Delta Kappa Epsilon - University of Alabama

Sighs of Psi Delta Kappa Epsilon House Corporation P.O. Box 1789 Tuscaloosa, AL 35403 Address Service Requested Visit Us Online • uadke.org an early casualty of the communist revolution of the late 1950s. However, upon my return home and in preparing this article, I discovered that we had passed the impressive Vedado Tennis Club building several times, while driv- ing from our berth at Marina Hemingway east into central Havana (see photos). The building is located along Havana's "Embassy Row," a fairly upscale area of El Vedado where numer- ous foreign embassies are located. Our guides had pointed the building out to us as we passed through El Vedado, without realizing that it was the former Vedado Tennis Club about which I had inquired. It was notable for being a large and impressive, but seemingly empty, building in the middle of an area otherwise dominated by the gleaming embassies of various countries. As I suspected, the Vedado Tennis Club had been nationalized by the Castro government after the revolution, and then dissolved in 1959. Far more than just a tennis club, as the name implies, it was a leading social club for Havana's elite from 1902-1958, frequented by, among others, Brother Menocal. 5 It seems likely that he was also a member, which would help explain how the DKE banquet came to be held there. The building is now apparently more or less abandoned, and only one of its tennis courts is still operational, the others now crumbled, overgrown with weeds, or both. 6 The official souvenir of the 76 th DKE convention was a gift from President Menocal to each of those in attendance. It was described by Brother John Clair Minot, Theta Bowdoin 1898 (whose name should be familiar to Sighs of Psi readers as the author of the poem "Brothers in DKE," which has been the subject of several recent Sighs of Psi articles) as a beautifully inlaid wooden box containing 25 "of the best cigars made in Cuba." The boxes were made especially for the DKEs, and the cover bore the design of the DKE pin, inlaid in woods of dif- ferent colors (see photo). Only 300 of these boxes were made, and only four are still known to still presently exist. One was sold at auction on EBay in April 2014 for $4,150.00! An even rarer relic of the 1920 Havana convention is a medal presented by the DΚΕ Council (see photo), which was sold at an online auction in January 2013. It features, on the front, a medallion with the words "A PARTY IN PARADISE" (Continued from page 5) "Havana Cuba" around the top edge, "Delta Kappa Epsilon" along the bottom, and the year "1920," all surrounding the DKE crest. The medallion is suspended on a ribbon featur- ing the "gules, azure and or" DKE colors, and the following inscription appears on the back: "From the Council of DΚΕ in recognition and appreciation of your courtesy and hospitality." Cuba is starting to change fast, so I'm glad I got to see it in its present state, largely fro- zen in time in so many ways for over half a century. We found little enthusiasm for the Castro regime among the many people we met, so hopefully that regime will end, peace- fully, with the passing of those aging despots. Then, maybe we can make some real headway in resurrecting the ghosts of the 76 th Annual DKE Convention of 1920, which has been called "a party in paradise." Special thanks to brother Grant Burnyeat, Phi Alpha British Columbia 1965, Chairman of the History and Archives Committee of DKE International, for his usual generous assistance with the prepara- tion of this article, and to Jim Huger for his hospitality and generosity in hosting us aboard the Restless Too on our voyage to Cuba in December 2015. Thanks also to Doug Lanpher, Gamma Vanderbilt '77, Executive Director of DKE International, and Lee Hurley, Psi '82, for their assistance, as well as to Murray Calhoun, Lee Finkelstein, Ricky Bromberg, Jane Byrne, Dr. Marna Williams, and to our Cuban guides, Humberto and Carlos. Finally, thanks to Brother Rob "Catfish" Clark, Psi '83, for his valuable critique and input on this article while we were en route to witness the Crimson Tide win its 16 th National Championship in football with a 45-40 victory over Clemson in Glendale, Arizona, on January 11, 2016. ROLL TIDE! UPDATE ON EDWIN ROGERS AND THE UNKNOWN PSI: Our research on identify- ing the Unknown Psi from the famous poem "Brothers in DKE" continues, and includes a return research trip to Maine this fall. Stay tuned for more in the next Sighs of Psi. In the Bonds, T. Semmes Favrot '82 New Orleans, La. Alumni Historian sfavrot@cox.net 5. See the Cuban government's EcuRed website- www.ecured.cu/Vedado_Tennis_Club. 6. See "Notes on the Americas," https://notesontheamericas.wordpress.com/tag/cuban-tennis/. Exterior cover of the wooden box given as a gift to each attendee at the 1920 Havana convention by Cuban President Menocal. Photo courtesy of Doug Lanpher. Inside cover of the wooden box given to each attendee at the 1920 Havana convention by Cuban President Menocal. Photo cour- tesy of Doug Lanpher. Medal presented by the DΚΕ Council to brother W.H. Scofield at the Havana convention.

• Cover