In 1900, the Occidental College faculty and administration officially recognized The Order of Mystic Apes Fraternity, though OMA had existed as a secret society some years before that.  The then local fraternity’s members consisted of all forms of campus leaders.  In the field of athletics, OMA excelled.  OMA brothers made up much of the 1915 Occidental team that lost to Syracuse University in the first East-West football game played in Los Angeles.  The following year the same team won the state championship by defeating the University of California at Berkley.  Some prominent Apes at that time were Mike Godett, picked as an All-Pacific Coast End by Stanford Coach “Pop” Warner.  Fellow Ape Cliff Argue represented the United States in 1924 and led the 1924-1925 track teams, which consisted of one half OMA brothers.  In 1925 alone, twenty-four members lettered in Occidental’s strong athletic programs including the baseball team, which defeated the Universities of Southern California and Arizona to win the Southwest championship.  Furthermore, from 1922-1926 the group could boast the editor of the yearbook, the editor of the paper, the senior class president, and countless other members of Occidental College’s extra-curricular activities. 

      OMA was founded on “disseminating the principles of lasting friendship, and promoting a stronger feeling of brotherhood and good fellowship.”  This made ATO, a fraternity founded “to bind men together in a brotherhood based upon eternal immutable principles”, a natural national fraternity to seek recognition from.  However, Occidental College would not allow national fraternities onto the campus until 1923.  The brothers acted swiftly and on May 19^th, 1926, the Delta Phi chapter of ATO became the first nationally recognized fraternity at Occidental College as well as the first ATO chapter in all of Southern California.   

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written: 11/9/2000