From the Winter 2005-2006 edition of the KA Journal:
In an organizationally conservative fraternity that tends to value the long run over the sprint, Russell Brown is a fast runner. He had no undergraduate experience as a KA due to the fact that fraternities were new to Texas A&M University during his time there. "Fraternities were just forming colonies when I started school. A work-study program took me away from campus during my last two years there," he says. "I grew up in East Texas, near the Delta Kappa Chapter, and I knew how special KA was. I figured I had just missed out on the experience because of timing at A&M." Shortly after graduation, he had a new opportunity. "I began work at Gulf Oil and enrolled in the Executive MBA program at Houston Baptist University. I was introduced to the KA’s there and became a 22-year old pledge at the Delta Sigma Chapter in August of 1981."
After leaving graduate school, Russell worked overseas, began law school and started his family. For almost fifteen years, his three children and his successful career as a Texas trial lawyer kept him from being actively involved in KA. However, he never forgot his experiences in the Order. "The initiation made a huge impact on me. I was already a Mason and loved good ritual work. The HBU men did such a great job with the ceremony, that it really stuck with me," he says.
And then, in January of 1997, KA reentered his life. "I met [Executive Director] Wiese at the Waco Hilton for breakfast," he recalls. "He needed some help at Baylor and I was in town for a deposition. We hit it off immediately. Larry got me fired up again about KA and I have been active in the Order since that morning."
Within the year, Russell Brown was appointed Commander for the Mikell Province in Texas, one of the most challenging roles that a KA volunteer can take on. But Brown is as demanding of the Order as he is devoted to it. To him, KA’s role in the lives of its many undergraduate members is nothing short of paternal. "We are all family in KA," he says. "It is the job of every one of us to find some way to positively impact the life of a brother. We have an obligation to step up and take care of each other."
Brown also believes that the biggest responsibility that we have as KA’s is to "pass on this great legacy that we have to good, solid, young men, from all walks of life. Our character will always distinguish us from other fraternities."
In addition to volunteering his experience as a trial lawyer to KA, Brown is also the Order’s Ritualist and speaks regularly at the Number I’s Leadership Institute and other gatherings on the origins, meaning and philosophy of Kappa Alpha’s customs. "We have a unique theme in our Order that says that every man can be someone remarkable in the life that he makes for himself," Brown says. "After observing the work of Wood, Ammen and Hamilton for the past twenty-five years, I am convinced that this message is as inspiring today as it was 140 years ago."
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