This primary season, he’s picked up primary wins in Iowa, Nevada, Louisiana and elsewhere in pursuit of a presidential nomination.

Those who know former U.S. Senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum recall him as a devoted political science major, getting involved with politics and greek life while in college. Fellow fraternity brothers said they saw him at house meetings and parties, and he was always good for a card or basketball game.

A ‘Stately’ beginning

Ask his brothers from the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity, and they’ll tell you that Santorum had a reputation for taking his studies seriously.

“He was more focused in school than any student that I knew at the time,” Bill Elliehause said.

Santorum also always seemed to know what he wanted to do after graduation, Elliehausen said.

When their fraternity chapter was failing during Santorum’s time at Penn State, Joe Bresnan remembers Santorum playing a role in rebuilding its image. Students from Porter and Beaver Halls also helped to reinvigorate it.

When the fraternity held meetings, Paul Ainsworth recalls being impressed with Santorum’s knowledge of meeting procedures, as he helped bring up and pass motions. Santorum also ran against Bresnan for president of the fraternity and lost.

Despite his expertise and his serious approach to school, that didn’t mean Santorum wasn’t “just another one of the guys,” said David Vondercrone.

Bresnan said Santorum was generous while living in the house and described him as willing to do anything for someone else. Santorum would joke with him that Bresnan had too much fun in school and wouldn’t get into law school, he said.

“But I did,” Bresnan said. “Santorum was very enthusiastic about whatever you were talking about.”

Life in Congress

Santorum worked for J. Doyle Corman while he was at Penn State, and continued to work for him through the rest of his education.

After he graduated from Penn State, Santorum attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he received his Master of Business Administration. He then went to Dickinson Law School, graduating in 1986.

He started his career at the Kirkpatrick and Lockhart Law Firm, where he met his wife, Karen Garver Santorum. After working at the law firm for a few years, he decided to run for public office. He won the seat from the 18th district in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990, according to his campaign website.

Jake Corman, who has known Santorum for at least 35 years, said he won back then by a “long shot” in a race that Corman compared to the Republican primaries now.

“This is what he’s done and has done very well,” he said. “People tell him he can’t win, but it works well with him. This is what he does.”

Corman said he isn’t surprised that Santorum is doing as well as he is in the presidential race, since he represented Pennsylvania for 16 years.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marc Scaringi worked for Santorum from 1995 to 1996 in his senatorial campaign and in Washington, D.C. for a few months. He said the main memory that sticks out about Santorum is the way he challenged his own party’s seniority in the House. Santorum was a U.S. senator from 1995 to 2007.

Scaringi said Santorum was trying to pass a balanced budget act, and a senior chairman wouldn’t vote for it — so Santorum challenged the chairman.

“A lot of the others thought he was a crazed Pennsylvanian who didn’t understand,” he said.

Santorum was part of the “Gang of Seven” while in the House. The group was known for taking on scandals in the House involving banking and the post office. Scaringi said these events inspired him to get involved in politics.

But as the years wore on, Scaringi said, Santorum became part of the leadership and part of the problem. He said Santorum supported President George W. Bush on a number of polices, like No Child Left Behind and the war in Iraq, both of which Scaringi strongly opposes.

Scaringi said lots of politicians realize how good it is to be in elected office and get carried away by it.

“That’s when you turn down the wrong path, and that’s why we have a government that is down the wrong path,” he said. “It’s the career politician going back decades.”

The path to president

Ainsworth said it’s curious to know someone in college and watch him run for president 30 years later.

“It’s amazing, to look at the person giving speeches, and you remember as a scruffy kid,” Ainsworth said.

Ainsworth said Santorum has run a pretty good campaign so far in the primaries, especially since he started out without as much money as the other candidates.

Along his road in the primaries, Santorum hasn’t devoted much attention to addressing the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal at Penn State. His fraternity brothers said they don’t mind that he hasn’t addressed the situations.

“Rick’s at a national political scale, where he’s receiving so much exposure,” Ainsworth said. “Everything you do and say is under a microscope. It doesn’t bother me that he hasn’t said anything at all.”

Others said if they were in his shoes, they would comment. Vondercrone said he noticed Santorum hasn’t said anything about the issues.

“I would have to say something about it, but that doesn’t make him wrong for not saying anything,” he said.

Santorum’s comments about higher education and his professors at Penn State have also become an issue. During a leadership forum in Michigan, Santorum called President Barack Obama a “snob” for wanting all Americans to receive higher education.

While Obama wants every American to attend college, Corman said Santorum supports alternative forms of post-secondary education.

“He is a Penn State graduate. I think he believes in all sorts of opportunities for higher education, including technical schools,” Corman said.

But the brothers have seen this moment of pride as they watch a fellow member of their fraternity run for president. Some said they have mixed feelings about voting for him.

Vondercrone said Santorum is the “real deal” as a person who “walked the walk.”

In the primaries right now, Vondercrone said Santorum is coming across as a “real person” compared to the other candidates.

“He is someone who believes in what he says,” Vondercrone said. “He’s sticking to his guns.”