William A. Scroggs, a student at Oklahoma A&M College, sought to establish an organization that would "bind friendship together indefinitely" and unite members across colleges and universities. After some initial planning, he consulted band president A. Frank Martin and Bohumil Makovsky, director of bands at Oklahoma A&M, both of whom agreed to help with the creation of the fraternity. From Makovsky's band, 10 members were selected as the first members of Kappa Kappa Psi: William Alexander Scroggs, Andrew Franklin Martin, Raymond David Shannon, Clyde DeWitt Haston, Clayton Everett Soule, Carl Anderson Stevens, William Houston Coppedge, Dick Hurst, George Asher Hendrickson, and Iron Hawthorne Nelson. The founders accepted chemistry professor Hilton Ira Jones' suggestion to name the fraternity "Kappa Kappa Psi." It was organized on November 27, 1919, and Scroggs was unanimously elected to serve as the President. Legal organization was completed on March 5, 1920, when the fraternity received its charter from the state of Oklahoma. The formal organization of the fraternity was celebrated on either March 23 or 25, 1920, with the initiation of the first membership class and a banquet.