IOTA PHI THETA:
 THE FOUNDING AND ASCENDANCY

The Fall of 1963 was a wonderful time to be young, Black, and a college student in America. For African-Americans, hope was not only alive, it was brighter than ever.  It was students who filled the buses and took the freedom rides in the deep south. Sometimes they were jailed, injured and killed. But in 1963 the movement was in full swing.

At Morgan State College (within view of the memorial statue of Frederick Douglas) Albert Hicks, Lonnie Spruill Jr., Charles Briscoe, Charles Brown, Louis Hudnell, Charles Gregory, Elias Dorsey Jr., Michael Williams, Frank Coakley, John D. Slade. Barron Willis and Webster Lewis congregated on the steps of Hurt Gymnasium and conceived IOTA PHI THETA.

While forming a philosophy for IOTA, the founders were mindful of their responsibility to reflect the changing times. The organization was to be relevant, not just to be. It was to encourage brotherhood, not stamp out individuality.  It was for leaders, not just for followers.

Although we agreed basically with each other  we founders in many ways , were very different.  We reacted to the changing times in different ways.  But the goal we had in common was that our fraternity would bestow upon each brother, within the bounds of established rules of good governance, and non-offensive behavior,  the freedom to define himself.

IOTA has become, not a dream, but a magnificent reality — a glimpse of the higher life, the broader possibilities of a new black man — of humanity, which is granted to the man who, amid the rush and roar of living, pauses to learn what living means.

–
John D. Slade

Of all the founding brothers, Louis Hudnell is the most difficult to review. Back in 1963 when the founders came together and began to hammer out a new organization, he was always the antithesis to any collective ideas emerging from the group.

Who is he? Why is he the way he is? These questions were never answered for me, and to this day Hudnell remains a source of perplexity to the founding Iota’s. Yes, Hudnell was on the steps of the Hurt Gymnasium on that September afternoon in 1963. Like the other founders, he was enthusiastic over the notion of forming our own fraternity. In many ways, he was cut from the same material as the other brothers. He was independent, proud, arrogant, vain, and a nonconformist. However, Hudnell had a significant difference when it came to money matters. He was willing to deceive anyone, including his own brothers to realize his own ends.

Yet despite this very glaring personality flaw, most of the founders fully accepted him as one of them. In spite of his shortcomings, he brought something to the fledgling fraternity.

He probably was one of the best-dressed students on Morgan’s campus in 1963; and his overall image was one of wealth and class. He was an attractive character and he did bring a degree of middle class credibility to our new organization. Lou was born in Baltimore. Exclusively his mother reared him after she and his father divorced. His father lived in New York where he subsequently remarried and started a new family. Brothers have speculated that this early family breakup had a profound and negative impact on Lou.

His mother was doting and she focused all of her love and affection on him. Somehow, Lou came to believe that the world should hold the same degree of affection for him that his mother did. This attitude was evident especially in the way in which he related to the other founders. In those early days, the frat required that each of the founders pay weekly dues. Lou absolutely refused to pay; even when he was warned that he would not be allowed to participate, he would not pay. It was as if he wanted to test how much we would tolerate. However, it did not really matter to the brothers because he was one of us, and we all tended to forgive him his transgressions. He would laugh, hold his hand out to be slapped, and declare, “They love me! They love me!”

Brother Terrence C. “TC” Carson and Founder John D. Slade at the book signing for Iota Phi Theta – Founding & Ascendancy 3rd Edition, Iota Leadership Conference Houston, Texas July 2010

FOUNDER, LONNIE SPRUILL, JR.
Growing up in Baltimore, Brother Lonnie Jr. enjoyed advantages that most Black children in his generation could not imagine. He got the toys and clothes. He went on vacations with his parents and generally experienced the profound satisfaction that comes with love and security. Partly due to the wisdom of his parents, and to his own innate intelligence and sensitivity, Lonnie was unspoiled by his good fortune.

I first saw Brother Lonnie in the middle of the parking lot outside of the McClain Student Building at Morgan Slate College. He and a group of fellows were huddled around his black Ford convertible, admiring the power under the hood.I will always remember Lonnie as I saw him that day. He appeared happy, confident, and optimistic. I do not recall when we first met face to face, but I am sure it must have been before that fateful day we all gathered on the Hurt Gymnasium steps.

On the occasion we had our first real conversation, I learned why he was so popular. Lonnie was always emanating positive energy and you simply felt good in his presence. As much as the twelve of us disagreed, we had no trouble electing Lonnie Polaris when “Bus” Hicks had to leave school.

Leadership is the ability to influence people to operate theway you want them to, Lonnie has that ability, and his profound and intricate skills as a leader are greatly responsible for holding the twelve founders together. He knew how to deal with each of them in the way they wanted and still keep the process of building the fraternity moving. Unlike Bus Hicks, he was less confrontational and relied more on reason.