I finished high school on top of the world. I graduated with top honors and played in the baseball state tournament a week later. One of my graduation gifts was the first car that I could ever completely call mine, a 1973 Comet GT. I had earned a nice scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi, my school of choice. I was all set.

I have only recently been able to piece together how my world began to crumble in the fall of ’84. During the summer before my freshman year began, I began to attend parties hosted by various USM fraternities. I already knew which one I would pledge, but I checked out the others, too. I couldn’t have been more out of my comfort z...

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