By Don Shelton (Idaho 1976)
Pat Hauge (Idaho 1990) (right) still can’t believe it happened.
As he dined last summer in an upscale restaurant in Norway – 4,500 miles and nine time zones from Moscow, Idaho – he sang an old Phi Gam song with a Mu Iota brother he’d met only a few hours earlier.
Pat and Bjorn Bergvall (1962) (left) sang “Two Silhouettes” in May 2022 over dinner in an Oslo restaurant with Pat’s daughter chiming in and both their wives smiling and shaking their heads. The scene was a reminder of the how the bonds of brotherhood between Phi Gams can transcend time and distance.
“My daughter knows every word,” recalls Pat, who used the traditional Phi Gam love song as a lullaby to put his daughter Liv to sleep as a child. “So there we were singing along in an Oslo restaurant. It was really cool. He loved it, too."
That was one of several pinch-me moments for Pat. A few hours earlier he was sipping wine in Bjorn’s Oslo flat as Hege, Bjorn’s wife, brought out the Olympic gold medal her husband had won in 1960.
Bjorn Bergvall might be Mu Iota’s most celebrated brother. The native of Norway stunned the world by winning gold in sailing’s Flying Dutchman class 62 years ago with partner Peder Lunde. Two weeks later, Bjorn walked into the chapter house at 600 University Avenue as an exchange student and became a Phi Gam member.
He was one of several Norwegian exchange students who became Idaho brothers during the 1950s and 1960s. Like all the others, Bjorn became a star for the University of Idaho ski team and learned about life in America at 600U.
Bjorn went on to take over the family’s shipping-insurance business, building it to the largest in Scandanavia. He briefly retired, in 1997, the created another successful insurance business. He’s now 83, but stays active golfing, hunting and skiing. He and Helge, his wife of 65 years, split time between their flat in Oslo, a summer cabin on an island three hours south of Oslo and a winter cabin four hours north on a fjord.
Bjorn has fond memories of his time in Moscow.
“It was so good when I was there,” recalls Bjorn, who was a 21-year-old junior when he arrived in Moscow. “With Pat and his family, I had the same feeling. It was very nice to meet them."
The meeting almost didn’t happen. Pat and his wife Stephanie and daughter were about to embark on a four-week vacation, which included a couple of weeks in Norway, when a brother suggested he get together with Bjorn while he was there. Pat sent an email, but somehow missed Bjorn’s reply during the trip. He realized it the day before he landed in Oslo and called Bjorn at 8:00 a.m. on a Monday morning. Bjorn was on the golf course, but immediately invited Pat and his family to his house and even offered to pick them up.
Over wine and hors d’oeuvres, Pat asked about brother Bjorn’s Olympic achievement. Hege immediately retrieved the gold medal and handed it to Pat. “He’s a very humble guy,” Pat said. “He didn’t want to have it out. But I got to hold his gold medal.
Bjorn also had a positive impression of Pat, who lives in Bellevue, Wash., and is a senior mechanical engineer with Philips Healthcare. Pat shared the recent success of Mu Iota, which has rebounded in recent years because of the involvement of graduate brothers. Pat served on the Board of Chapter Advisors for several years in the 2000s.
Later, they went to dinner at an upscale restaurant in Oslo, where more wine was sipped and a Phi Gam song was sung. Bjorn paid the bill without a second thought.
“Both of us are Fijis, so we would have a nice time regardless,” Bjorn said.
“It was easy and relaxed. We enjoyed each other’s company. It was special."
The meeting is still a bit surreal for Pat, who is back to work but can’t forget the meeting with his famous Phi Gam brother. His only regret is that no one recorded the impromptu song that night in Norway.