History of the Order of the Golden Eagle

August 20, 2012

Tau Kappa Epsilon has many awards that honor Fraters who have fulfilled specific needs of our great Fraternity. From Top Tekes to Fraternity for Life recipients, all are vital to the success of the organization. There is one award, however, that tops the list – the Order of the Golden Eagle (OGE). Only a handful of men have received the coveted recognition, but each should be seen as a model of what it means to be a Teke.

The OGE was instituted by then Grand Prytanis, Leland F. Leland, in 1951 to represent the highest award given to an individual within Tau Kappa Epsilon. The primary criteria is an alumnus of the Fraternity who has contributed most significantly and materially to the advancement and welfare of TKE. The official description of the award is:

“The award shall consist of a beautifully modeled spread eagle bearing on his breast the amorial bearings of Tau Kappa Epsilon. This Golden Eagle surmounts an estoile of five with arms pattee, braced all within a wreath of laurel, nimbused and rayed of six; debruising the lower section of the wreath a scroll lettered: The Order of the Golden Eagle.”

The eagle being spread is meant to show it during gliding flight and symbolizes the swift action, strength and distinct foresight of the fraternity’s needs, and the mobile courage and power to contribute to it significantly. The estoile (also known as a star) of five with flared arms stands for the five founders of TKE and symbolizes how their great contributions should inspire all Fraters to emulate their achievements.

The ancient Greeks crowned the victors with the laurel wreath and is why this symbol is used to show recognition of the contributions of the alumnus as an accomplished action.

Nimbused means glorified as by rays of a radiant light of glory which further emphasizes the significance of the award.

Rayed of six describes the equally spaced main rays who represent an equilateral triangle with a base at the bottom and another over it with a base at the top to make six significant points, rayed to represent the six qualities that make a contribution outstanding:

Dedication to purpose
Generous measure of time
Working harmoniously with others
Generosity of spirit
Spirit of sacrifices

The first Order of the Golden Eagle recipient was presented to William Wilson, the oldest surviving Past Grand Prytanis & National Founder, at an October 1951 meeting because he could not be present at Conclave (where the award is given out). Since then, only 56 men have been presented the medallion and certificate. Elmer Smith (Mu-Sigma) and Christopher Hanson (Alpha-Pi) were the most recent recipients at the 2022 Conclave. The entire list is in order of acceptance:

Order of the Golden Eagle Recipient	Chapter	University/ College	Year
William Wilson*	Alpha	Illinois Wesleyan	1953
Dr. E.L. Theiss*	Mu	Carroll	1955
Sophus Goth*	Nu	Cal-Berkeley	1957
L.W. Tuesburg*	Alpha	Illinois Wesleyan	1959
Dr. R.C. Williams*	Alpha-Pi	George Washington	1961
Leland F. Leland*	Theta	Minnesota	1963
Harrold P. Flint*	Alpha	Illinois Wesleyan	1965
Dr. Eugene C. Beach*	Iota	Eureka	1967
Frank B. Scott*	Beta	Millikin	1969
Orval W. Diehl*	Beta	Millikin	1971
John Gehlmann*	Delta	Knox	1973
Paul Dunmire*	Alpha-Theta	Whitman	1975
William A. Quallich*	Delta-Epsilon	Cleveland State	1977
Lenwood Cochran*	Gamma-Mu	Furman	1979
William H. Wisdom*	Alpha-Xi	Drake	1981
George D. Moe*	Alpha-Sigma	North Dakota	1982
Dr. William V. Muse	Epsilon-Epsilon	Nebraska-Omaha	1983
Ronald Reagan*	Iota	Eureka	1984
Harry J. Donnelly, Jr.*	Alpha-Chi	Louisville	1985
Millard Kratochvil*	Alpha-Xi	Drake	1985
Carroll C. Hall*	Iota	Eureka	1987
Rodney Williams, Jr., CFC*	Alpha-Chi	Louisville	1988
Charles R. Walgreen, Jr.*	Upsilon	Michigan	1989
John A. Courson	Alpha-Epsilon	Monmouth	1990
Joel E. Johnson	Iota-Omicron	Wisconsin-Whitewater	1991
James C. Logan*	Xi	Washington-St.Louis	1993
Bruce B. Melchert	Beta-Theta	Missouri-Columbia	1993
James T. Kane, CFC*	Theta	Minnesota	1995
James S. Margolin	Psi	Gettysburg	1995
Robert J. Borel	Omicron	Ohio State	1997
Donald W. Peters*	Delta-Epsilon	Cleveland State	1997
Michael A. Moxley	Beta-Beta	NC State	1999
T.J. Schmitz*	Iota-Omicron	Wisconsin-Whitewater	1999
Thomas M. Castner, CFC*	Lambda-Lambda	Utica	2001
ADM John R. Fisher*	Gamma-Epsilon	Rensselaer Polytechnic	2001
Dwayne R. Woerpel, CFC*	Iota-Alpha	Wisconsin-Superior	2001
Gary A. LaBranche, CAE	Omicron	Ohio State	2003
Raymond W. Franklin	Lambda-Alpha	South Florida	2005
Lon G. Justice	Pi-Alpha	Ashland	2005
Gabriel Anaya	Alpha-Omicron	New Mexico	2007
Steven Muir	Beta-Eta	Missouri S&T	2007
Mark Fite	Delta-Xi	Miami (OH)	2009
Mark Romig, APR	Theta-Mu	New Orleans	2009
Capt. Bill Metzger	Epsilon-Nu	Wisconsin-Stevens Point	2011
Dennis “Buckwheat” Perry	Alpha-Nu	New Hampshire	2011
Bob Planck*	Epsilon-Omicron	Houston	2011
Mark Johnson	Nu-Theta	Utah	2013
Timothy Taschwer*	Epsilon-Nu	Wisconsin-Stevens Point	2013
Tim Murphy	Omicron	Ohio State	2015
Dr. Herb Songer, JRE	Alpha-Upsilon	Fort Hays State	2015
Charles Trabold*	Kappa-Kappa	Monmouth	2015
Hon. Edmund Moy	Lambda	Wisconsin	2017
Greg Woodson	Beta-Sigma	USC	2017
Hon. Bob Barr	Beta-Sigma	USC	2019
Tommy Miles*	Xi-Chi	Kennesaw State	2019
Rodney Talbot	Beta-Chi	Southern Illinois – Carbondale	2022
Elmer Smith	Mu-Sigma	Morehead State	2022
Christopher Hanson	Alpha-Pi	George Washington	2022