Reflections on “Roseball”

We gathered the other evening to celebrate our brotherhood and friendship and to remember some of the best years of our lives. Raymond Baggarly and his wife Susan opened their home and kitchen to the rapidly aging alums of the first few classes of the now defunct Gamma Xi chapter. I guess it was our attempt to keep alive the spirit of Roseball. This year would have been our 46th.
So the tall and short, fat and getting fat guys from the rocking ‘60s showed one another what partying is all about. For the most part, these were the”usual suspects” who, through their faithfulness all those years, kept the chapter alive in spirit, if not in reality. We rekindled memories, mourned our dead, and gossiped about those who didn’t show up.
We bent an elbow or three and we celebrated with toasts, but it was by no means a drunken brawl. Several of us have given up “demon rum” for the sake of our pancreas. One allowed that the Georgia State Patrol recommended “abstinence for life”. Others just never did take to it. It didn’t matter. We, for one short afternoon and evening, were 19 years old again, and no wife was going to convince us otherwise.
All who wished were treated to a star-lit pontoon boat ride around the lake. Others chose to stay on dry land and to enjoy the camaraderie and the wonderful food. I think no one was disappointed in the evening.
Thank you Pi Kappa Phi. Thank you Gamma Xi. Thank you Paul McDougald (Gamma Xi 1) and Raymond Baggarly, one of the guys who really got the Greek ball rolling. Thank you in heaven, Dr. William B. King. You were one of the greatest men I’ll ever know. You were the consummate gentleman, and you led our little college to a pinnacle we may never see again. If not for President William B. King, there might not have even been a Greek System at Georgia Southwestern College.
Thank you all for being my friends and brothers.