Betas in Norman received quite an archival surprise last October when House Corporation President Zach Allen, Oklahoma ’85, received a gift from the family of Doug Banks ’53, containing a brilliant, 23-inch brass server emblazoned with the Beta coat of arms.
As detailed by Doug’s son, Trent, his father “served in the U.S. Army and was assigned to Iran in the early 1960s when it was still our ally. He commissioned the hand-crafted tray while he was stationed there and proudly displayed it in our home his entire life.”
Upon graduation from the University of Oklahoma, Doug was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. In June 1960, he was assigned as the assistant headquarters commandant of the Fixed Wing and Rotary Wing Flight School in Iran. There, he helped train Iranian military officers to fly helicopters and planes.
Naturally, being in a foreign country, Brother Banks wanted to take souvenirs back home to the United States. He purchased several hand-crafted brass trays of various shapes and sizes with exotic Persian designs carved into them from a small local shop. One of these trays was approximately five-feet in diameter, which his family used as a coffee table.
Realizing the brass tray shop did all the hand-crafting on site, he asked if they could carve Beta Theta Pi coat of arms onto a tray. The shop owner said he could and Doug commissioned the work to be done. Doug proudly displayed this 23-inch Pi brass tray in his home for his entire life.
Incidentally, Doug Banks met Sara Lynn Groves, another American living in Iran, and married her shortly after returning to the United States.
Over the course of his military career, he became a Master Aviator. He was called to serve in Vietnam, too, and was Airborne and Ranger. After 24 years of service, Doug retired from his post in 1977 at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Doug carried on the Beta and military legacy from his father, Hugh L. Banks, Oklahoma State 1921. Shortly into his studies, Hugh’s college experience was interrupted by the onset of World War I. He enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving with the 13th Aero Squadron in France. Brother Hugh unfortunately passed away in 1944 when Doug was just a teenager. However, Doug received a college scholarship for World War I orphans, and without this scholarship, he could not afford to go to college.
Lt. Col. Doug Banks, Oklahoma ’53, was son to World War I veteran Hugh Banks, Oklahoma State 1921.
Finding himself settled in Indialantic, Florida, he became a realtor and was heavily involved in the community, including Rotary Club. He passed away in 2004 at age 73.
As the Oklahoma chapter’s original dining room was converted into a stunning Beta museum when the house was expanded and renovated in 2015, the Banks server adds to Gamma Phi’s vast collection of treasures — symbolic of the chapter’s storied 118-year legacy at OU.
