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On October 31, 1941 sixteen university men petitioned the senate committee on  student welfare for recognition as a local fraternity, to be known as Phi Alpha Phi. Those sixteen men are the foundation of the Omega Gamma chapter of Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity. They triggered the start of the greatest organization I have ever been involved in and I am sure every Omega Gamma could say the same. I have retrieved one personal account on the birth of our illustrious chapter. According to Brother David Goldsmith , the idea of starting a fraternity which would project the ideas and principles of him and his peers occurred in April of 1941. He recalled himself, Al Glaskm, Phil Jaffe, Leonard (Buddy) Goldberg, and Jack Solomon discussing various fraternities that were on campus and what they felt should change. Jack Solomon then piped up and said, "Why can't we form our own fraternity with our principles and ideas?" To Brother Goldsmith's surprise Jack came to his apartment on South Alien Street with 8 or 9 other men and exclaimed "O.K. Lets form a fraternity!" Among the early founders was a man by the name of Buddy Goldberg, who was a transfer student from Temple University where he had been a member of Phi Alpha Fraternity. Because he hoped to retain his affiliation, he suggested the name of Phi Alpha Phi for the new fraternity. There being no objection to the name, they immediately contacted the Inter - Fraternity Council informing them of their intentions, and shortly thereafter, petitioned Dean Arthur Wamock, Dean of Men, for the right to form a fraternity. To Brother Goldsmith's surprise, at the hearing held before the IFC, there were no negative votes for their request to form a fraternity. Next a committee of the fraternity met with the Dean and permission was granted to form Phi Alpha Phi fraternity, but on the condition that we would be on probationary status for one year as a local fraternity. Finally after increasing membership and the fact that they moved into a house, they petitioned the Dean to take them off probation, so they could affiliate with the national fraternity Pi Lambda Phi.
On May 14, 1942 at a banquet held at the State College Hotel, the men became formally initiated as the Omega Gamma chapter of Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity. From the fraternities humble beginning at the Gernerd Alien Street, the men moved their headquarters first to the State College Hotel and then finally to a house at 222 West College Ave. The officers at the birth of our chapter were as follows: David Goldsmith, Rex; Jack Krause. Archon; Leonard Goldberg, KOE; Sydney Swartz, Scribe; Leonard Frucher, Marshall.
In the fall of 1942, Pi Lam moved to a new house on 301Atherton Street. After a very successful rushing season, the house membership rose to 50 and Pi Lam was rolling along smoothly until the grand exodus of college students to Europe to serve in the Armed Forces. Due to a decline in membership, the chapter remained inactive during the war years. In active service against the enemy on Foreign Shores, Brothers Judah Covitch and David Dubin gave their lives. During the year 1944, the revitalization of Omega Gamma occurred. It all started when a few Pi Lams who were serving in State College came up with idea to rejuvenate our chapter. Among them were Brothers Lany Tom, Art Kimmelfield, Marty Rothblum and Milt Lopatin( former Rex of the Pitt Chapter). Dr. Harold Zipser and Dr. Ben Alexander agreed to be advisors. Nate Sontage and William "Snap" Melnicker came up from national to help bring the chapter back to life. With Milt Lopatin as Rex, and fresh group of pledges, Omega Gamma was off to a great start. In the year 1946, our chapter rented the Tau Nu Epsilon house. Pi Lam was roaring and continued to move in a positive direction in the following years.
During the fall of 1947, Pi Lam celebrated its fiftieth anniversary as a national fraternity. The social highlight of that year was the "Pi Lam Lamb Pie" in which live lambs participated in the party. In 1947 many members got involved in various Penn State activities from Brother Richard Helm's position as chairman of the Nittany- Independent clique to Murray Mackson playing Ice Hockey. Brother Herbert Weiss led the Pi Lams in 1948 as president of the fraternity. That year was an active one for the chapter as well as national because it expanded from 30 to 37 chapters in one single year. Pi Lam closed out the decade with a purchase of a new and larger house at 240 East Prospect Street. The brotherhood was growing larger in membership when it reached 51 including a huge pledge class of 22. Brother Jerry Lesse represented our chapter on the varsity football team that year and the following year Brother Gene Kobler set the Penn State swimming record for the 440 yard freestyle. Everything was moving along smoothly until 1952, when Omega Gamma received a suspension by the university due to "crazy and delinquent" behavior. Brother Nelson Goldberg was the Rex at the time when the suspension occurred. Goldberg knew the chapter could overcome this minor setback and he was right. The first step the chapter took was in the year 1954 when the men petitioned the Dean to become a local fraternity that would under the name "Pi Lambda". After becoming a local fraternity the next step Pi Lambda had to overcome was to gain the status of a colony by the national office. During the year 1955, their wish came true when the dean of men at the time, Frank Simes recognized Pi Lambda Phi as a colony. For all the work Brother Goldberg did to reactivate the chapter, he was rewarded by receiving the Certificate of Recognition which was an incredible achievement.
