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the church wrapped around the block. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D- NY), and Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) were among the numerous dignitaries who offered remarks during the funeral services. Early Years Calvin Otis Butts, III was born on July 19, 1949, in Bridgeport, CT, to Eloise (née Edwards) Butts and Cal- vin, II. During his early childhood, the family moved to New York City, where he received his primary education. He attended New York City Public School 97 and 92 and then Russell Sage Junior High (J.H.S. 190). Butts was a Boy Scout, rising to the rank of Life Scout. In 1967, he earned his high school diploma from Flushing High School, where he was an excellent competitor in the 800 meters on the school track team and senior class president. Morehouse College After high school, Butts considered attending Trinity College in Hartford, CT, before selecting Morehouse Col- lege in Atlanta, GA. Three Morehouse Men, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Butts’ childhood pastor Rev. Dr. William Eurenstoff Gardner, and famed More- house College President Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays influenced Butts’ selec- tion of Morehouse. Butts frequently recalled that he attended a luncheon with his mother in New York City as a child, where Dr. Mays was the keynote speaker, which sparked his interest in the school. Among his fellow Morehouse College students, faculty, and school administrators, Butts had a reputation as a well-spoken, well-dressed, well-read, and well-respected young man with a sharp intellect. Retired Morehouse Col- lege Professor Dr. Anne Watts recently reflected on her former pupil: “Calvin Butts was clearly a leader early on. Imagine, if you will, my being a new young teacher in a place called Morehouse College in a class of all male scholars who were accustomed to
debate and who questioned practically everything. Clearly, Calvin Butts was the leader of them all because when his hand was raised, all others were either dropped to half-mast or pulled back altogether. As his academic brothers hung on to his every word, the amazing splendor of his ideas rendered a silence of respect that I had not seen in any of my other classes. Here was a man who knew his place in the universe, as if his lineage was already defining his destiny.” As a student, Butts was a leader in campus activism, student government, and civil rights. He was a visible and vocal presence among his fellow stu- dents and regularly engaged in dialogue with school leadership and issues on and beyond campus. He and other Morehouse students took to the streets in anger and violence in the chaotic days after the assassina- tion of Martin Luther King, Jr., which occurred during Butts’ freshman year. In interviews reflecting on those events years later, Butts commented that the event changed his outlook on protest and activism and that “...violence was not the way and non-violence was the way.” The following year, Butts was involved in one of the school’s seminal episodes when his fellow students, in- cluding future acclaimed actor Sam- uel L. Jackson, took over the school’s administration building and held the members of the Board of Trustees hostage demanding various changes at the school. Butts recalled years later, “Sam and those were inside the [board] room. They got inside the room before I did. So, I was outside [the building] raising the same hell that they were on the inside.’” In the event’s aftermath, the school leadership appointed three Pi Chapter members, Donald L. Hense, Nelson D. Taylor, and Butts, as student represen- tatives to the Board of Trustees to im- prove communication with its students. “You knew Butts was going to be successful in whatever he did.” While at Morehouse College, Butts
was initiated into Kappa Alpha Psi via the Pi Chapter in the fall of 1968. Butts in April 2021: “I knew nothing about Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity until I reached More- house College. I was introduced to the Fraternity by Donald L. Hense (Pi 1966) and Nelson D. Taylor (Pi 1965), [among others]. They convinced me that there was no other fraternity that ought to be under my consideration other than Kappa. For that, I am grateful. The Kappa Alpha Psi experience has followed me to this very day. I am wedded to Morehouse College and the great leadership that has come out of the grand fraternity of Kappa Alpha Psi.” In a 2007 interview, Hense, a past Junior Grand Vice Polemarch, recalled about Butts at Morehouse. “Calvin was really smart. He had a 4.0 [GPA] average, and so he was really being sought after by all of the fraternities to join [their organizations]. And Calvin challenged me to a debate. And my agreement was, if he lost the debate, he would pledge Kappa Alpha Psi Frater- nity. He’s a Kappa. I really don’t even know, but it was probably on the value of fraternities because that was his--one of his favorite topics was trying to debate whether fraternities were really valuable organizations…” After the announcement of Butts’s passing, members of Pi Chapter who were at Morehouse with him reminisced about the man they knew not as Rev. Butts, President Butts, or Dr. Butts but as “Calvin” or “Butts.” Cula W. Jackson (Pi 1969): “Calvin and I came into Morehouse the same year. We were also roommates in the frat house. He was always diligent in the classroom, but outside the class- room, he was a fun-loving guy. When someone becomes a minister, you expect them to be a certain way, but he was a regular guy. He was a beautiful person, fun-loving and outgoing. We got along famously and remained friends through- out the years.” Charles J. Hudson (Pi 1969): "Butts and I were freshmen together. We met Butts and he was walking campus like
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