SAE Lions

[MrMustang1965]

By Alan Peppard, DMN Entertainment section

Under the leadership of President Gerald Turner, the infrastructure at Southern Methodist University has gone from leaky, creaky Georgian to state-of-the-art modern with a plethora of buildings paid for by the $550 million Campaign for SMU.

New edifices like the Meadows Museum, the Dedman Life Sciences Building, Gerald J. Ford Stadium and the Laura Lee Blanton Student Services Building went up with little fuss or muss.

But one change that is attracting lots of attention is the relocation of the SAE lions.

Anyone with a passing knowledge of SMU is familiar with the two stone lions that have guarded the door of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house on Binkley for more than 50 years. According to Dallas blueblood Billie Leigh Rippey, her late husband, attorney Bill Rippey, was SAE president when he found the lions at a house that was being demolished on Swiss Avenue. He relocated them to the frat house where every Christmas they're painted red and green and every Halloween they're painted orange and black.

But the wrecking ball is on its way for the SAE house as well as the Lambda Chi Alpha house to the east and Letterman Hall to the west. They'll make way for a new 850-car parking garage.


Big kitties want to stay

The lions were supposed to be moved to the new SAE house under construction on Dyer.

Easier said than done.

"They each weigh more than 1,000 pounds," says Don Donnally, Bear Stearns' stock broker to Dallas' old money set. Don has been president of the SAE Housing Corporation since 1973. "The last time someone tried to move the lions was when a certain other fraternity tied a chain around one and tried to pull it away with a car," he says. "The lion didn't move but it did pull the back end out of the car."

The contractor for the new SAE house recently tried to lift one and ended up breaking it off at the paws. So it has now been dispatched to a restorer who says the lions were cast in 1912. The other lion is still standing his post waiting to be moved.

In the meantime, Don ran across an identical pair at the Gerald Tomlin Antiques store in Highland Park Village and secured them as back-up lions for the new house. The original lions will be at the front door, and the new ones will be placed in the rear of the house at the entrance to the alumni pavilion donated by Vernon banker and rancher Joe Chat Sumner.


High on ourselves

While I did attend SMU, I was not an SAE. I was a Lambda Chi and from our rooftop sundeck next door we could enjoy our liquid refreshments with an unimpeded view into the SAE house. From the roof, we could, quite literally, look down our noses at the SAEs.

That situation looked like it would change now that the new SAE house and the new Lambda Chi house face each other across Dyer Street. Then I learned that the elevation of the Lambda Chi land is six feet higher, so my brothers can still look down at the SAEs.

[SMUBob83]

Was I when a Lambda Chi, Ricky Rodriguez, a rather obscure member of the frat, walked into the Sigma Chi house directly across the street during a party, uttered a few choice words at a few Sigs, and then ran off with their most recent composite. He ran back across Binkley with several of them in hot pursuit. He led them straight into the front door ---- of the SAE house, whereupon a great brawl ensued --- between the SAEs and the Sigma Chis.

Ricky made it all the way through the SAE house and out the back door with the composite, made a hard left into the Lambda Chi house and up the stairs to that sundeck where a group of brothers congratulated him while watching the brawl going on next door between two of our rival frats.

Didn't get much better than that. Sometimes it did pay to have the highest GPA on campus.

[MrMustang1965]

What a bunch of wooses. Everyone knows that the ATOs rocked at SMU!

"[deleted] bag, whorehouse, eat a pile of sh*t,
(deleted)sucker, mother(deleted), bite your momma's t*t!
We're the best fraternity and all the others s*ck,
A-T-O!
Rah-rah-f*ck!"

[Dooby]

Man there are a lot of LXA's on the board, which is good. I was speaking with a few of my contemporaries about the impending demolition and the question that everyone wanted to know was: "How are they going to move all that Sigma Chi stuff?"

Bob, I am pretty sure that composite is still there.

I always thought the SAE lions were originally half that size and covered with 2,000 coats of paint.

[KnuckleStang]

I always thought the SAE lions were originally half that size and covered with 2,000 coats of paint.

