Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. · Georgia Southern University
Forty years of the ZOO, one brotherhood.
The alumni home of the Zeta Delta Delta Chapter: every line from 1986 to today, the chapter's history, and a way for brothers to find each other again.
Explore the chapter
The History
From the first line in spring 1986 to the 40th anniversary homecoming.
Read the timelineThe Lineage
Every line and every brother, in order, searchable by name.
Find a brotherThe Awards
Every chapter award and individual honor on record, from 2004 to today.
See the recordThe Chapter
The undergraduates on the yard in Statesboro and how alumni stand behind them.
About the chapterIn Memoriam
We remember the brothers of Zeta Delta Delta who have entered Omega Chapter.
View memorialInvest in the next line
Dues keep the alumni together. Scholarship gifts go to Georgia Southern students. See how each one works.
Ways to giveHistory
How the ZOO came to be
The record below is drawn from chapter reports, university letters and the roster. It is still being compiled.
The Zeta Delta Delta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., known as the ZOO, has carried Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance and Uplift at Georgia Southern since 1986. This is how it got there, and how it kept coming back.
Before Omega
Georgia Southern enrolled its first Black student, John Bradley, in January 1965. Six Black undergraduates followed that fall. For years afterward the numbers stayed small, and there was no Black Greek life on campus at all.
Bro. Alton West came to Statesboro for graduate school in 1973. He had been initiated at Knoxville College in 1967. He recalls meeting one other Omega man on campus that year, a fellow graduate student, and never seeing him again. He also recalls deciding that the brothers were needed here.
Others arrived first. Alpha Kappa Alpha came in 1977, Kappa Alpha Psi in 1978, Delta Sigma Theta in 1979 and Alpha Phi Alpha in 1980. Bro. West recalls working alongside each of them as they found their footing.
The push
Bringing Omega to Georgia Southern took, by Bro. West's count, between four and five years. He recalls a dean telling him the chapter would never be here, and answering that he would not stop until it was.
When the first men were ready, Bro. Charlie Horton, initiated at Clemson in 1982, served as their Dean of Pledgees.
Eight men, then a charter
In the spring of 1986, eight men crossed through Mu Phi Chapter in Savannah as the 8 Masters of Fate. They were the first Omega line at Georgia Southern, with Bro. West as charter advisor.
The college granted the fraternity full recognition as a student organization on March 3, 1987, with Bro. Nevil Jordan as chapter president. The 2 Royal Knights followed that June. On December 5, 1987, the Fraternity chartered Zeta Delta Delta.
Coming back
The chapter has left the yard three times and returned three times. Each return has a name. Resurrection brought eight men in 1994. TENacious X brought ten in 2004. The 11 Unconquerable Bloodlines of Omega brought the chapter home again in the fall of 2012.
Each of those lines rebuilt the chapter from the ground up.
The record since
The awards on file begin with the State Marchdown title in 2004. A decade later the chapter swept six awards at the 51st Georgia State Meeting, including Undergraduate Chapter of the Year for the State of Georgia, and won it again the next year along with International Social Action Chapter of the Year. State and district honors have followed in 2016, 2022, 2023 and 2025.
Forty years on
Twenty-two lines and more than 150 men have come through the ZOO. In November 2026, brothers from across those lines gathered in Statesboro with Bro. West to mark forty years since the first line.
This account draws on chapter reports, university records and brothers' recollections. Passages marked as recollection will be updated as documents are found.
Timeline
John Bradley, a graduate student, becomes the first Black student at Georgia Southern. Six Black undergraduates enroll that fall.
Bro. Alton West, initiated at Knoxville College in 1967, arrives for graduate school. By his account there were no Omega men on the yard, and he decided then that the brothers were needed here.
The first historically Black Greek-letter chapters arrive on campus: Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1977, Kappa Alpha Psi in September 1978, Delta Sigma Theta in January 1979 and Alpha Phi Alpha in July 1980. Bro. West recalls working with each as they got started.
The push for an Omega chapter begins. Bro. West recalls that it took between four and five years, and that a dean told him it would never happen.
The first line, the 8 Masters of Fate, is initiated through Mu Phi Chapter. Bro. Charlie Horton serves as Dean of Pledgees and Bro. Alton West as charter advisor.
Georgia Southern College grants Omega Psi Phi full recognition as a student organization. Bro. Nevil Jordan is chapter president.
Zeta Delta Delta is chartered at Georgia Southern as a chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
State Marchdown Champions, the earliest chapter award on record.
7th District Marchdown Champions.
The first Miss Purple Essence Scholarship Pageant.
Georgia Southern names the chapter Multicultural Student Organization of the Year. The state names it Region IV Undergraduate Chapter of the Year.
The chapter returns to campus with the 11 Unconquerable Bloodlines of Omega.
