Bob Goodwin ’72: Class bonding into a cohesive entity during pledging and beyond had made such a huge impact on my life

Bob Goodwin ’72 “We had the cheapest beer on campus… Iron City in our Coke machine that could be scored for $0.25,” he shared about a tradition he loved—he still is a fan of Iron City.  

When he was an active member, Alpha Chi Rho was known as “The Band House.” He said that half of the brothers played in Penn’s marching band. “Mike Karpinski ’70 was a fellow trombonist and Band Vice President in 1968-69 and was instrumental in my joining AXP and would later become my Big Brother,” he shared.  

A favorite hangout was the house’s living room. “We would convene to watch Star Trek every evening at 6 pm,” he said.  

Bob was a real stand-up guy and bailed his brothers out of trouble more than once. A memorable occasion of this was during the National Convention for the Fraternity’s 75th anniversary. “It was held in Hartford, CT, and I lived in nearby Simsbury. I found myself in front of the state capitol when I witnessed what turned out to be two Lehigh University brothers about to be arrested for swimming in the fountain in Bushnell Park,” he shared. “I vouched for them, being the only sober brother in the group and convinced the state police to let them go in my custody. As I later thought about it, I’m unsure if they were the two who had stolen Brother Moose from our house the previous fall’s Penn vs. Lehigh football game.” 

He recalled another time when he, Don Dinan ’71 and some other guys were all underage and found themselves confronted by the Philadelphia police on South Street at 4 am… while carrying open beers. “Eventually, the officer and I were discussing high school football when I learned he played on South Philadelphia’s varsity team the year his team beat my high school, Central, four years earlier for the Philadelphia Public League championship. He was so busy bragging that he forgot to arrest us,” he laughed.  

As an only child, this banding together of brothers in a house was his first brotherhood experience. “Class bonding into a cohesive entity during pledging and beyond had made such a huge impact on my life,” he said. 

The band of brothers expanded beyond Penn. Bob recalled when he took a road trip to Penn State University to visit his girlfriend. “When I got there, she dumped me! Fortunately, I met Bob Fischer two years earlier at the National Convention, and he gave me a couch to sleep on,” he said. “I was almost caught up in a campus Vietnam War protest while I was there too. I quickly snapped a picture of the white-helmeted State Police and got out of there.” 

He and his wife were married in 1976, and they have three children and seven grandchildren. After graduation, Bob went on to medical school and opened a family private practice office in 1980. He still practices today.  

“Fraternities are still important. They get a bad rap, but our class had the highest GPA on campus; a third of us went on to Medical School and another third on to Law School. There are many distractions, but you get to return to a house filled with brothers, and I believe the people you hang out with define who you are,” he concluded.