It was back in December of 1992. Back in the day, fraternities and sororities did a thing called "walkout." It was where, for example, the UK chapter of AOII would go to the University of Georgia's chapter of AOII for a weekend and hang out with them. My dad and his fraternity's pledge class, Pi Kappa Alpha, did their walkout at the University of Georgia, and he said it was a great experience seeing another chapter and how they live. During the next school year, my dad was what they used to call "pledge master". This title has now been changed to "New Member Educator".
When it was time for the pledge class after his to do their walkout, he decided to tell all the pledges to "have a great time, and bring him back something good". That pledge class did their walk out at University of North Carolina, which happens to be a short distance from Duke. The hatred the University of Kentucky has for Duke doesn't need to be explained because, honestly, what school doesn't have a hatred for Duke? Also, at this point in 1992, it was the winter after the infamous shot Christian Laettner made against the 1992 UK basketball team.
In the middle of the night, the pledges decided to make a drive over to Duke University, and they were able to break into Cameron Indoor Stadium. I guess back in those days, security wasn't that great if a couple of fraternity pledges were able to break into a building and no alarm go off. They snuck into the stadium, and they were able to find the jersey of one of the most hated men in Kentucky. Behold was the framed jersey of Christian Laettner, and the pledges thought this would be the perfect souvenir to bring back to my dad.
The pledges surprised my dad by hanging the jersey in my dad's room in the fraternity house, and when my dad came back from classes, he found the jersey hanging above his bed. My dad then recounted that within the hour of his discovering the jersey in his room, the then president of Pi Kappa Alpha bust into my dad's room with multiple people on the phone calling about the jersey, including the president of UK (who also had the president of Duke on the phone), and multiple news stations like ESPN and the Baltimore Sun wanting to find out about the jersey. The jersey was returned to Duke, unharmed and still in the frame, and no consequences were given because the jersey was still in the proper condition. The story made national headlines, but the names of my dad, the pledges, and the fraternity were not revealed. Just google "UK fraternity steals Christian Laettner jersey".
It's stories like this that make unforgettable memories, and this is the type of thing that can continue to be told for many years to come. Back then, the pledges were quite clever, so the current pledges need to step up their game to make memories these memorable. Who knew our parents could be that badass?
