69-Year-Old Man Enrolls At UVA, Joins Chi Phi Fraternity

savittj12 years ago

It almost seems like it could be another horrible Adam Sandler flick, but this is no movie pitch. 69-year-old Jerry Reid is trading in his reading glasses for a cold case of Natty Light and a spot in the freshman dorms, and you won’t catch him with any cargo shorts. After years of never seeing higher education as a possibility, Reid finally decided to enroll at the University of Virginia, and he decided to go Greek.

While many fraternities may have been reluctant to let someone who closely resembles Mick Jagger into their tightly knit family, Chi Phi welcomed Reid with open arms. In an interview with The New York Times he admitted that although there were times when he felt “paternal” towards the youthful students, the majority of the time he was viewed as their brother, even going on to say, “They view me as a 20-year old with 48 years of extra experience.” I wonder if the Virginia sorority girls share this same view.

There are, of course, some potential advantages in giving a bid to someone who could be your grandfather. First, alcohol runs would never be an issue when you have someone who flourished during prohibition. Furthermore, the experienced Reid constantly shared his advice with younger brothers while being careful not to be judgmental. Hell, he’s the Gregg Popovich of sex and booze.

Jerry Reid can be an inspiration to us all. He was a man who was not contempt with his life, pledging to take matters into his own hands. After all, it’s a very Sperry world out there, and it’s never too late to enroll in success.

[via The New York Times]