Donnie Wade Jr. had his heart set on becoming a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity at Prairie View A&M, his father said, but he was scared, too, of the hazing he would face.

"He really wanted to pledge," Donnie Wade Sr. said Friday from his home in Oak Cliff, "and he went through complete hell."

Donnie Wade Jr.

His family urged him to quit, "but he felt it would get better," his father said.

The last time his family saw him alive, last weekend at Prairie View's Homecoming, his son "was so afraid," the elder Wade said.

"They'd make them get up at 4 or 5 in the morning and exercise," the father said. "One time, he had to go out and wash a car at 3 a.m. When they exercised, they'd make them do push-ups on their knuckles, or they would make they lay on their backs, hold their ankles together and hold their feet six inches off the ground."

Early Tuesday morning, 20-year-old Donnie Wade went to Hempstead High School, near Prairie View, with a member of the fraternity and others interested in joining, maybe 10 in all, for a pre-dawn exercise session.

The other would-be fraternity pledges told police they ran one lap around the track, did push-ups and "ran the bleachers, chanting the history of the fraternity," said Hempstead Assistant Police Chief Patrick Christian.

Donnie Wade had no known health problems, his father said. But at some point, Wade "fainted or passed out," according to police.

Another runner saw Wade fall. The witness told Prairie View A&M police that he offered to call an ambulance, Christian said. But those with Wade waved him off.

They bundled him into a car with plans to take him home, but later decided to take him to a hospital, North Cypress Medical Center, 32 miles down U.S. Highway 290.

Wade died in the car or immediately on arrival at the hospital, officials say. No one knows exactly when.

Police don't know whether those with Wade took him into the hospital or just left him there, Christian said.

"We have information that they did take him to the hospital and they departed thereafter," he said. "We're in the process of obtaining video footage from the hospital to determine exactly what happened."

And they're trying to learn whether hazing, a crime in Texas, contributed to Wade's death.

National leaders of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity – one of the "Divine Nine" at historically black colleges and universities – couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

When the hazing allegations surfaced, Prairie View A&M President George C. Wright immediately suspended all pledge and membership activities for fraternities, sororities and other campus organizations until police conclude their investigation.

"It is imperative that we discontinue all fraternity and sorority membership intake activities until we receive a full account of events that led up to the death of Mr. Wade," Wright said in a prepared statement. "The entire Prairie View A&M community is saddened by Donnie's death. We extend our condolences to his family and friends during their time of bereavement."

Wade transferred to Prairie View a year ago from Stephen F. Austin State University. He was majoring in biology and hoped to study medicine, his father said. He was a graduate of Life School, a charter school in Oak Cliff.

At Prairie View, Wade had also joined Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, which honored his memory with a candlelight vigil Thursday night, university spokesman Bryce Kennard said. The school's student leadership will remember Wade as well, during a vigil for nonviolence next Wednesday.

And on the 8,600-student campus just northwest of Houston, people are wondering exactly what happened.

Teguilla Lewis, a friend of Wade's and a member of Gamma Sigma Sigma sorority, which considers campus members of Alpha Phi Omega "brothers," said his death "opened everyone's eyes to hazing."

"Donnie Wade was not only our frat brother, but a friend," she said. "He will be remembered as a God-fearing man who always walked with a smile on his face.

"It hurts to see a positive young man pass," Lewis said. "Gamma Sigma Sigma and Alpha Phi Omega are hurt. We just hope this can be a learning experience for the entire school."

A member of the Prairie View Phi Beta Sigma chapter said they had been advised against speaking about Wade's death or the circumstances surrounding it.

He added only that there "are untrue allegations out there."

The fraternity still hasn't offered its condolences to Wade's family, his father said.

Freelance writer Whitney Harris contributed to this report from Prairie View.