Batman's a Beta

Frat Guy of the Week: Adam West

Who could forget Adam West, the man behind the mask in those old re-runs of the 1960s Batman TV series? Long before West was putting an end to the Joker's latest scheme as the Dark Knight, he was a brother of Beta Theta Pi at Whitman College.

Born William West Anderson in Walla Walla, Wash., he went on to attend Whitman College in the same city. At Whitman, West became a Beta, wrote for the campus newspaper, swam, skied, ran track and played water polo.

West majored in literature and minored in psychology before moving on to do graduate work at Stanford University. In the early 1950s, West was drafted into the U.S. Army and eventually settled in Hawaii where he would begin his acting career.

West was cast in 1966 on ABC's Batman as the caped crusader and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne. West would go on to appear in more than 40 movies and most recently had somewhat of a career revival on FOX's Family Guy as the mayor of Quahog.