The Super Bowl reaction post will come tomorrow. Meanwhile, a little Step Sing History.

Step Sing Celebrating Sixty Years
By Clayton Hurdle

                In 1951, a few groups of students at Howard College participated in a small singing competition which they named “Step Sing.”

                As February 10 fast approaches, fraternities, sororities, and other groups are spending vast amounts of time preparing for the 60^th anniversary rendition of the biggest three nights of the year at Samford University.  Through the years, Step Sing has blossomed in more ways than those 1951 participants ever could have imagined.

                When Step Sing had its humble beginnings in October of 1951, there is no solid evidence that groups competed for a prize; rather, the event was purely an exhibition.  The first Step Sing took place on the steps of Renfroe Hall in Howard College’s East Lake campus.  Records show that the first “Annual Inter-Organization Sing” took place on the first day of December in 1953, and was most likely won by Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and the Young Women’s Auxiliary.

                As Howard College made the transition to Homewood, Step Sing (it is not certain when students began to call it “Step Sing”) moved locations as well.  The first Homewood Step Sing, which was held December 9-13, 1957, occurred in the chapel, and added a third division.  Alpha Delta Pi and Sigma Nu each won for the first time, and the French class was the inaugural mixed-gender division winner.

                The cafeteria hosted the next two Step Sings before the event moved to Seibert gym, and the Sweepstakes competition was introduced in 1969, with Alpha Phi Omega taking the first overall title.  In the 1961-1962 school year, Step Sing was held each semester, in order to move the event to the spring.  1962’s Step Sing, held in March, was only the second time Step Sing was held during the spring, and the first time in ten years.

                On March 5, 1976, the Wright Center became the fourth location on the Homewood campus to host Step Sing, ending a fifteen-year run at Seibert Hall.  With their show themed “Everybody Loves a Loser,” Sigma Nu became the seventh different group in eight years to win Sweepstakes.  For the next eight years, however, Sigma Nu, Pi Kappa Phi, and Zeta Tau Alpha were the only three groups to win the Sweepstakes competition.

                During the mid- to late-1980s, Step Sing became more and more centered around the choreography.  This brought about a controversy with the Alabama Baptist State Convention, and resulted in a 1988 Step Sing with no awards other than one for spirit.  The sophomore class received this award.  From 1985 through 1989, Alpha Delta Pi won every Sweepstakes title that was awarded, giving them the longest Sweepstakes victory streak in the history of Step Sing.

                Nearly as impressive was the hold Sigma Chi had over the men’s division; stretching from 1984 to 1995, the fraternity finished in the top three in the division each year.  Sigma Chi finished in either first or second place in the men’s division every year except for 1988 and 1993.  Although only winning two sweepstakes titles during that time, Sigma Chi’s run dominated a decade marked by controversy and Step Sing’s resultant revitalization. 

                As Step Sing approached the twenty-first century, several changes occurred.  In the latter half of the 1990s, the men’s, women’s, and mixed divisions were eliminated, and the live bands that played for the Step Sing shows were replaced with piped-in music.  Participating groups changed.  Alpha Omicron Pi became a Samford sorority in 1995.  AOPi quickly became dominant in the fields of philanthropy and banner design, but have yet to win a Sweepstakes title.  In 2004, after eighty years of existence, Samford’s chapter of the Delta Zeta sorority was disbanded, but their spot in the Step Sing show was quickly replaced by the most dominant Step Sing team in recent history.

                The newest addition to the culture of Step Sing is the independent men’s group, Dudes A Plenty.  Founded in 2005, DAP won Sweepstakes honors in three of the group’s first six years of existence, and for the last half of the decade have been a fan-favorite on Samford’s campus.  They look to take back-to-back Sweepstakes titles for the first time in their history.

                In the past sixty years, top honors have been awarded most to Pi Kappa Phi and Zeta Tau Alpha.  The sixty years that have gone before are only the beginning, and are a sign of the things to come for Step Sing.