recounted the es- tablishment of the Scroller Club on the campus of Ohio State University in the May 1920, Kappa Alpha Psi Journal (Vol. VI, No. 1, pg. 20). “Official rec- ognition has been accorded the chapter by the faculty of Ohio State University. A system for pledging has been worked out, stressing the idea – not as many new men as come on campus, but as many new men as we can get who can meet Kappa requirements.”
was the first organized pledge club to be established among the other Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLO). Accord- ing to Brown, et al., “In 1919, the Scroller Club was founded at Ohio State for pledges of Kappa Alpha Psi. This was followed by the founding of the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia for Delta Sigma Theta pledges in 1920, the Sphinx Club at Howard [University] for Alpha Phi Alpha pledges in 1921, and the Ivy Club at Wilberforce [University] for pledges of Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1922. At Howard University, the 1920s and 1930s brought the creation of the Lampados [sic] Club for pledges of Omega Psi Phi and the Archonian Club for pledges of Zeta Phi Beta. This period also saw the emergence of the Crescent Club for pledges of Phi Beta Sigma and the Au- rora Club for pledges of Sigma Gamma Rho” (African American Fraternities and Sororities-The Legacy and the Vision, 2005, p. 441). The newly formed Scroller Club established several standards including, officers that would parallel those comprised within the chapter and the fraternity – president, corresponding to the fraternity’s Polemarch; a vice-president, corresponding to the Vice Polemarch; a secretary, corresponding to the Keeper of Records, and a treasurer, corresponding to the Keeper of Exchequer. Some Scroller Clubs on college campuses had their own debate and basketball teams, proms, Homecoming Courts and Sweethearts. Some Scroller Clubs participated in intramural games against other pledge clubs such as the Alpha’s Sphinxmen and the Omega’s Lampados. The Scroller Club,
1936 Alpha Epsilon Scroller Club Johnson C. Smith University "Golden Bull" Yearbook.
1940 Beta Lambda Scroller Club Lane College "Lanite" Yearbook.
Kappa Alpha Psi’s Scroller Club
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