You're not far off. As an SAE pledge in the mid '80s, I was charged, with the rest of my pledge class, with the "renovation and refurbishing" of Leo and Cleo. In other words, we had to strip all the decades of paint off of them, using paint remover, chisels and mallets. This was supposed to make them look like new again. Man, what a [deleted] idea. The layers of paint on those things was at least a 3/4 inch thick. And it kept changing color unevenly as we stripped it off, like a giant Gobstopper candy. After two weeks of working daily on this crap, both lions looked like flaky, multicolored, psychedelic gargoyles. We eventually just gave up, sanded them down and painted them over again without finishing the job.

So for this reason, even though I was an SAE, I pretty much hate those lions to this day. Although, I did always enjoy when the Kappa chicks would try and come paint them.

[Water Pony]

What a bunch of wooses. Everyone knows that the ATOs rocked at SMU!

"[deleted] bag, whorehouse, eat a pile of sh*t,
(deleted)sucker, mother(deleted), bite your momma's t*t!
We're the best fraternity and all the others s*ck,
A-T-O!
Rah-rah-f*ck!"

Too Bad they no longer on campus. My FIJI's came close to disappearing three years and the graduate brothers had to do an "intervention" to clean it up. Seems the undergrads struggle with having a great time AND showing some judgement. Anything goes is a slippery slope.

[MrMustang1965]

Never fear, WP! There's a movement to return the ATOs to SMU! The closest chapter is currently the Univ. of Texas - Arlington and there's also an 'interest' group at the Univ. of North Texas.

Any ATOs on this site should contact the national office to inquire about returning the chapter to The Hilltop.

[Dooby]

Too Bad they no longer on campus. My FIJI's came close to disappearing three years and the graduate brothers had to do an "intervention" to clean it up. Seems the undergrads struggle with having a great time AND showing some judgement. Anything goes is a slippery slope.

Lambda Chi is the master of "'intervention' to clean it up." They've done it so many times at SMU, I have lost track.

Long live Rick Unholtz!

[friarwolf]

I am sure this will stir it up. Currently, who are considered the top 3 fraternities and sororities at SMU using the classic definition (campus leaders, looks, partiers, etc.) of "top 3"?

[MrMustang1965]

Hmmm....guess grades don't factor into that? Glad you weren't my rush chairman! Don't get me wrong...I like to party just as much as the next fraternity.

My wife is a Delta Gamma from SMU. I get a kick out of hearing her nicknames for the fraternities when she was on campus in the late 70s.

SAE = Sleep And Eat

Question: "What kind of pie do you like?"
Answer: "Beta Theta Pi!" (said while acting like you're tokin' a doobie)

She liked the Lambda Chi's when she was there! But she raised her standards and married an ATO.

[friarwolf]

Remember, I said classic definition.........When you were going through rush, was your first thought "I wonder what this fraternity's overall GPA is", or was it "what kind of parties do they have, do hot chicks dig them, and what kind of intramural teams do they have"?

[MrMustang1965]

Remember, I said classic definition.........When you were going through rush, was your first thought "I wonder what this fraternity's overall GPA is", or was it "what kind of parties do they have, do hot chicks dig them, and what kind of intramural teams do they have"?

Well...you're right. And my first thought when going through rush was "Damn. The ATOs have got the hottest lookin' Little Sisters on this campus!"

[jtstang]

Well...you're right. And my first thought when going through rush was "Damn. The ATOs have got the hottest lookin' Little Sisters on this campus!"

I thought you had to be an SMU student to go thru rush?

[MrMustang1965]

Well...you're right. And my first thought when going through rush was "Damn. The ATOs have got the hottest lookin' Little Sisters on this campus!"

I thought you had to be an SMU student to go thru rush?

now, jt...rush DOES occur on other campuses besides SMU including my little ol' Sam Houston State.

Let me guess: you're a GDI.

[KnuckleStang]

SAE = Sleep And Eat

I always thought it was supposed to be "Same @ssholes Everywhere."

My wife was also a DG at SMU. About 10 years behind yours, I guess.