 November 11, 1955 played an important role in the history of Omega Gamma. That was the date the University of Pittsburgh initiated our chapter into the brotherhood once again. We received telegrams congratulating our readmission to the brotherhood from Pi Lam chapters all across America. Soon after becoming reactivated, the chapter house moved from Prospect Street to 125 South Pugh Street. The brotherhood continued socially where left off before the suspension with a social calendar filled with "Bam Dances" to "Comic Strip Character party". Brother Alien Furst also became editor of the Lions Tales Newspaper, which was a month edition newsletter mailed to Omega Gamma alumni. With the start of a new decade the future was nothing but positive for Omega Gamma.
The third decade the chapter's existence found the chapter house situated at 227 E. Nittany Ave. They continued to take pride in their practice of non-sectarianism. Brother Warren Aaronson recalls his most memorable moments as a Pi Lam: The fall of 67' saw Pi Lambda Phi situated at a house on E. Nittany Ave. The house was old, but cozy. Living quarters were close, the bathrooms inadequate, the wiring ancient. It was the perfect FRAT HOUSE! We were strong in 1967. The house was at capacity and 8 pledges from the semester became brothers in the spring. Some seniors even had to move out to make room for newer brothers and pledges. We had great parties but few were organized with other houses or sororities. We were looked at suspiciously because we practiced non-sectarianism. I mean we realty practiced it! Although the 60's were a time of social change, Happy Valley was still in the 50's."What were we?" other fraternities asked. We were what all fraternities and sororities should have been, and we were proud of it. The high times came to an abrupt end with the fire during the fall of 1968. We could never move back to the 227 E. Nittany. Housing was found at 412 W. College at the intersection of Rt. 322. This house was large but it wasn't well suited for Fraternity living. The basketball court in the gym provided lots of recreation but that was about the positive going for the house. Many things, besides the fire, took its toll on Pi Lam and other fraternities because by the end of the 60's being a Frat member was not as politically correct as it once was. With the popularity of fraternities going down, a house far from other houses and a disqualified brotherhood , the end was imminent. The chapter held a homecoming in 1971 but by 1972 the house closed down. This ended another chapter of Pi Lambda Phi history.
The following year, on a snowy April weekend, about 25 brothers, contacted by word of mouth, met at the Holiday Inn. They elected brother Aaronson alumni president to help keep Pi Lambda Phi alive, and we did!
Brother Aaronson along with Brother Robert Friedman and Chapter Advisor William O'Connel and various alumni triggered the alumni support that puts me in this house today. After hard work and dedication the light at the end of the tunnel occurred in the winter of 1981. The brotherhood decided they wanted their own chapter house they could call home and they weren't going to let anything get in their way. They were right. The first step taken by the brotherhood was a telethon drive to raise money to for the house. With hard work and dedication they finally earned $10,000 which would pay for the down payment of the house.
According to Brother Marc Graci "The pride of living in a house was worth everything I put into it!" Finally in August of 1982, Pi Lam alumni purchased the current house on 321 Fraternity Row. The brotherhood turned a house formally owned by the Campus Crusade into an active fraternity house. Another factor that boosted the value of Omega Gamma was the addition of Omega Delta's into the brotherhood. They also instituted a little sister program. The Pi Lambda Phi Lift-a-Thon, their first philanthropy in ten years raised nearly one thousand dollars for the arthritis foundation. The hard work that the brotherhood and alumni did to put life back into the chapter was well worth it because without them Omega Gamma would not be what it is today.
Pi Lam continued to excel in the mid 80's. According to Brother Lew Wexler "We have brothers from all walks of life; brothers from all over, you can't stereotype us." That statement is what separated Omega Gamma from the rest of the university. 1985 marked the start of a new Pi Lam philanthropy called the Miss Penn State Pageant. During homecoming of 1988 the chapter house was honored to host none other than Penn State Football coach Joe Patemo. He was invited to present an award to Brother Nelson Goldberg for all he has done to benefit the chapter. Other Brother's inducted into the Pi Lambda Phi Hall Of Fame for their charity to Omega Gamma were William and Dottie O'Connel, Brother Elliot Hirsh, Brother Robert Friedman, Brother Warren Aaronson, Brother David Goldsmith, Brother Jack Krauss, Brother Alvin Fleichman and Brother Robert Edelman.
Pi Lam was approaching the 1990's in full swing and in March, the Brothers Eric Seiken and Steve Bass along with the help of the brotherhood started our current philanthropy "Spring Training". Our famous Beach Weekend party was becoming one of the most popular parties on campus and during the winter of 1993 the brotherhood raised 23,000 for the four diamonds fund by participating in the
Penn State Dance Marathon.
-Anonymous Alumni Brother
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