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Imagine a pledge class bolting to another Phi Sig chapter and schooling upperclassmen there in a game of Whales Tales. Now imagine running into a brother from that chapter decades later, realizing this ironic connection, and becoming close friends.

That is exactly what happened to Roger Calabretta ’75, who recently shared his story with us.

My spring of ’72 pledge brothers and I bolted for the weekend to Indiana University of PA to visit our Phi Sig brothers there. The chapter was hosting a party in an empty cinder block building, which they called the Block House. My pledge brothers and I were very accomplished at playing Whales Tales due to our pledge duties at Kappa. We always left cleaning the taps for last so we could play Whales Tales. This practice made us very good as a team.

The IUofP brothers asked if we knew how to play Whales Tales. We said we just learned it pledging. The older brothers thought they had some young patsies to pick on. A few hours later we were the last men standing.

A few years after I graduated, my wife and I were walking through a store and ran into a high school friend of hers with her husband Ron. We talked and decided to meet for dinner a few days later. At dinner Ron and I started talking to get to know each other when I found out he was a Phi Sig from IUofP who graduated a year before I did. He mentioned that he remembered a group of Penn State Phi Sig pledges visiting his chapter. I finished the story by saying that they took the pledges to the Block House to party and play Tales. His eyes spread wide open. He was one of the brothers who learnt a lesson in playing Tales that night. Small world but Phi Sig has opened doors. Ron and his wife have become some of our closest friends.

- Roger Calabretta ’75
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