Once upon a time, the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon was not synonymous with Four Diamonds or "FTK." In fact, it had nothing to do with children at all.

Thon, which kicks off tonight at 6 in the Bryce Jordan Center, evolved from a 30-hour event in 1973 with no catchy phrases, no themes and no permanent charity into the world's largest student-run philanthropy.

Looking back on the 34 years of Thon, the people, places and memories are the driving force in what propelled the philanthropy to the overpowering event that it is today.

1973 -- "We planted a seed"

In the beginning, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) Dance Marathon didn't seem like a big deal. In the era of the Vietnam War, the campus was in flux, non-conformity was the norm and student unrest buzzed throughout Penn State.

Greek life was going downhill, said Dr. William Lear, 1973 IFC president, and the IFC began looking for ways to promote it -- and came up with the idea for a dance marathon.

"It really wasn't to try to start some tradition," Lear said. "We put this all together in a month."

The Four Diamonds Fund had not entered the picture yet -- the $2,000 raised went to the Butler County Association of Retarded Citizens after 78 dancers stayed on their feet for 30 hours in the HUB-Robeson Center ballroom. The traditional length of 48 hours didn't begin until 1974.

"We danced, and we danced, and we danced," Cris Guenter, a 1973 independent dancer, said. "[My partner] and I took one break after about 26 hours for a total of 77 seconds off [our feet]. We were so sore!"

Even to this day, Lear said he can't believe what the Dance Marathon has turned into.

"You never thought that something like that would grow into such a huge red oak," Lear said. "I feel like we planted a seed, but the credit for what it's grown into really belongs to the combination of each year's class."

1977 -- "Scraping whatever they could together"

Raising money for childhood cancer -- what Thon is known for now -- became a staple in 1977.

The Four Diamonds Fund, a then-relatively unknown program at Hershey Medical Center founded in 1972, was "scraping whatever they could together," to run the program, said Herb Kraybill, director of gifts and endowments for the Four Diamonds Fund in 1977.

Irma and Charles Millard founded the Four Diamonds Fund after their son died of cancer in 1972.

Courage, wisdom, honesty and strength are the "four diamonds" invented by Chris Millard, for whom the fund was established. Before his death, 14-year-old Chris wrote an essay about a "gallant knight" named Sir Millard, fighter of cancer and "worthy bearer of the magnificent Diamonus Quadrus" -- the four diamonds.

Promoting the Four Diamonds Fund, Kraybill discussed the fund at a local high school, where a student went home and told his father about it. The student's father, affiliated with Thon at the time, thought it would be a good charity for the dance marathon.

"His father, in turn, thought they would use this charity for this marathon," said Nancy Kraybill, Herb's wife. That year, more than $28,000 was raised for the kids of Four Diamonds Fund.

At the following year's Thon, Herb Kraybill and others, including All-American wide receiver Jimmy Cefalo, worked with the students again to aid the charity, Nancy Kraybill said.

1978 -- "Forever Cemented"

Without warning, the organization that worked so hard to aid the misfortune of others had tragedy strike its own.

After raising $52,800 for the Four Diamonds Fund, three members of the overall committee and the two winning dancers piled into a station wagon to deliver the money in Hershey, Donald Mains, 1977 overall chairman, said. Just outside Harrisburg, the vehicle was hit head-on by a car veering from the other lane, killing Kevin Steinberg, IFC vice president and Mains' best friend.

"It just shows the dedication we all have in our lives," Mains said. "I think Kevin would be so proud right now."

Thon meant so much to Steinberg, Mains said, that it was the spirit of the philanthropy that kept him from dropping out of Penn State, something Steinberg was considering prior to becoming involved with Thon.

For the past seven years, Thon has honored an organizer with the Kevin Steinberg award for dedication to the event and the Four Diamonds Fund.

Steinberg made the ultimate sacrifice for Penn State, Mains said, and from that point, the connection for the Four Diamonds Fund was "forever cemented," going on to be the permanent recipient of the dance marathon funds. The next year, the dance marathon moved to the White Building.

1992 -- "It was electric"

Almost 20 years after the creation of Thon, a milestone -- the million-dollar mark -- was reached.

"When I saw the number, it was enrapturing," said John Ferenchak, 1992 overall chairman.

There was a buzz in the crowd, he said, as the overall committee got on stage to announce that year's total.

The White Building was "packed to the rafters, " he said. "It was electric."

There was no goal to reach a milestone that year, he said, because he found you can't set a goal for something like Thon.

"All you can control is your effort," he said. "People put forth an extraordinary effort."

1995 -- "The unknown more than anything"

Thon's move to the Bryce Jordan Center isn't the first controversial relocation for Thon. After the continued success of Thon in the early '90s, an idea began to form that the White Building could no longer accommodate the philanthropy.

"We were having discussions at the time," Stacy Bingler Forbes, 1995 overall chairwoman, said. "We had one of those little mesh gates that went around the back room ... people were just barreling over those gates. You couldn't even see a distinction between where the floor ended and the spectators started."

Between the 620 dancers, 1,200 committee members and a few thousands spectators involved that year, "we could tell it was going to be an issue at some point," Bingler Forbes said.

But concerns sprouted much like concerns about the move to the BJC.

"A lot of the reasons why we didn't try to move it when I was chair was there was a lot of nostalgia association with the White Building because it had been there so long," she said.

Also, the 1995 committee thought that at 2 a.m., Rec Hall was so big that it would feel virtually empty. Thon finally moved to Rec Hall in 1999.

Another pivotal moment in 1995 was the election of the first overall chairwoman, Bingler Forbes -- an accomplishment she said meant more to the evolution of Thon than it did to Bingler Forbes herself.

"For me, it was an accomplishment to be chosen to be overall chair, but it didn't feel any different for me because I was a female," she said. "Probably for Thon itself and campus in general, it was a bigger deal ... it was the unknown more than anything."

Since 1995, there have only been two other female overalls, less than, Bingler Forbes said, she thinks there would have been.

"After the first one," she said, "You think now you don't have to break through that anymore."

2007 -- "Thon can grow into an entire community"

As Thon escalates, it continues to outgrow every location on campus, and Rec Hall was no exception. A mere seven years after moving to Rec Hall, Thon kicks off tonight at 6 in the Bryce Jordan Center.

"Moving up and seeing Thon grow in Rec Hall, I was really involved with the security, safety and catastrophe issues," Evan Jacobs, 2006 overall chairman, said. "I was really aware that if we wanted to continue the event, we needed a bigger facility, and the next option is the BJC."

The Bryce Jordan Center can accommodate almost 13,000 people, compared to 6,000 in Rec Hall, said Mike Funk, this year's Thon overall chairman.

"It's really exciting because I think we have the capacity to grow into that number," Jacobs said. "And Thon can grow into an entire community."

This year is the 35th anniversary of the Four Diamonds Fund, as well as the 30-year anniversary of Thon's partnership, said Megan Kendrick, public relations chairwoman.

In the past five years alone, $20 million has been raised for Thon, Kendrick added.

"Fifty percent of what has been raised has been raised by people walking around this campus," Kendrick said.

Although tradition states that Thon lasts for 48 hours, dancing will cease at 4 p.m. on Sunday, which will decrease the event's overall time to 46 hours.

"Certainly 48 hours was an unbelievable tradition, and it's an unbelievable feat every year," Jacobs said. "But I don't think it takes away from the mission of why we're there."