QEBH is a senior honor society at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

. Founded in 1898, it is the oldest of six recognized secret honor societies that participate in the annual tradition of Tap Day on campus.

History

The society was founded at the

in November 1898 by eight male students. They were Gurry Ellsworth Huggins, Clarence Martin Jackson, Thomas Benton Marbut, Antoine Edward Russell, Royall Hill Switzler, William Frank Wilson, Horace Beckley Williams, and Galius Lawton Zwick. Switzler organized the first class of the society and is considered the founder of QEBH. QEBH's workings, purposes, and affairs are known only to its members. Throughout its history, QEBH has maintained a rivalry with MU's Mystical Seven society. This rivalry has often involved the two societies playing pranks on each other. In one instance in 1985, members of QEBH disguised themselves as members of Mystical Seven and surprised Mystical Seven's yet-to-be-initiated candidates at 4:30 am one morning. The new candidates were convinced the activity was part of their initiation process, and they were taken to

Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the List of cities in Missouri, 16th most popu ...

where they were dropped off and abandoned by the disguised QEBH members.

Symbols

The meaning of the society's name is known only to the members. The primary symbol of QEBH is the winged sphere. The symbol's origin is that of the winged sphere that was once the distinctive mark of

Jesse Hall Jesse Hall, formerly New Academic Hall, is the main administration building for the University of Missouri. Its dome has towered above the south end of David R. Francis Quadrangle since its completion in 1895. In the lawn in front of Jesse Hall ...

. The wings broke from the top of the dome when a patriotic student scaled the dome one night around the time of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and fastened the staff of a large American flag to the structure. The flag caught enough wind to tear the wings from the dome, leaving only the golden sphere, which is still in place. The destruction of the wings from the dome was foreshadowed in the 1901 ''Savitar'' where mention is made of QEBH's secret meetings at the top of the dome, but it was later stated that "QEBH didn't take the wings off the dome." The tradition of the Victory Bell originated in 1927. The bell was originally stolen from a church in

Seward, Nebraska Seward is a city in and the county seat of Seward County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,643 at the 2020 census. Seward is part of the Lincoln, Nebraska metropolitan area. History Seward was platted in 1868. It was named from ...

Phi Delta Theta Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded in 1848, and currently headquartered, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, alo ...

and

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States–based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapt ...

in 1892. The two fraternities shared housing at the time, but when the groups later acquired their own individual houses they began an annual tradition of awarding the bell as a trophy to the winner of a specified athletic or academic contest. When then Missouri athletic director Chester Brewer suggested a trophy be established for the winner of the annual Missouri–Nebraska Rivalry football game, the bell was chosen to fill the role. An "M" was then engraved on one side of the bell and an "N" was engraved on the opposite side. QEBH is the caretaker of the bell at Missouri, and the

Innocents Society The Innocents Society is the chancellor's senior honorary society at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, composed of thirteen men and women who apply during the spring of their junior year and are selected based on academic excellence, unparall ...

is the caretaker of the bell at Nebraska. Due to conference realignment, there has been a hiatus of the Missouri-Nebraska rivalry since 2010.University of Missouri, Official Athletic Site of the Mizzou Tigers Traditions

Notable members

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(Chapter of 2006), 2006 NCAA individual national wrestling champion and ''

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'' collegiate wrestler of the year * Hardin Cox (Chapter of 1952),

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

and

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Forrest C. Donnell Forrest Carl Donnell (August 20, 1884March 3, 1980) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator and the List of governors of Missouri, 40th governor of Missouri. Early life Donnell was bor ...

(Chapter of 1904), former

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(Chapter of 1964),

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* John R. Gibson (Chapter of 1950), Senior Federal Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit *

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(Chapter of 1999),

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(Chapter of 1979),

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, and U.S. Vice Presidential Candidate * Richard D. Kinder (Chapter of 1966), CEO of

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Derrick Peterson Derrick Peterson (born November 28, 1977, in Waycross, Georgia), raised in Atlanta suburbs, is a retired American middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 meters. He represented the USA at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, 200 ...

(Chapter of 1999), US Olympic Track and Field Athlete in 2004 *

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(Chapter of 1957),

Steve Stipanovich Stephen Samuel Stipanovich (born November 17, 1960) is an American retired professional basketball player. A center who played for the University of Missouri between 1979 and 1983, he and Jon Sundvold helped Coach Norm Stewart to four consec ...

(Chapter of 1983), professional basketball player * Jon Sundvold (Chapter of 1981), professional basketball player *

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(Chapter of 1940), founder of

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(Chapter of 1987), professional football player and NFL Hall of Fame

Honorary members

* Christopher S. "Kit" Bond, U.S. Senator * August Busch Jr. (Chapter of 1969), American brewing magnate and former owner of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

* Brady Deaton (Chapter of 1999), former University of Missouri chancellor * Thomas F. Eagleton (Chapter of 1964), former U.S. SenatorThe Maneater - Senator Graham gets tapped
*

Chuck Graham Charles Graham (February 24, 1965 – May 19, 2020) was an American politician in the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party who represented the 19th Senate District in the Missouri General Assembly, which includes the city of Columb ...

(Chapter of 2006), Missouri State Senator * Warren E. Hearnes (Chapter of 1966), former

* Darwin Hindman (Chapter of 2004), former mayor of

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

* R. Bowen Loftin (Chapter of 2015), former University of Missouri chancellor *

Claire McCaskill Claire Conner McCaskill (; born July 24, 1953) is an American former politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Missouri from 2007 to 2019 and as State Auditor of Missouri, state auditor of Missouri from 1999 to ...

(Chapter of 2003),

Gary Pinkel Gary Robin Pinkel (born April 27, 1952) is an American former college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 1991 to 2000 and the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, compiling career record o ...

(Chapter of 2016), University of Missouri head football coach from 2001–2015 * Pinkney Walker (Chapter of 1962), former University of Missouri economics professor who served on the

Federal Power Commission The Federal Power Commission (FPC) was an independent commission of the United States government, originally organized on June 23, 1930, with five members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The FPC was originally created in ...

* Richard Wallace (Chapter of 1998), former University of Missouri chancellor * H. Clyde Wilson Jr. (Chapter of 1972), former University of Missouri anthropology professor and former mayor of

References

External Links