08/26/2026
🐊 BROTHERHOOD IN ACTION: WE FOUND BROTHER ARCHITECHT KEMP! 🐊
Celebrating 💯 Years. Building 💯 More.
Brothers—WOW. This is exactly what Brotherhood looks like.
Yesterday, I shared the story of Brother James O. Kemp Sr., a Gamma Theta Sigma Chi and architect connected to an extraordinary era in the history of our University of Florida Sigma Chi House.
There was just one thing missing:
We didn’t have a picture of Brother Kemp.
So I threw out a challenge to our Brothers: Can anyone help us find him?
⏱️ LESS THAN 24 HOURS LATER… MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Thanks to some incredible Sigma Chi detective work and the help of Brother David Gutknecht, we now have photographs and pages from the 1951–1954 University of Florida yearbooks—including a photograph of Brother Kemp himself!
Gator SIG 🐊Brotherhood gets things done.
And here’s a piece of Gator history that is just too funny not to share… 😂
🍢 YES, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA YEARBOOK WAS CALLED “THE SEMINOLE!” 🐊
That’s right. These aren’t Florida State yearbooks. They are University of Florida yearbooks!
Back in that era, what became Florida State had only recently transitioned from its days as the Florida State College for Women—and meanwhile the Gators had already been publishing The Seminole in Gainesville for decades.
Then our in-state football rival apparently liked the name so much they decided to make it their mascot. 😂
Too funny. We’ll let the historians—and the Gators and Noles—debate that one! 🐊😂
But inside these old yearbooks is something much more important: a remarkable window into Gamma Theta life more than 70 years ago—Brother Kemp, Derby Days, Derby Gals, Sweethearts, traditions and friendships that helped build the Chapter we inherited.
🏛️ PRESERVING OUR FIRST 💯 YEARS
Brother Kemp’s story is exactly the kind of history we want to preserve in the Alumni Room of our new Gamma Theta House.
Think about what just happened:
One Brother helped shape Gamma Theta’s history.
Decades later, another Brother went looking for his story.
Within 24 hours, another Sigma Chi Brother helped us find it.
That’s Brotherhood.
One generation builds it.
The next preserves it.
Another carries it forward.
And that makes the NEXT chapter of this story even more incredible.
🏗️ THE GAMMA THETA BATON IS BEING PASSED…
Look closely at the new sign going up in front of our old house as it comes down.
More than six decades after Brother Kemp’s era, two more Gamma Theta Sigma Chi Brothers are stepping forward to help build the home that will carry our Chapter into its NEXT 💯 YEARS.
And they aren’t just Brothers.
They’re PLEDGE BROTHERS.
🐊Architect — Brother Travis Vickers, Spring ’92
Vickers Design Group
🐊Builder — Brother Jim Ellspermann, Spring ’92
Brasfield & Gorrie
How appropriate is that?
Two pledge Brothers who once began their Sigma Chi journey together at Gamma Theta are now taking the Gamma Theta baton and helping build the house that future generations of Brothers will call HOME.
From Brother Kemp’s generation…
to Brothers Vickers and Ellspermann’s generation…
to young men who haven’t even arrived at the University of Florida yet…
the story continues.
That is what makes this project so much bigger than constructing a building.
We’re connecting generations of Sigma Chis.
And Brothers, there is a GREAT story behind these two pledge Brothers and how they ended up helping build the next Gamma Theta House…
MORE ON THAT STORY TO COME… 👀🏗️🐊
In the meantime, here’s my challenge:
WHAT PIECE OF GAMMA THETA HISTORY ARE YOU HOLDING?
Old composites? Pledge-class photos? Derby Days pictures? Rush photos? Newspaper clippings? Programs? House pictures? Stories nobody has heard in 30 or 40 years?
DIG THEM OUT. SEND THEM TO US. TELL US THE STORY.
And if Gamma Theta played an important role in your life, there’s another way to become part of this chapter:
HELP US FINISH THE HOUSE.
315 Brothers have already stepped forward and pledged more than $4.3 MILLION toward our new home.
Now we need more Brothers to help us finish what we’ve started—the kitchen, furnishings, Alumni Room, gathering spaces and everything necessary to turn a building into a Sigma Chi HOME.
Someday a young Brother will walk through that Alumni Room.
He’ll see Brother Kemp.
He’ll see the Brothers and traditions of the 1950s.
He’ll learn about Brothers Vickers and Ellspermann and the Sigma Chis who built the new house.
And he’ll see the names and stories of the Brothers of our generation who stepped forward when Gamma Theta needed them.
The first 💯 years gave us our legacy.
What we do TODAY will determine what we leave for the next 💯.
🏛️ Celebrating 💯 Years. Building 💯 More.
🐊 Gamma Theta — University of Florida
In Hoc Signo Vinces!
🐊 CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION
Take a look at our current donor list and Pledge Class Competition. 🧑🎓Donor List and Pledge Class Donor Competition list- https://ufsigmachi.causevox.com See who from your class has stepped forward. See which classes are leading. And maybe ask yourself:
Where is my pledge class on the board?
