Chapter 3: William C. Bagley (1919-1924): The Founder and Spirit of Kappa Delta Pi

Kappa Delta Pi would not exist without William C. Bagley. Because of Bagley’s tendency to resist taking sole credit for the successes he experienced, he avoided the title “father” of Kappa Delta Pi. He preferred to give the credit to two of his students at the University of Illinois, Truman Lee Kelley and T. E. Musselman. Imagining that KDP would have been created by students without the encouragement of their professor, however, is all but impossible. Bagley wanted and saw the need for a society like KDP to exist, and he found the resources at the University of Illinois to make that vision a reality. For these and other reasons, bestowing the title of founder of Kappa Delta Pi to William C. Bagley is more than appropriate.