Onward and, Eventually, Upward ACOFP: OUR CONTINUING HISTORY 29 The Fellow degree was first issued in the State of Illinois as a full academic degree. It was later decided that the designation of Fellow should be an honorary title awarded by the college. FELLOWS TRADITIONS The fellows processional did not exist at first, but was the inspiration of John P. Sevastos, DO, FACOFP. He envisioned the idea after attending a fellowship processional by the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons. Dr. Sevastos recalls: I was president in 1976, and at the same time Dr. Donald Siehl, a surgeon from Dayton, Ohio, was president of the American Osteopathic Association. He invited me to the annual meeting of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons. This was a historic event, as this was the very first time that an ACOFP president was invited to the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons meeting. It was a wonderful event. My wife and I were treated extremely well by the membership and were shown every courtesy and consideration. It was at that time that I witnessed a processional for their Conclave of Fellows that was what I deemed the correct and appropriate type of a processional for a professional organization. I was so impressed that I came back and began to run this by my dear friend and confidant, Larry Koplovitz. ACOFP was struggling to gain recognition on the councils and boards of the American Osteopathic Association. Larry Koplovitz, DO, felt that more pomp and ceremony might engender more respect. The idea of developing a fellows processional was a good one, but during those troubled times money was tight. Dr. Sevastos and Dr. Koplovitz became aware that Squibb Pharmaceuticals would grant money to organizations for projects of this type. They petitioned Squibb and met with the company’s president, Don Giavani. Talks at first were not productive, but it soon became apparent that Mr. Giavani and Dr. Koplovitz shared a love of opera. This bond warmed the heart of the executive, and he eventually agreed to provide the funding for whatever ACOFP felt was fitting and proper. The leaders used the company’s generosity to purchase a hand-tooled mace and a banner bearing ACOFP’s name and colors. These articles would be carried at the front of each processional. The mace’s handle was fashioned to contain a hollow space that used to hold a parchment scroll, containing the name of every ACOFP president (that practice has since been abandoned due to damage to the top). Carolyn Haman, wife of Robert G. Haman, DO, FACOFP, found and recorded the “War March of the Priests” by Felix Mendelssohn. This regal tune was to be played as the fellows processed. All The official regalia of the ACOFP Fellow Designation.
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