76FALL SOCIAL CLUBS A Galaxy Not So Far Away Men’s social club Galaxy plans a return to Harding’s campus. FIVE FORMER MEMBERS OF MEN’S social club Galaxy, which disbanded in 1996, planned to recharter the club in the fall of 2022 in honor of Galaxy’s 75th anniversary. The former members included Ken Bissell, Randy Reynolds, Kevin Nutt, David Underwood and David Redding. Bissell, a member from 1980 to 1984 and a former sponsor of Galaxy, was in contact with other former members over the years and developed special plans for the fall 2022 semester. “Some of the other former members and I thought it might be cool to get Galaxy off the ground next fall,” Bissell said. “We thought that maybe we could have a big 75-year reunion, so that is what we are doing.” Galaxy was chartered in 1947 and was disbanded in 1996. Bissell acknowledged that Galaxy likely dwindled out because of the lack of leadership in its latter years. “If you don’t have a consistently good recruiting class year after year, over time, your club will eventually dwindle down,” Bissell said. “And that’s what happened to Galaxy. Clubs change. It all depends on leadership.” While Galaxy’s leadership decreased during its final years as a club on campus, the relationships formed between its members remained strong. Reynolds, a member in the mid 1980s, said that these relationships were the reason it was coming back. “We are doing this because there are so many guys out there who have great memories of Galaxy and the relationships made within it,” Reynolds said. “We want our new guys to have the same thing that we did in our day.” The former members of Galaxy who were rechartering the club mentioned the great relationships they formed and the pride they had from being in the social club. Bissell still had the club’s jersey, which served as a memento from years past. While the new sponsors were excited to carry on some of their favorite memories and traditions from their years as students at Harding, they realized the importance of letting the new members make the club their own. “Our role as Galaxy sponsors is just to be mentors,” Bissell said. “The guys who join it — it will be their club and not ours. We are starting this for them to create a group of guys to come together and support each other under a jersey. We are a bridge from the old to the new. A foundation to rest on.” Although the process for starting a social club on campus typically began with students wanting to form it, Bissell was sure that this was the right way to do it for Galaxy. “I know we are doing this a bit backwards from the way clubs usually form,” Bissell said. “This time, its old members [are] saying, ‘Let’s bring it back.’ It’s not typical, but it’s something we feel is important and the right thing to do.” Before deciding to re-introduce Galaxy back to campus, Ken Bissell, Kevin Nutt and Randy Reynolds were club sponsors for Omega Phi. Ethan Brazell, queen and sponsor liaison for Omega Phi, said that the club was sad to lose them as sponsors but excited to see where they took Galaxy. “They always talked about how much they loved spending time in Galaxy,” Brazell said. “We are excited that they can return to something that was very special to them when they were students.” WRITTEN BY BONNIE SPANN TAILGATE TALKIN’ Sponsor Randy Reynolds speaks to students interested in the club process at a tailgate. The former members made plans to recharter the club in the fall of 2022. Photo by: Julianne Baker
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