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Delta Sig Traditions
The Sea of Green
One of the earliest sightings of the new Delta Sig Chapter at UNC- Charlotte came when the student
paper ran a picture of the Delta Sig's wearing their green letters and sitting in the front row of a
home 49er basketball game. This immediately became a staple of tradition at the University and later
stemmed the name, 'Sea of Green.' Soon, other organizations wanted the same exposure. Delta Sig
compromised by proposing that each Greek organization have a chance to sit behind the team's bench,
thus setting the groundwork for the point system that is in place today. Currently the green lettered
Delta Sig's can be seen sitting behind the 49er bench at every home game and continuing to contribute
to the best sixth man in Conference USA. A recent accomplishment of the 'Sea,' was a buffer zone
placed behind the visitor's bench at other Conference USA sporting events, in response to heckling
provided by Delta Sig.
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Phratronamos
In the beginning, the Alpha class wanted to have a retreat for pledges and brothers that would be a
unique experience for both. However, they didn't want the retreat to have just another generic name.
So they asked John Myatt's stepfather, Doc Frost, a Latin teacher at a high school in Greensboro, to
come up with an unusual name. He came up with two Latin words that were combined to make up the now
famous Phratranamous. Originally attended by only big brothers and little brothers at Bill Hooker's,
later it was made into a two-day event, the first night being only big/little brothers and the second
day being the entire brotherhood. The Gamma pledge class were the first members to attend as pledges.
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Green Monday
When the chapter first came to UNC-Charlotte, it took a while to get the respect that it
wanted from other fraternities. On the third Monday in October, the Chapter finally did.
That day, Eta Rho won campus championships in soccer and football giving them the respect
they had wanted.
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The Sailor's Ball
Considered by all national Delta Sig Chapters across the United States as the fraternity’s
semi-formal, Eta Rho puts a unique twist on the event. Every fall semester, the chapter
travels to a distant city and holds its semi-formal at a hotel there. The weekend trip consist
of scheduled events as soon as the members arrive on Friday, from casino cruises and karaoke,
to downhill skiing. The semi-formal dinner and ball is held the following Saturday. Some of
our past semi-formals were held in Atlanta, Savannah, Jekyll Island, Gatlinburg and Charleston.
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The Carnation Ball
The fraternity’s formal event is held every spring semester at a local hotel or banquet hall in
Charlotte. Here the fraternity gathers in formal attire for dinner and dancing, as well as the
end of the year award ceremony. Awards range from the many comical awards such as the Miller
Time Award (longest winded brother), to the more prestigious awards such as the Brother of the
Year Award.
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The Annual Halloween Cannded Food Drive
The Chapter’s annual service event is one of the largest on the Charlotte campus because it
also involves many other organizations. It was first begun in 1990 and has grown in size
each year. It is an event in which the Eta Rho Chapter has won many campus and national
awards.
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Standard Blues
Wearing letters on campus to represent Greek organizations started way before Delta Sigma Phi
was on campus, however, Delta Sigs wanted to find a way to be noticed on campus as a unit.
In 1990 to 1992, the chapter decided to get the fraternity colors as letters, with white shirts
and white letters outlined in green. After 2 years, the fraternity decided to experiment with
other colors such as green with yellow, and white with blue. In 1995, Charlotte Delta Sigs found
a winning combination by combining a navy blue shirt with bright green letters, outlined in white.
These letters contain the pledge class letter(s) of the individual brother on the left arm to show
individuality in our pledge classes, and our chapter Greek letters (HP) on the right arm to show
unity among our chapter. These letters help identify Delta Sig on or off campus. These are the
standard letters of today and are given to new brothers the night of their initiation...this is
considered a great honor to its members.
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Standard Greens
After being one of the Charlotte 49er Athletic supporters, Delta Sigma Phi felt that they
should get new standards to not replace the Blues, but to wear in support of our University
and our athletic teams. So in the fall of 1999, headed by brother David Russell, a founder
of “Gang Green”, selected the very loud and bright Kelly Green and White as the Standard
Greens. Today the Greens can be seen on campus, but it more recognizable as the “Sea of
Green” at Charlotte basketball games.
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Big/Lil Night
The hooter’s girls catered an event the chapter held at Reedy Creek at one of the pavilions.
It was a brotherhood event at which many sports were played. Then out of no where, Richard
Parker put up the delta and started the chant that went “OOOOHHH Delta Sigma Phi Huh!”.
It used to be seen at basketball games and anytime the brotherhood felt it was right.
It can now be seen at sporting events in which Delta Sig wins.
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The Hooters Triangle
The Hooter's Triangle was an early addition to the Eta Rho history. It can be traced back to a
warm day at Reedy Creek, where the local Hooter's girls' catered a brotherhood event. The long
day of sports and leisure commenced with Richard Parker bringing the whole brotherhood together
in a boisterous chant. He put his fingers in the air, shaped like a delta, and established the
Hooter's Triangle. This tradition has held strong since then, appearing at Delta Sig intramural
wins and rush events.
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The Running of the Seniors
This is one of the newest traditions that Delta Sig started in honor of it's graduating seniors. It
started in the fall of 2002, where brother John "Frate" Iafrate asked his brothers to attend his
graduation in place of some of his family members who could not make the trip from New York to
Charlotte. The brothers showed up wearing their standard greens to cheer as his name was announced.
This was the beginning of many graduation ceremonies that the Delta Sig's show up to cheer for their
seniors. They remain one of the loudest groups at Halton Arena.
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