1947 Pi Kappa Delta Co-National Champions

Debaters Tie for National Championship

Wake Forest College Alumni News, Vol. XVI, No. 4, May 1947, p. 2.c

Wake Forest’s strong debating team in April turned in one of the most brilliant performances in the history of debating here.

Competing in the Pi Kappa Delta’s national inter-collegiate tournament at Bowling Green, Ohio, Wake Forest finished in a three-way tie for the national championship with Baylor University of Waco, Texas, and Nebraska Wesleyan University of Lincoln, Neb. These three teams went through the week-long tournament without a defeat and were declared joint national co-champions. A total of 78 teams from all sections of the country competed.Wake Forest’s team consisted of Sam Behrends, Wilmington senior, and Henry Huff, Washington, D. C., law student. This pair met and defeated Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas; Howard Payne College, Brownwood Texas; Monmouth College, Monmouth, Ill.; Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Ill.; Illinois State Normal University, Normal, Ill.; Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio; Kent State University, Kent, Ohio; and Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio. Three of these teams–Kent State, Bowling Green, and Monmouth–were all among the top-seeded teams in the tournament.Pi Kappa Delta is a national honorary debating fraternity and its membership consists of 175 institutions from all over the U. S. The co-championship Wake Forest team will go to West Point, N. Y., on May 2, 3, and 4 to compete with 32 other institutions throughout the country in the National Intercollegiate debate tournament. A single individual champion will be determined in this tourney as it is on an elimination basis.

In the national tourney held at Bowling Green the winners were determined on the basis of the best records, for there were no elimination contests. The three winning teams each had eight victories against no defeats. The team is coached by Prof. A. L. Aycock.