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L: B. C. [Bert] Riley. He is the only man that I knew of being
active in Blue Key. He was considered the father of Blue
Key. There was something called a "Dad's Day" before that,
and they'd had an organization of students to promote Homecoming
and Dad's Day. It was not called Homecoming, it was called
Dad's Day in 1923, and I can remember a great big key with orange
and blue ribbons being delivered to a representative of the
fathers on the football field in 1923. I'm not sure
whether that was 1923 or 1924 but in the spring
of 1925 I attended this meeting at the
Primose Grill, which was said to be the first dinner
meeting, the first meal. The students had met, the older
students, and there was a report of a committee starting
that some students who'd be ipso factomembers of Blue Key
because of their position in student body government. And
that's how I got it.
P: So you're saying that the first installation banquet met in the
spring of 1925 in the Primrose Grill.
L: Yes.
P: That was not the first Homecoming Banquet but the first sit-
down meal for the Blue Key to participate in.
L: That's right, and a little while after that, about the same
time, they had the Rotary Club established in Gainesville.
Dean Riley became a member of the Rotary Club. It was being
established throughout ithe United States and other countries,
and someone coined the term "Blue Key--the college man's
Rotary Club." In the holiday period of 1925-26, I went to
a student body conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On the
train there was a boy named Thomas from Sewanee, Tennessee,
University of the the South, which was much better known
and had more prestige that it had today, although it's still
quite an institution. I wore my blue key very proudly on my
vest. We all wore vests in those days and our watches were
in our vest pockets. All of our keys we wore on the chain
between the two pockets. This boy saw my blue key and I told'
him what it was--a college man's Rotary Club. Well, he was
interested. I gave him B. C. Riley's name, and I think that
was the first chapter away from Florida in the Blue Key fraternity.
P: What brought about the rebellion within Blue Key which caused
Florida to become isolated from the national organization?