Famous Betas of Achievement
With more than 200,000 initiated brothers since 1839, many influential men have worn the Beta Badge and gone on to have a large impact on society. The Fraternity is proud to claim among its members the 17th Vice President of the United States, the 17th Prime Minister of Canada, 200+ members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives – including two Speakers of the House, eight U.S. Supreme Court Justices, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, 32 ambassadors, 50 governors to 23 states, two Canadian Premiers, six Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and seven Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees, 34 Olympic gold medalists, three Nobel Prize winners, 85 Rhodes Scholars, 12 Pulitzer Prize winners and many more. Scan the gallery below to discover some of these influential Betas, and click here to see a list of even more.
John Wooden, Purdue ’32
UCLA Basketball Coaching Legend
Broadway Composer
Bill Bowerman, Oregon ’65
Co-founder, Nike
Donald E. Petersen, Washington ’46
CEO, Ford Motor Co.
John Warnock, Utah ’61
Co-founder, Adobe Systems, Inc.
CEO, American General Corp.
President, Boy Scouts of America
Neil Everett, Oregon ’84
Broadcaster, ESPN’s SportsCenter
Dan Carney, Wichita State ’63
Co-founder, Pizza Hut
Ken Cameron, MIT ’71
Astronaut
Dr. Bill Fox, St. Lawrence ’75
President, St. Lawrence University
Stephen Bechtel Jr., Purdue ’47
CEO, Bechtel Construction
Eric Javits, Columbia ’52
Ambassador to the OPCW (The Hague)
James K. Arness, Beloit ’46
Marshal Matt Dillon on “Gunsmoke”
Mike Bennet, Wesleyan ’87
U.S. Senator, Colorado
John Rietz Jr. (Robert Reed), Northwestern ’54
Mike Brady on “The Brady Bunch”
Spencer F. Eccles Sr., Utah ’56
Chairman and CEO, First Security Corp.
Don Nickles, Oklahoma State ’71
’71U.S. Senator, Oklahoma
Barney Calame, Missouri ’61
Public Editor, The New York Times
Richard Heckert, Miami ’44
CEO, DuPont
Jim Martin, Davidson ’57
North Carolina Governor
Founder and Chairman, Walmart
John Turner, British Columbia ’49
Prime Minister of Canada
Bruce Nordstrom, Washington ’55
CEO, Nordstrom
Howard Fineman, Colgate ’70
Huffington Post, MSNBC Analyst
Jimmy Yen, Yale 1918
Humanitarian and Worldwide Educator
Bill Nelson, Florida/Yale ’65
U.S. Senator, Florida
Astronaut
Hugh McColl, North Carolina ’57
CEO, Bank of America
Frank Shrontz, Idaho ’53
CEO, Boeing
Jay Fiedler, Dartmouth ’94
NFL Quarterback
Jerry R. Lucas, Ohio State ’62
NBA Hall of Fame, New York Knicks
Glen Holden, Oregon ’51
Ambassador to Jamaica
Mark Hatfield, Willamette ’43
U.S. Senator & Governor, Oregon
Stephen Sample, Illinois ’70
President, University of Southern California
Stan Smith, Southern California ’69
Wimbledon Tennis Champion
Frank Murphy, Kansas ’36
Chancellor, University of Kansas & UCLA
Donald D. Coryell, Washington ’47
Coach, NFL Cardinals and Chargers
Warren Staley, Kansas State ’65
’65CEO, Cargill
John Warner, Washington and Lee ’50
U.S. Senator, Virginia
David Holl, Clemson ’82
President and CEO, Mary Kay, Inc.
Robert F. Engle III, Williams ’64
Nobel Prize in Economics
Richard Lugar, Denison ’54
U.S. Senator, Indiana
Shahid Khan, Illinois ’70
Owner, NFL Jacksonville Jaguars
John Backe, Miami ’54
CEO, CBS
Dale Mortensen, Willamette ’61
Nobel Prize in Economics
Ray Mabus, Mississippi ’69
U.S. Navy Secretary; Amb. to Saudi Arabia
Owen D. Young, St. Lawrence 1894
President and Chairman, General Electric
1929 Time Magazine Man of the Year
Mike Schmidt, Ohio ’71
MLB Hall of Famer
William Anderson (Adam West), Whitman ’51
“Batman”
Ed Roski, Southern California ’62
CEO, Majestic Realty
Co-owner, L.A. Lakers, Kings and Staples Center
David Mulford, Lawrence ’59
Ambassador to India
Joe Albaugh, Oklahoma State ’74
Director of FEMA
John Dolibois, Miami ’42
Ambassador to Luxembourg
George Peppard, Purdue ’52
Paul Varjak on “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
Hannibal on “The A-Team”
Paul Weitz, Penn State ’54
Astronaut
Brian White, Dartmouth ’95
“Moesha,” “Stomp the Yard,” “CSI: Miami,”
“Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse”
James A. Collins, UCLA ’50
CEO, Worldwide Restaurant Concepts, Inc.
Colgate Betas: Kevin Heffernan ’91, Steve Lemme ’91, Erik Stolhanske ’91, and Jay Chandrasekhar ’90
Broken Lizard Comedy Group; “Super Troopers”
Joe Allen, DePauw ’59
Astronaut
Dick Gephardt, Northwestern ’62
Congressman, Missouri
Richard Karn, Washington ’78
Al Borland on “Home Improvement”
