"Who's Gonna Help a Brother Out?"

Bro. Russ James Compiling Master Alumni Directory - Will You Help Him?

Allow me to introduce myself: Bro. Russ James, LZ 321....Class of 1994. I was at last week's Pref Party to hear Bro. Chad Rowland speak and visit with the current brothers in the chapter.
After attending Pref last week and reflecting back on my days at Union, I wanted to contribute in some way to the ongoing success [of] the chapter!

I have started from scratch (by memory and a few Google searches) of putting together a comprehensive list of brothers in our chapter that would include: LZ #, Name, Address, phone contacts, email address, wife and family info, employer and job title info. Most of the 100 or so brothers in the list are brothers that I knew during my years at Union.

[My goal is] to distribute this comprehensive list in a few months to all the brothers of our chapter would allow for some old acquaintances to be renewed and even a great deal of networking to take place among brothers with common jobs or interests.

During my days at Union, I served as High Tau, High Alpha, and finally High Rho during my senior year. At that time, of course, there was no chapter house on campus and everyone talked of needing the alumni support to get things going. When I became High Rho, I found out how incomplete our alumni records actually were. There was little doubt why the alumni involvement was so scarce...we had no idea where about 2/3 of our alumni were! Thankfully, throughout the years, especially through the lean times in the late 70s and early 80s, a few brothers kept some connections together, such as Gary Williams, Tim Tucker, and Carlton Gerrell to name a few.

The summer that I was High Rho, Bro. Brent Housman was the High Alpha. With the help of Tim and some other local alumni, we began the research to locate as many brothers as possible. Among our primary goals was not only finding our lost brothers but also creating a network and establishing some momentum to see that a Lambda Chi House could be a reality on Union's campus.

My biggest regret looking back is that I was not able to stay in touch with the chapter like I had intended to when I left in 1994. I went back home to Paris, TN to teach math and coach basketball and coaching absorbed most of my time. I moved to middle TN in 1999 to take a coaching position at Cornersville High School. While there I met my wife, Felicia, who was from nearby Unionville where we live now. After a couple of other coaching moves, I decided to leave education and now I am employed at State Farm Insurance in Murfreesboro, TN.


In ZAX,
Russ James, LZ 321
rgjames@united.net