A six-award sweep at the 51st Georgia State Meeting on Jekyll Island, led by Undergraduate Chapter of the Year for the State of Georgia.
Georgia Southern names the chapter NPHC Organization of the Year and awards it five-star standing in all five areas of chapter operations. Bro. Omari Davis is NPHC Member of the Year and Bro. Christopher Pugh is Outstanding Chapter Advisor.
International Social Action Chapter of the Year, the chapter's one international award on record, and a second straight State of Georgia Undergraduate Chapter of the Year.
Eight awards at the 53rd Georgia State Meeting, including State Marchdown Champions.
NPHC Chapter of the Year at Georgia Southern and the highest chapter GPA in the State of Georgia.
Bro. Kym Haywood II is crowned Mr. Georgia Southern University. Bro. Shahad Smith wins the title again for 2021-22.
The chapter hosts the Georgia State Undergraduate Workshop.
Georgia State Undergraduate Chapter of the Year at the 59th Georgia State Meeting.
Bro. Justin Thornton receives the H. Carl Moultrie I Legal Scholar Award at the 83rd and 84th Grand Conclaves.
March Down Champions at the 60th Georgia State Meeting.
Social Action Chapter of the Year at the 62nd Georgia State Meeting, a second straight state title, after the 7th District title that spring.
Brothers gather in Statesboro for the 40th anniversary homecoming.
No records survive on file from before 2004 or from 2007 to 2012. Missing a year you were part of? Send the date, what happened and a source, and it goes on the timeline. The full record is on the Awards page.
Basileus by year
The brother who led the chapter each school year. Names are added as brothers confirm them.
| School year | Basileus | Line |
|---|
Know a year we are missing? Send it through the Reconnect page.
Deans of Pledgees
The brother who brought each line in.
| Line | Line name | Dean of Pledgees |
|---|
Lineage
Every line, every brother
Spring 1986 to Spring 2025, in the order the chapter carries them.
Chapter advisors
Brothers initiated at other chapters who are carried on the ZOO roster.
| Brother | Initiated | Chapter |
|---|
In Memoriam
Omega Chapter
Brothers of Zeta Delta Delta who have gone on before us.
If a brother is missing from this page, please tell us so he can be remembered here.
Awards
What the ZOO has won
Chapter awards and individual honors on record, each one traced to a chapter report, a state or university document, or a dated post.
Chapter awards
| Year | Award | Presented at | Level |
|---|
Individual honors
Scholarships, titles and offices earned by brothers of the chapter.
| Year | Brother | Honor | Presented at |
|---|
This record starts in 2004 and has gaps, most of all 2007 to 2013 and 2018 to 2021. An award missing here is a record we have not found yet. Send a program, plaque photo or dated post and it will be added.
The Chapter
Zeta Delta Delta on the yard
The undergraduate chapter at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.
Where it sits
Zeta Delta Delta is an undergraduate chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., in the Seventh District under the Georgia State Organization. It serves the Georgia Southern campus and the Statesboro and Bulloch County community.
What the chapter does
Service in Statesboro, the fraternity's mandated programs, the annual chapter workshop each summer, and homecoming each fall.
How alumni help
Alumni support reaches the undergraduates through one door, the Chapter Welfare committee, working with the chapter advisor. That covers mentoring, career help as brothers graduate, and gifts the chapter asks for.
Alumni and the chapter are separate
The alumni association is its own organization. It does not run chapter business or membership intake, and alumni dues are not fraternity dues.
News and Events
Where the brothers gather
Four dates anchor the alumni year. 2027 dates will be posted here as they are set.
Annual Workshop and Cookout
Summer, in Statesboro. The chapter workshop followed by the alumni cookout. The association's yearly member meeting is planned for the same weekend.
Homecoming
Fall, at Georgia Southern. The largest gathering of the year, and in 2026 the chapter's 40th anniversary.
Georgia Southern vs. Georgia State
In the years the game is played in Atlanta, the Metro Atlanta brothers host.
Conclave 2028
For brothers making the trip to the Grand Conclave together.
Day-to-day news goes out in the alumni WhatsApp community. Ask any brother on the roster for an invitation.
Give
Two ways to put money to work
They are kept apart on purpose, so every brother knows where his dollars go.
Alumni dues
Dues pay for what the alumni do together: the cookout, homecoming and help for a brother in need. The proposed amount is $200 a year, or $100 for brothers who are financial with the fraternity. Members vote on the final figure.
Scholarships
Scholarship gifts will go straight to a fund at the Georgia Southern University Foundation, not through the association, so they stay tax-deductible. About $25,000 starts a permanent fund.
Dues and gifts to the alumni association itself are not tax-deductible.
Alumni and Reconnect
Make sure the ZOO can find you
Give us your current details and we will update the roster. Nothing you enter here is shown on this site.
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