Their fraternity brother died in a fire. Now a St. Amant High scholarship honors his memory.

BY ELLYN COUVILLION | STAFF WRITER JUN 2, 2022

Drew Acy’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity brothers never forgot him.

The Nicholls State University student died in a 1984 fire caused by faulty wiring that destroyed the fraternity house. It happened during Christmas break; Acy had stayed on campus to work. Two of Acy’s fraternity brothers escaped the blaze.

“Drew was a prince. He was a really good guy,” said Wade Trahan, of Youngsville, Louisiana, a fraternity brother. “He made you feel like he was your best friend.”

Without a house, the Nicholls chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha deactivated a few years later, and its members went their [separate] ways. But the fraternity returned to campus a few years ago, and that spurred some of Acy’s contemporaries to look for some way to remember him, said Ken Zeringue, who now lives in [Albuquerque]. 

Now, after four or five years of fundraising, a group of fraternity brothers has launched The Drew R. Acy scholarship through the Pi Kappa Alpha Foundation, with an endowment of $25,000. The scholarship goes to graduates of St. Amant High School, Acy’s alma mater.